Will anyone ever again be as famous as Marilyn and Elvis?

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This article is part of our Summer reads series. Visit the full collection for book lists, guest essays and more seasonal distractions. Neither needs a surname.

Neither really needs a name at all: poses and disembodied features are enough to evoke their legends. Red lips and that beauty spot mean Marilyn, as does the dress billowing above the subway grate that is the opening image in “Blonde", a punishing vision of her story out on Netflix on September 28th. The quiff and swivelling hips stand for Elvis, celebrated by Baz Luhrmann in his latest film.

Wildly different in tone, these movies are alike in their gimmicky ambition. “Elvis" is all shook up by split-screen antics and a flashback narration by Colonel Tom Parker, the King’s mountebank manager, played by Tom Hanks. “Blonde" includes shots from the point of view of Marilyn’s cervix.

But the standout fact about both is that they were made—almost 70 years after Marilyn sang “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend" and Elvis recorded his first track. Will any of today’s stars (Beyoncé, say, or Harry Styles) be so cherished 70 years from now? Will anyone, in fact, ever be as famous as Elvis and Marilyn again? In “Blonde" (based on a novel by Joyce Carol Oates), the lights that illuminate the iconic dress scene bombard Marilyn like artillery. Men—directors, lovers, husbands, a president—patronise, exploit, hound, abuse and rape her.

“Marilyn" is a role she reluctantly performs, as the icy sequences filmed in golden-era black and white convey. Elvis (Austin Butler) is manipulated by Colonel Tom and doped by unscrupulous doctors. In both cases celebrity is a cult that destroys those it venerates, fame a heartbreak hotel with only one exit.