aela West
Guillermo Reyes
THE 405: The Oscars
Final Paper As actors are the most influential block of the Academy, it is easy to understand why both films, “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Network” are so successful. Both films featured outstanding performances, arguably none more outstanding than that of the female lead in “A Streetcar Named Desire” Vivien Leigh. While the performances off all the actors in each of the films are notable, to accurately discuss how the actors, distinguish themselves, some context of the plot of each film must be noted, so that the characters (and therefore the actor’s performances playing said actors) can be fairly observed. The emphasis on the explanation of plot will be geared to focus on actor
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After many harsh words, threats of loss of position for both Beale and Schumacher, Diane Christensen steps in. Head of the programs networking department, she sees that the ratings for Beale’s show has gone through the roof, and wants to not only keep him on air, but give him his own show, and essentially exploit his mental illness for profit and ratings. Schumacher disagrees with this policy and leaves the company. Meanwhile, an unlikely romance has sprung up between Schumacher and Christensen, though Schumacher is a married man. This relationship is where the viewer can see some truly moving acting for Christensen’s character (Faye Dunaway). Schumacher wife (Beatrice Straight) has a monologue when he leaves her for Christensen, one that shines in its authentic sorrow, pain and love. Howard Beale (Peter Finch) goes on to express various lunacy on stage, once again delivering truly moving acting work on Finches part. He host’s his own show, called “The Howard Beale Show” that has exceptional ratings and a very loyal fan base. A very memorable moment is during one of Beale’s tirades when he tells his viewers to stick their heads out the window and shout “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore”. Amazingly tons of people all over the world do exactly that, the phrase becomes the show’s mantra and an indicator of Beale’s remaining career. This spiel and various other are a great example of Finch’s
A Streetcar Named Desire is focused almost completely on its three protagonists: Blanche, Stella, and Stanley. It could be suggested that this play was influenced by Williams’ own upbringing: his sister Rose was mentally ill, and Williams’ was a doting older brother. Potentially, Blanche was inspired by Rose and that this play uses his unique perspective to comment on the treatment of the mentally ill. Williams may be using Stella’s conflict to highlight this.
Comparing the play versus, the movie versions of A Streetcar Named Desire has been entertaining and enlightening. Originally written as a play, Tennessee Williams later adapted it into a screenplay for the film version. Consequently, both versions were extremely popular in their own right. Drama and social taboos create an emotionally charged viewing adventure. Williams characters are complex, exciting and just crazy enough to keep the audience spellbound. The DuBois sisters are complete opposites sharing only their love for each other as common ground. Blanche, the older sister, shows up for an impromptu visit with her sister Stella Kowalski. Stella and her husband Stanley live in New Orleans, in the French Quarter. Blanche has become destitute and has lost the family plantation. Stanley, incensed by the idea that Blanche has taken the plantation from him, sets out to destroy her by any and all means. The characters and performers provide a riveting and consequently soulful performance that is hauntingly unforgettable. Williams writing moves the audience to tears with dynamic characters, conflict and catastrophe of unimaginable depth.
The play A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, is a play about a woman named Blanche Dubois who goes to live with her sister after she loses her home in Mississippi. Between the hardships of her previous life and the way she is treated now, she is not in a good way by the time the play ends. She basically has a mental breakdown. There are three stages of Blanche’s mental state. She lives in a fantasy, Mitch rejecting her, and Stanley raping her, Blanche is mentally unstable by the end of this ply.
Based on Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Elia Kazan creates an award winning movie that helps readers visualize Stanley’s primal masculinity, the inner torments of the Kowalski women and the clash of the other characters’ problems which create a chaotic mess. Using stage directions in the play, William hints that Blanche is not who she appears to be while the movie subtly sheds light on Blanche’s strange little habits that suggests a bigger issue. The movie also censors many of the main themes in Williams’ play but makes up for it by having its actors flawlessly portray the characters’ emotions, allowing the readers to see the
In Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams explores the internal conflict of illusion versus reality through the characters. Humans often use illusion to save us pain and it allows us to enjoy pleasure instead. However, as illusion clashes with reality, one can forget the difference between the two. When people are caught up in their illusions, eventually they must face reality even if it is harsh. In the play, Blanche suffers from the struggle of what is real and what is fake because of the difficult events of her past. Blanche comes to her sister Stella seeking aid because she has lost her home, her job, and her family. To deal with this terrible part of her life, she uses fantasy to escape her dreadful reality. Blanche’s embracement of a fantasy world can be categorized by her attempts to revive her youth, her relationship struggles, and attempts to escape her past.
