Bombshell (slang) explained

The term bombshell is a forerunner to the term "sex symbol" used to describe popular women regarded as very attractive.[1] [2] The Online Etymology Dictionary by Douglas Harper attests the usage of the term in this meaning since 1942. Bombshell has a longer history in its other, more general figurative meaning of a "shattering or devastating thing or event" since 1860.[3]

History

The first woman to be known as a bombshell was Jean Harlow, who was nicknamed the "blonde bombshell" for her film Platinum Blonde (1931).[4] [5] [6] Two years later, she starred in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Bombshell (1933). One of the blurbs on posters was "Lovely, luscious, exotic Jean Harlow as the Blonde Bombshell of filmdom."[7] Hollywood soon took up the blonde bombshell, and then, during the late 1940s through the early 1960s, brunette, exotic, and ethnic versions (e.g., Jane Russell, Dorothy Dandridge and Sophia Loren) were also cultivated as complements to, or as satellites of, the blonde bombshell.[8] Some of the movie stars, largely of the 1940s–1960s, referred to as bombshells include Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth,[9] Diana Dors,[10] Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren,[11] Jane Russell, Ava Gardner, Camelia, Carroll Baker, Brigitte Bardot,[12] Kim Novak, Julie Christie, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Ann-Margret, Hind Rostom, Veronica Lake, Raquel Welch, Ursula Andress,[13] Marlene Dietrich, Betty Grable, Marie Wilson, Judy Holliday, Lana Turner, Dorothy Dandridge, Barbara Eden, Carol Wayne, Goldie Hawn, Claudia Cardinale, Anita Ekberg and Gina Lollobrigida[14]

The epithet rose sharply in popularity after the death of Marilyn Monroe in 1962, and declined in popularity in the late 1960s due to emerging ideological conflicts.

Stereotype

Bombshells are identified with hypersexuality, their curves, including hourglass figures and large breasts, sex appeal, larger than life personas or hedonistic lifestyle,[15] as well as stereotypes associated with blonde women and supermodels.[16]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Definition of BOMBSHELL. www.merriam-webster.com.
  2. Web site: bombshell – Definition of bombshell in English by Oxford Dictionaries. https://web.archive.org/web/20130803233819/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/bombshell. dead. August 3, 2013. Oxford Dictionaries – English.
  3. Web site: Bombshell . Dictionary.reference.com . 2012-08-20.
  4. Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow by David Stenn, page 151, 162
  5. The Guide to United States Popular Culture, 2001,, p. 922
  6. Grant David McCracken."Marilyn Monroe, the Inventor of Blondeness", Culture And Consumption II: Markets, Meaning, And Brand Management, page 93, Indiana University Press, 2005,
  7. Richard Havers, Richard Evans, Marilyn, 2010,, p. 16.
  8. Katie King and Debra Walker King, Body Politics and the Fictional Double, page 157, Indiana University Press, 2000,
  9. Web site: Callahan. Dan. Get To Know Rita Hayworth, The Reluctant Bombshell. 2020-09-16. Nylon. en. Nylon Magazine
  10. Web site: Rozen. Leah. The British Marilyn: Blonde Bombshell Diana Dors. 2020-09-16. BBC America. en-US.
  11. Web site: Nolasco. Stephanie. 2020-02-27. '50s sex symbol Mamie Van Doren on leaving Hollywood after Marilyn Monroe's death: 'There were a lot of drugs'. 2020-09-16. Fox News. en-US.
  12. Web site: Brigitte Bardot's Best Bombshell Moments at the Cannes Film Festival. 2020-09-16. W Magazine Women's Fashion & Celebrity News. en-US.
  13. [Harry M. Benshoff]
  14. The Italian Bombshell Who Proved That Life Is About Much More Than Curves. https://web.archive.org/web/20150724020431/http://time.com/3957219/gina-lollobrigida/. dead. July 24, 2015. Eliza. Berman. Time.
  15. Book: Stephanie Ann Smith. Household words: bloomers, sucker, bombshell, scab, nigger, cyber. 13 September 2011. 1 January 2006. U of Minnesota Press. 978-0-8166-4553-4. 74.
  16. Afshan Jafar and Erynn Masi de Casanova (edited), Global Beauty, Local Bodies, page 73, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013,

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