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Plot Analysis
Set in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the restless years following
World War Two, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE is the story of Blanche DuBois, a
fragile and neurotic woman on a desperate prowl for someplace in the world to
call her own. After being exiled from her hometown of Laurel, Mississippi for
seducing a seventeen-year-old boy at the school where she taught English,
Blanche explains her unexpected appearance on Stanley and Stella's (Blanche's
sister) doorstep as nervous exhaustion. This, she claims, is the result of a
series of financial calamities which have recently claimed the family
plantation, Belle Reve. Suspicious, Stanley points out that *under Louisiana's
Napoleonic code what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband.* Stanley, a
sinewy and brutish man, is as territorial as a panther. He tells Blanche he
doesn't like to be swindled and demands to see the bill of sale. This encounter
defines Stanley and Blanche's relationship. They are opposing camps and Stella
is caught in no-man's-land. But Stanley and Stella are deeply in love. Blanche's
efforts to impose herself between them only enrages the animal inside Stanley.
When Mitch -- a card-playing buddy of Stanley's -- arrives on the scene, Blanche
begins to see a way out of her predicament. Mitch, himself alone in the world,
reveres Blanche as a beautiful and refined woman. Yet, as rumors of Blanche's
past in Laurel begin to catch up to her, her circumstances become unbearable. |
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The character
that fantasizes me most, is Blanche. She
has reached that age in life where she knows
that she will probably never marry, never
have a home of her own, never have any children
or a place in society, an old maid.
The only
love affair she has had is one of her students
from the school where she is a teacher.
(Sound familiar with what is happening
today, with 2 notorious teachers seducing
young boys in their classes).
She really
is a tragic figure with no future, nor even
a place to stay. But, you can still
see that little ray of hope that she
carries around, still trying to make herself
believe that all will turn out ok.
I think we
can all see a little of ourselves in Blanch.
As our beauty fades and men no longer
desire us, we mourn our undesirability.
We miss the company of men.
Vergie
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In 1951, Elia Kazan directed a movie based on the play; Vivien Leigh replaced Tandy
but the other three main characters remained the same. In 1999 the film, widely regarded a classic, was deemed
"culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for
preservation in the National Film Registry. Censorship of
the time called for the end of the film involving Stella's renunciation of
Stanley's rape, perhaps to the point of leaving the household. The actual play's
ending is far more ambiguous with a distraught Stella (at having sent off her
sister Blanche) mutely allowing herself to be raped by Stanley.
The movie won Academy
Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting
Role (Karl Malden), Best Actress in a Leading Role
(Vivien Leigh), Best Actress in a
Supporting Role (Kim Hunter), and Best Art Direction -- Set
Decoration, Black-and-White. It was also nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role
(Marlon Brando), Best Cinematography,
Black-and-White, Best Costume Design,
Black-and-White, Best Director, Best Music, Scoring of a
Dramatic or Comedy Picture, Best Picture, Best Sound,
Recording and Best Writing,
Screenplay.
Source:
Wikipedia Encyclopedia
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Details
- Actors: Vivien
Leigh, Marlon
Brando, Karl
Malden
- Directors: Elia
Kazan
- Format: Bw, Closed-captioned, Hi-fidelity
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rated:
- Studio: Warner Studios
- DVD Release Date: May 18, 1999
- Run Time: 125 minutes
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