Normal People ruins Marianne by making her "too normal" and not "kind of gross"

The Cut

In the book, Daisy Edgar-Jones' Marianne "wears 'cheap black underwear' for the big day, her underarms are 'chalky with deodorant' and 'her nose is running a little,'" says Angelina Chapin. "She’s shaved her legs, a notable fact only because her hairy stems are the subject of high-school gossip. In short, she looks kind of gross, and Connell is ashamed of his attraction to her, a key tension that makes Marianne’s character, and the way she behaves in their relationship, so compelling. Yet this element of physical repulsiveness is whitewashed from the show." Chapin adds: "The fact that TV Marianne is a smokeshow may seem like a run-of-the-mill, everyday sexism-style disappointment. We all know women aren’t allowed to be ugly onscreen, haha sad! But in Normal People, while the actress Daisy Edgar-Jones’s doe eyes, flawless skin, and stylish clothes may have been a ploy to draw in more viewers, it is one of the many ways the show ruins her character. Despite being created by a young female author, Marianne’s the most disappointing part of a series that will otherwise make your heart and loins remember what it’s like to be a horny teenager in love for the first time...Instead of being ugly and off-putting, Edgar-Jones’s Marianne is all pouty lips and stylish chunky knit sweaters too fashionable for any social outcast. The French braid she wears to school feels like some producer’s last-minute attempt to take her down a few notches. The more crude parts of her personality have been neutered, like when she and Connell visit an abandoned house and she asks, 'If I wanted you to fuck me here, would you do it?' And key moments meant to evoke disgust — like when she spills yogurt on her shirt in the school lunchroom and scoops it up with a spoon — just seem cute, like a sweet cat lapping up spilled milk. The fact that Marianne’s being harassed everyday in the hallways comes across like an unfortunate high-school reality rather than a reflection of how she feels broken inside. And instead of harboring a secret desire to join a clique, TV Marianne seems to be biding her time, already wise enough to know that the bullying goons will soon be irrelevant. She’s too normal! She’s not messy enough!"

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