A Streetcar Named Desire is Marlon Brando's 1951 film by director Elia Kazan that he co wrote with Oscar Saul and Tennessee Williams based on Williams’ 1947 Pulitzer Prize winning play.
The film is about 2 sisters and their fall from a wealthy Mississippi plantation to the 1st floor of a sweaty, dilapidated apartment building in New Orleans called Elysian Fields. Stella marries Stanley Kowalski, a primitive who lives on blind instinct. Blanche DuBois, Stella’s older sister, is a fading belle with a checkered past she is trying to escape, a past that includes a seedy hotel called The Flamingo, a 17 year old boy, and memories of a lost love. As long as she has her Stanley, Stella is fine with Elysian. But not Blanche; she knows that the only way to change her life and escape her past is to leave Elysian. Only 2 things stand in her way--Stanley Kowalski and desire! A Streetcar Named Desire stars Karl Malden, Kim Hunter, Vivien Leigh, and Marlon Brando who earned the 1st of his 4 Best Actor nominations for his role as Stanley Kowalski. The film was nominated for 12 Oscars, winning in 4 categories for Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), Best Supporting Actress (Kim Hunter), Best Supporting Actor (Karl Malden), and Best Art Direction (Richard Day, George James Hopkins). In this presentation, I will look at themes from the film and offer my personal thoughts at the end.
Self-discipline
Self-discipline is among the many attributes that distinguish humans from all other animals. In A Streetcar Named Desire, former Belle Blanche DuBois describes Stanley Kowalski as “an animal...something not quite to the stage of humanity yet! Something ape-like.”
Self-discipline is among the many attributes that distinguish humans from all other animals. In A Streetcar Named Desire, former Belle Blanche DuBois describes Stanley Kowalski as “an animal...something not quite to the stage of humanity yet! Something ape-like.”
Stanley’s 1st scene is a brawl in a bowling alley followed by a domestic scene where he throws a radio out the window; and in another scene, he beats Stella and cries like a baby to get her to come back to him. These scenes establish his character as 1 driven by base human elements, primarily passion.
But the film also shows how Stanley’s energy and passion work to his advantage: how his aggression translates to his job where he does a great deal of traveling, a position that demands drive, something Stella is proud to point out to Blanche who is very critical of Stanley. Blanche is also surprised that Stanley was a Master Sergeant in the Engineers’ Corps during his time in the military.
Stanley’s aggressive personality is a turn-on to Stella. When Blanche arrives at Elysian, Stella is proud to point him out in a brawl in the bowling alley; Stella even admits to being turned on seeing Stanley smash the light bulbs in their apartment on their wedding night. By contrast, Stanley’s friend Mitch, who prides himself on being a gentleman, is--unlike Stanley--SINGLE. The truth of the matter is that women, like Stella, seem to be more attracted to bad boys.
Hypocrisy
Blanche condemns her sister for leaving Belle Reve and going down in class to marry Stanley often referring to him as an animal and a Polack. But Blanche is not the Ms. Goody Two-Shoes she pretends to be and Stanley sees through her right off the bat. Through some of his friends, he digs up the dirt in her past such as the fact that she once worked as a prostitute out of this hotel called the Flamingo and that she got fired from her teaching job for fooling around with a 17 year old boy.
Blanche condemns her sister for leaving Belle Reve and going down in class to marry Stanley often referring to him as an animal and a Polack. But Blanche is not the Ms. Goody Two-Shoes she pretends to be and Stanley sees through her right off the bat. Through some of his friends, he digs up the dirt in her past such as the fact that she once worked as a prostitute out of this hotel called the Flamingo and that she got fired from her teaching job for fooling around with a 17 year old boy.
Mommas boys
Stanley’s childlike personality brings out Stella’s nurturing side. After he beats Stella and she runs upstairs to her friend Eunice’s apartment, he gets her to come back to him by crying like a baby. And when Blanche rebukes Stella for allowing Stanley to manipulate her, Stella becomes defensive just like a mother standing up for her kid. Stella also cleans up the mess he makes when he throws his temper tantrums.
Stanley’s childlike personality brings out Stella’s nurturing side. After he beats Stella and she runs upstairs to her friend Eunice’s apartment, he gets her to come back to him by crying like a baby. And when Blanche rebukes Stella for allowing Stanley to manipulate her, Stella becomes defensive just like a mother standing up for her kid. Stella also cleans up the mess he makes when he throws his temper tantrums.
Like Stanley, Mitch’s childlike personality appeals to Blanche. Mitch is looking for another mother to replace his own mother who is dying. His mother is also concerned about him finding someone to take care of him(this is why she wants to know how old Blanche is). His mother still treats him like a child, worrying about him if he stays out too late; he believes that Blanche is the lady that she pretends to be. And to her, he is a safe alternative for her attraction to boys as she can vicariously live out those fantasies with him.
Paradise Lost
Shame
Gen. 3:6-10, “6When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Shame
Gen. 3:6-10, “6When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois is fearful of people finding out her age; she is fearful of people finding out her past in Laurel where she turned tricks as prostitute; and she is ashamed of people finding out that she was kicked out of Laurel for being involved with a 17 year old boy who happened to be 1 of her students.
