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Maggie McConnell
Ms. Dockus
1st Hour American Literature
17 January 2015
Response to Marilyn Monroe, Seven Year Itch
Although Americans have invented and innovated many things, some argue that they
have never made a true discovery. The first human on the moon may have been American, but
humans have known about its existence since before they used the wheel. The first airplane was
invented by The Wright Brothers of Mid-West America, but their inspiration and idea-base came
from German research. This argument is dependent on ones interpretation of discovery in
relation to ideas, data, and invention. However, what Sam Shaw captured in his photograph of
Marilyn Monroe on the set of The Seven Year Itch, can be more accurately described as a
discovery of talent.
When an individual is singled out for having the potential to do great things in a
particular industry, one might say that he or she has been discovered. Photographers
discovered Monroe while she was working at a munitions factory, making discovery, if one
considers this circumstance to fit the conditions of discovery, possible anywhere. I think this
particular photograph of Monroe, on the set of The Seven Year Itch, represents discovery best in
that Shaw, the photographer, utilized the freshness of Monroes image to create a cheeky scene
that was considered quite scandalous for the time period. In this, Shaw was marking new ground
not only for Monroes career, but also in the popular culture of the era.
Whether or not an event constitutes a discovery lies in the opinion of the individual. One
may believe that America still has yet to make its first real discovery, while others may argue that

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simply recognizing Monroes potential in the film industry accounts for one of a myriad of other
discoveries made by Americans. However one chooses to define discovery, he will find it
necessary that we continue to uncover new data, ideas, and talent to further our understanding of
our world and ourselves.