Appropriator of Holocaust imagery. Literary Marilyn Monroe. Above all, she is treated as a symptom, a manifestation of any number of cultural malaises. Her name is often thrown into debate to denote a figure of female instability or a victim of patriarchal attitudes. Her relationship with Hughes is read in a way that corresponds with the current location of the faultline of male-female relationships and collaborations.
Popular culture is full of Plath citings.
Gwyneth Paltrow is another potential Sylvia, although this project appears now to be on hold. You see, it's simply a very young girl's record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication. The decision to publish the journals in their entirety was made by Ted Hughes, a few years before his death. He never discussed why. The journals, dating from 1950 to 1962, had been at Smith College in Massachusetts since 1981, in the archives of the college's rare book collection.