By contrast, Stella is not ashamed of her desires and the fact that she left Belle Reve to marry a brute like Stanley Kowalski. She admits to being turned on by Stanley’s aggressiveness and even after he beats her she returns to him the same night and is not ashamed of doing it, even in the face of her sister’s criticism.
Desire
Matt. 10:34-36, “34Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to turn a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”
Matt. 10:34-36, “34Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to turn a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”
Although Blanche is trying to escape her past, temptation follows her to the Elysian apartments. There she is tempted--right off the bat--by Stanley who peels off his T-shirt in front of her. She is tempted by alcohol. And in a moment of weakness, she is also tempted by the sight of a paperboy.
Matt. 13:25, “But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.”
Notice that in this parable weeds are sown while we are asleep. The weeds that this parable speaks of is human nature--emotions and cravings we are born with, that we are controlled by, and that we learn to cultivate through discipline. Human nature is synonymous with Stanley who has no discipline over his impulses. Blanche DuBois may be a hypocrite but she is also trying to overcome her desires and start a new life. Blanche is not like her sister who has given in to the desires of her flesh. And because Blanche has not given up on leaving Elysian, she is a threat to Stanley’s control over Stella.
The curtain
Blanche has a checkered past but portrays herself as the ideal woman, telling Mitch that she is a Virgo--which is synonymous with the word virgin--and also telling him that her name means white in French. Mitch is naive and falls for her superior act, referring to her as Miss DuBois and expressing his disapproval over the guys playing poker in front of “ladies.”
Blanche has a checkered past but portrays herself as the ideal woman, telling Mitch that she is a Virgo--which is synonymous with the word virgin--and also telling him that her name means white in French. Mitch is naive and falls for her superior act, referring to her as Miss DuBois and expressing his disapproval over the guys playing poker in front of “ladies.”
But Stanley is not naive and on to Blanche from Day 1. Unlike Mitch, Stanley doesn’t buy into appearances because he knows that a woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion. He knows that she is hiding secrets under the fake furs, costume jewelry and superior airs and later in the film, he uncovers all of her dark secrets.
Death
Gen 2:15-17, “15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Gen 2:15-17, “15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Desire is the forbidden fruit and the penalty for partaking of it is death. Yet, after eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve do not die--or do they?
Job 10:4, “Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?”
God, being the spiritual being that he is condemns Adam and Eve to a spiritual death. Likewise, death takes on other forms in A Streetcar Named Desire.
Job 10:4, “Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?”
God, being the spiritual being that he is condemns Adam and Eve to a spiritual death. Likewise, death takes on other forms in A Streetcar Named Desire.
The aging process
There are 2 types of death in Streetcar: a death that is like a corpse you see at a funeral--and the type of death that occurs incrementally over time as Blanche says to Stella in describing those she saw die at Belle Reve: “funerals are pretty compared to deaths. Funerals are quiet, but deaths--not always. Sometimes their breathing is hoarse, and sometimes it rattles, and sometimes they even cry out to you, "Don't let me go!" Even the old, sometimes, say, "Don't let me go.”--The death of Belle Reve is a metaphor for Blanche who--like the Elysian apartment building--is slowly disintegrating: “I never was hard or sell-sufficient enough,” she tells Stella, and “when people are soft,” she says “--soft people have got to shimmer and glow--they've got to put on soft colors, the colors of butterfly wings, and put a-- paper lantern over the light.... It isn't enough to be soft. You've got to be soft and attractive. And I--I'm fading now! I don't know how much longer I can turn the trick.”
There are 2 types of death in Streetcar: a death that is like a corpse you see at a funeral--and the type of death that occurs incrementally over time as Blanche says to Stella in describing those she saw die at Belle Reve: “funerals are pretty compared to deaths. Funerals are quiet, but deaths--not always. Sometimes their breathing is hoarse, and sometimes it rattles, and sometimes they even cry out to you, "Don't let me go!" Even the old, sometimes, say, "Don't let me go.”--The death of Belle Reve is a metaphor for Blanche who--like the Elysian apartment building--is slowly disintegrating: “I never was hard or sell-sufficient enough,” she tells Stella, and “when people are soft,” she says “--soft people have got to shimmer and glow--they've got to put on soft colors, the colors of butterfly wings, and put a-- paper lantern over the light.... It isn't enough to be soft. You've got to be soft and attractive. And I--I'm fading now! I don't know how much longer I can turn the trick.”
The Varsouviana
This song is the theme of death throughout the film, playing on the night Blanches’ young husband, Allen, commits suicide; playing when Mitch breaks up with Blanche over her past; and playing the night of Blanche’s birthday party when Mitch doesn’t show after Stanley tells him about her past as a prostitute.
This song is the theme of death throughout the film, playing on the night Blanches’ young husband, Allen, commits suicide; playing when Mitch breaks up with Blanche over her past; and playing the night of Blanche’s birthday party when Mitch doesn’t show after Stanley tells him about her past as a prostitute.