In the classic fairytale of Cinderella, the main character is trapped in an abusive household. However, Cinderella’s self-perception of optimism and hope, enables her to believe that ultimately, her life will naturally improve with these attributes. True to her convictions, Cinderella gets her happily ever after by going to the ball where the prince falls in love with her. Cinderella is saved from her evil. On the other hand, Cinderella can be viewed as a victim who does nothing to enable herself to escape her abusive reality, insteads helplessly waits for fate to intervene. She does not confront the situation nor independently strive to improve her circumstances. Correspondingly, how individuals act when faced with conflict is strongly influenced by their self-perception. It is possible to become confused between reality and illusion, which is determined by their level of self-awareness. In Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar Named Desire, the character of Stella struggles between the control of her husband and sister. Throughout the play, this conflict is demonstrated as she struggles with becoming aware of her abusive household and the contrast to the fairytale illusion she desperately clings to. Ultimately, Stella’s choice to maintain her illusion, rather than confronting her reality, is due to the self-perception of her need to depend on others and desire for idealism, which overall controls her fate.
The author, Tennessee Williams, does a phenomenal job of portraying Blanche Dubois as a deceiving, manipulative, arrogant person in his book “A Streetcar named Desire”. Williams first showcases these characteristics during the arrival of Blanche. This introduction not only sets a mood and tone but it gives us our first impression of Blanche. Overall this impression leaves the audience with a sour taste in their mouths and ill feelings towards the new girl. However, don’t be so quick to jump the gun. What if I said Blanche isn’t the villain she’s depicted as in this story?
A Streetcar Named Desire written by Tennessee 0portray a play center and revolving around characters and New Orleans. The two settings are completely different we are introduced to Elysian Field where the Kowalski live and then Blanche from Belle Reve a high class society. Stella has written to Blanche “She wasn’t expecting to find us in such a small place. You see I’d tried to gloss things over a little in my letters” (31). Blanche meanwhile travelled to stay with the Kowalski on two streetcars which will ultimately determine her faith she longs for desire but could not bear the sign of death.
There are 3 major themes in the play A Streetcar Named Desire, the first is the constant battle between fantasy and reality, second we have the relationship between sexuality and death, and lastly the dependence of men plays a major role in this book.
In the opening two scenes of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by Tennessee Williams, the audience has its first and generally most important impressions formulated on characters, the plot and the mood and tone of the play overall.
It is evident in A Streetcar Named Desire, that Williams explores the class differences relating to conflict at this time of post-war America. Through William’s use of stage directions and dialogue to show how the conflict heightens due to the underlying class differences. However, this is challenged partially due to other factors that create conflict and tension. As at this time America was very much a society where class was important and respected and Williams clearly portrays this as Blanche very much confirms to society’s social class standards as she was very much influenced by social class all throughout her life, however the more explicit factor of gender leads up to the conflict in a greater way.
“A Streetcar Named Desire” is a playwright about a woman named Blanche DuBois who goes and visits her sister Stella and her sister’s husband Stanley. She tells them she is just there on vacation, but in reality has lost the family mansion, her job, and a place in the town she lived in. Ms. DuBois lost her job and was kicked out of her town due to the fact that she was caught sleeping with a seventeen-year-old that she was teaching. She lies to her sister and convinces her that she is just visiting and will eventually go back home. Stanley catches on to her lies and calls her out on them and in scene eleven they decide to put her in a mental hospital by convincing her she is going on vacation. Ms. DuBois begins to ramble about her death because she believes she will die from eating unwashed grapes. She says her death will happen on a ship and her body will be “buried at sea sewn up in a clean white sack and dropped overboard…into an ocean as blue as my first lover’s eyes” (1174). Ms. DuBois seems to have rehearsed her soliloquy about her death so that, when she said it aloud everyone would understand that she was at peace with the fact that she would soon die also, the meaning of the unwashed grape, the white sack, and the blue ocean.
A Streetcar Named Desire 's original drafts were started in the early 1940s by playwright Tennessee Williams, who prepared and tested numerous titles for the work. Eventually, the completed play opened on December 3, 1947 in New York City staring Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski and directed by Elia Kazan. This run of Streetcar lasted 855 performances until 1949 and won Williams a Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics ' Circle Award. Later, in 1951, the film version was adapted and stared Brando along side Vivien Leigh as Blanche with Kazan holding the seat as director once again. Both the play and film adaptations of A Streetcar Named Desire have received critical acclaim and much success, so much so that Williams work is both
This 1950's theatrical presentation was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Tennessee Williams. It is about a southern bell by the name of Blanche Dubois who loses her father's plantation to a mortgage and travels to live in her sister's home in New Orleans by means of a streetcar called Desire. There she finds her sister living in a mess with a drunken bully husband, and the events that follow cause Blanche to step over the line of insanity and fall victim to life's harsh lessons.
When she arrives on her sister’s doorstep, the tragic hero of Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois, is blatantly out of place. However, with no where else to go, the former aristocrat arrives at the home of Stella and her husband Stanley in downtown New Orleans. Once there, Blanche seeks refuge from reality through the acceptance of men. However, Stanley, sees through Blanche’s compulsive lies and investigates her suspicions past. After being confronted and sexually abused Blache’s increasingly disillusioned mental state compels Stella to put her sister in a mental hospital. Willy Loman, the protagonist of Arthur Miller’s play Death of A Salesman, experiences a similar mental deterioration. After an unsuccessful business