Film Analysis: A Streetcar Named Desire

Throughout history empowerment and marginalization has primarily been based on gender. In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, this idea of empowerment is strongly flaunted. Tennessee Williams’ characters, primarily Stanley, Blanche, Mitch, and Stella, conform the expected roles of men and women at the time. Although World War Two temporarily allowed women a place in the work force, they were dismissed from such empowerment when the war came to a close. Characters in A Streetcar Named Desire are accurate representations of the social historical context of that time. The power struggle between Stanley and Blanche conveys dominant ideas about gender such as the primitive nature, aggression, and

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams is a play about a woman named Blanche Dubois who is in misplaced circumstances. Her life is lived through fantasies, the remembrance of her lost husband and the resentment that she feels for her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Various moral and ethical lessons arise in this play such as: Lying ultimately gets you nowhere, Abuse is never good, Treat people how you want to be treated, Stay true to yourself and Don’t judge a book by its cover.

In Elia Kazan’s 1951 film, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” many intense elements are incorporated, including those of a heartless antagonist, a whimsical protagonist, and several supporting characters who help to portray the principle themes and advance the plot. In this film, the genre of Southern gothic, the setting in a miserable, cramped apartment building in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, and the overall plot contribute to the main underlying themes of human cruelty and kindness.

The arts stir emotion in audiences. Whether it is hate or humor, compassion or confusion, passion or pity, an artist's goal is to construct a particular feeling in an individual. Tennessee Williams is no different. In A Streetcar Named Desire, the audience is confronted with a blend of many unique emotions, perhaps the strongest being sympathy. Blanch Dubois is presented as the sympathetic character in Tennessee William's A Streetcar Named Desire as she battles mental anguish, depression, failure and disaster.

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

Much like Mitch, Stella does nothing to address Stanley’s overemphasized masculinity. Stella has convinced herself that she enjoys her role as Stanley’s sexual object, which allows him to continue his problematic behavior. She is there for his gratification and her well-being is irrelevant. To be fair, during this time period Stella did not have many options for herself if she were to leave Stanley, but her complacency speaks volumes. Stella is the example of what happens when no one challenges a patriarchal society. She is complacent and therefore in part responsible for her own downfall as well as Blanche’s. Her failure to acknowledge the assault Stanley carried out on her sister is almost just as bad as the assault itself. The reader is left to assume that because she has refused to stand up to Stanley for herself or for her sister, her son will grow up to be like his father, creating another generation of Kowalski men who believe that being a man means being brutal and oversexualized. Stella is undeniably in a tough situation and her fear of ending up like her

Tennessee Williams is regarded as a pioneering playwright of American theatre. Through his plays, Williams addresses important issues that no other writers of his time were willing to discuss, including addiction, substance abuse, and mental illness. Recurring themes in William’s works include the dysfunctional family, obsessive and absent mothers and fathers, and emotionally damaged women. These characters were inspired by his experiences with his own family. These characters appear repeatedly in his works with their own recurring themes. Through The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams presents the similar thematic elements of illusion, escape, and fragility between the two plays, proving that although similar, the themes within these plays are not simply recycled, as the differences in their respective texts highlight the differences of the human condition.

Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams are each widely considered to be two of the most illustrious and groundbreaking modern American playwrights, and their signature work -- Death of a Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire – respectively, are also their most tragic pieces. Miller’s Death of a Salesman is, ultimately, a play focusing on the tragic consequences of Willy Loman’s unwavering belief in the American dream and its associated progress and success, where he is tragically too human, believing the values that matter in family are equally important in the world of business. Similarly, Blanche DuBois in Tennessee William’s Streetcar feigns her appearance and refuses move on from her past life of luxury, holding onto and creating new desires

Established as one of the most prolific playwrights of the 20th century, Tennessee Williams used his writing as a form of therapy. The author came from a troubled background consisting of alcoholism, mental breakdowns, and general unhappiness; Williams exploited these unfortunate events and allowed them to motivate his literature. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois’ struggles represent the reality of people’s lives, “an enduring concern of [Williams’] throughout his writing career (Henthorne 1). Blanche captures our focus with her seemingly sincere and fragile nature, but it is later revealed that this is just an illusion within her own mind. She resides in a world of fantasy to shield herself against the harsh threats of reality and her own fears. Blanche’s main objective in the play is to keep herself from falling apart in a world of cruelty through alcoholism and illusion. Through the characterization of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams depicts the coping mechanism of fantasy and its detrimental repercussions by exploring the specific experiences that eventually impede her happiness.

A Streetcar Named Desire is a socially challenging play in light of the way in which Tennessee Williams depicts the capacity of human nature for brutality and deceit.  He takes the viewpoint that, no matter how structured or 'civilized' society is, all people will rely on their natural animal instincts, such as dominance and deception, to get themselves out of trouble at some stage in life.  William's has created three main characters, Blanche Dubois, Stella Kowalski and Stanley Kowalski. Each of these characters is equally as civilized as the next, yet all are guilty of acts of savagery on different levels.  Throughout the play Williams symbolically relates these three characters to animals, 'savages,' through the disclosure of

"A Streetcar Named Desire" is one of the most renowned 20th century American plays and films. The playwright is Tennessee Williams, a respected author whose works artistic and structural merit warrants their study into the 21st century. There are numerous aspects and points Williams makes with his works, including "A Streetcar Named Desire." Out of the richness this text offers, this paper will focus upon issues of mental illness and abuse in the play. No doubt an aspect that makes Williams' characters so vivid are their flaws, weaknesses, and desires. Where a person's character lacks weakness and what a person desires reveal a great deal about that person and provide insight into the choices they make. The paper will discuss aspects of abuse and mental instability in the characters and plot of "A Streetcar Named Desire," and will reference the play directly to underscore any points.

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.

is true in the extreme for Stanley, he does what he wishes and disregards the consequences. It is not a motto he actually employs towards the remaining characters; thinking only of himself, he does not care if anyone else is "comfortable" or not. Through dialogue such as this, Williams asserts to the reader/audience the fact that Stanley inherently fails to take into account the repercussions his own requirements and desires have on others. He is in total control and the only person endowed with power; therefore the only person he takes into consideration - and the only person his wife is allowed to take

It is Williams's brilliant and intriguing characters that make the reader truly understand the play's meaning.   He also presents a continuous flow of raw, realistic moods and events in the play which keeps the reader fascinated in the realistic fantasy Williams has created in A Streetcar Named Desire.   The

Tennessee Williams was a well known Modern English playwright. He was born in Columbus, Mississippi and moved to St. Louis, then to Memphis, and later graduated from the University of Iowa in 1983. Williams began to turn his short stories into plays and later on into films. His wildest audiences were in contemporary dramatic literature. Williams’s plays have been produced in England, France, Hally, Germany, Greece, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Cuba and Mexico. One of William’s most intriguing plays is Streetcar named Desire. Streetcar was produced around 1947. The “setting of Streetcar” is a combination of raw realism and deliberate fantasy” (Riddel 16). The main character of the play is Ms.