Hell
Rev. 6:8, “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”
Everyone in Elysian lives in a Hell. Stella’s Hell is a dysfunctional and abusive marriage; Blanche’s Hell is fear of her past coming to light.
Rev. 6:8, “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”
Everyone in Elysian lives in a Hell. Stella’s Hell is a dysfunctional and abusive marriage; Blanche’s Hell is fear of her past coming to light.
Ghetto mentality
When we think of a ghetto, what usually comes to mind is a poor community with minorities but a ghetto is any community that is restricted to its own kind. Isolated from other communities that are different from its own, the ghetto-dweller’s perspective is shaped by what he is exposed to and becomes the norm; such is the case with the people who live in Elysian Fields:
When we think of a ghetto, what usually comes to mind is a poor community with minorities but a ghetto is any community that is restricted to its own kind. Isolated from other communities that are different from its own, the ghetto-dweller’s perspective is shaped by what he is exposed to and becomes the norm; such is the case with the people who live in Elysian Fields:
For instance, when Stanley throws a tantrum and beats Stella she leaves him but goes back to him and they make up. When their neighbors upstairs, Steve and Eunice, get into a fight and Steve hits her, Eunice leaves him but goes back to him and they make up repeating the cycle. Blanche is shocked seeing Stanley hit Stella and more shocked to find Stella back with Stanley afterwards. Mitch, on the other hand, is matter-of-fact about Stanley hitting Stella, telling Blanche that it happens all the time.
Breaking the cycle
Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Stella gives up Belle Reve without a fight unlike Blanche who does fight to keep the plantation because, although she is a hypocrite, she is also--through her struggle to keep Belle Reve--trying to resist her desires. Their attitudes towards the Elysian apartment also differ. Whereas Blanche is horrified by Stanley’s outbursts, Stella is used to them and defends him, telling Blanche that Stanley just doesn’t know what he is doing when he hits her and that he is really ashamed of himself afterwards. Blanche thinks that the rundown apartment is beneath their standards but Stella doesn’t mind living in the apartment and has no plans to leave unlike Blanche who hopes that marrying Mitch will enable her to leave.
Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Stella gives up Belle Reve without a fight unlike Blanche who does fight to keep the plantation because, although she is a hypocrite, she is also--through her struggle to keep Belle Reve--trying to resist her desires. Their attitudes towards the Elysian apartment also differ. Whereas Blanche is horrified by Stanley’s outbursts, Stella is used to them and defends him, telling Blanche that Stanley just doesn’t know what he is doing when he hits her and that he is really ashamed of himself afterwards. Blanche thinks that the rundown apartment is beneath their standards but Stella doesn’t mind living in the apartment and has no plans to leave unlike Blanche who hopes that marrying Mitch will enable her to leave.
Streetcar ends on a bittersweet note. Yes, Blanche is committed to an institution after being raped by Stanley but by this time Stella has a real baby to direct her love to and leaves Stanley for good.
Wrap
This film is faithful to Tennessee Williams’ 1947 play but there are some differences, particularly the play’s darker ending. In the film’s coming-of-age character arc, Stella eventually leaves Stanley but in the play she stays with him. Another difference between the film and play involves the rape scene with the play’ being more explicit than the film. Also, Blanche is more explicit in recounting her husband’s homosexual affair.
With the exception of Vivien Leigh, the films’ leading actors--Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden--starred in the original Broadway production which was also directed by Elia Kazan. Brando, Hunter, and Malden have the same roles in the play as they have in the film with the exception of Blanche DuBois in the play which went to Jessica Tandy who won a Tony for Leading Actress in 1948. Brando’s performance in the film confirms my opinion that he is the best actor ever. That he, through Kowalski, can provoke such revulsion and contempt attests to his command over his craft. Kim Hunter is also well-cast as Stella and Karl Malden is perfect as Mitch. But the standout performance in the film--and arguably the best female acting performance ever--is Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois.
Vivien 1st played Blanche in the play’s 1949 London debut which was directed by her then husband Laurence Olivier. After 326 performances in the play, it stands to reason that Mrs. Leigh’s command of her character is due to the sheer brute force that comes with familiarity and repetition. It can be argued that Blanche DuBois’ wild mood swings in the film were fueled by the actress’ real-life struggle with bipolar disorder, a condition she claims was exacerbated playing Blanche DuBois which tipped her over into madness. In any case, her acting is among the best ever irrespective of gender.
Again, enough can’t be said about the film’s acting, 1 of only 2 films--along with Sydney Lumet’s 1976 satire Network--to win 3 Oscars in this category: Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Actress, Karl Malden, Kim Hunter, and Vivien Leigh, respectively; Brando was also nominated for Best Actor.
Elia Kazan had the most productive and artistically successful career of any director within a given decade, directing 8 films from 1950-57 including, arguably, 3 of the best films ever in A Streetcar Named Desire, On The Waterfront, and East Of Eden.
A Streetcar Named Desire is the 1st Tennessee Williams Play I’ve read and I must confess that he was a great writer. When I read the play, I could see and hear all the characters in the film. I’m not sure Streetcar is THE greatest film ever, but it is definitely up there with the best.
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