It's official: Lindsay Lohan has a massive obsession with Marilyn Monroe.

Lindsay is not the only one, unfortunately: Dressing and styling up as Marilyn Monroe seems to have become the "classic" Hollywood standard.

It's as easy as slapping on a blonde curly wig (or curling up your hair. Think Christina Aguilera), wearing the dress, red lipstick, and imitating the deceased starlet.

But let's face it: there isn't anyone who actually looks like Marilyn Monroe; there are only photographs of people who are desperately trying to look like Marilyn Monroe, and failing. Terribly.

It isn't surprising so many people - especially actresses and singers - cling to the image of Marilyn Monroe: she represents Hollywood glamour, an iconic image of sex and beauty, heartbreak, scandal and fame. But what these Marilyn Monroe-obsessed followers don't realize is the sadness and tragedy behind those images.

This is the woman who died under shady circumstances at 36, after a life filled with dark and sad times fairly overwhelming the happy ones.

So why does everyone keep wanting to imitate Marilyn Monroe? The fact that Lindsay Lohan did yet another "Marilyn Monroe inspired" photoshoot just shoves the ideal 50-year-old image of glamour and beauty down our throats.

In other words, why can't Lindsay Lohan just pose as herself?

And if actresses don't put on their best Marilyn Monroe visage, they often end up as the other "Hollywood glamour girl": playing the stick skinny Audrey Hepburn, again, everybody is obsessed with.

The strange thing is, Marilyn Monroe didn't even exist. She was constructed by studios; a costume worn by Norma Jean Baker to portray the image of celebrity and sex.

Sure, she was beautiful and glamorous. But underneath it all lay a woman who had to reinvent herself, hiding her sense of pain and fear, turning to drugs, sex and destroying her body and health. She became a product, used to sell tickets and t-shirts and magazines.

Maybe it's time for Lindsay Lohan and everyone else to stop parading around in Marilyn Monroe cosumes and acting as though it's glamorous and fun. If Marilyn Monroe taught us anything, it's that there's no real hapiness in being someone you're not.

[via Jezebel]