Sunday, April 01, 2007
A Streetcat Named Desire
I fell in love with the movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire and it was was not simply because Marlon Brando was such a cutie!! The way that the director portrayed Blanche's ever present psychological distress was absolutely brilliant. When she went in and out of reality, so did the voices she was hearing, almost like she heard them, but then they got lost somewhere between her understanding and slammed up against her brain and that's what we as an audience heard. The music would come up when Blanche needed an escape or when she was especially manic. I also loved the way light and shadow was used in the movie. At times, everything was in shadow, and that's when Blanche was feeling the most and trying to hide, or presenting this illusion of her as the pure southern belle. The light was so brilliantly utilized too as Blanche's lies are exposed and the paper lantern gets ripped down and her face is fully in the light- that's raw, naked emotion and you cannot hide from the light. The way the rape scene was portryed was great- just as in the book, if you were not paying close attention, you would miss it. The emotions that stemmed from that scene were so raw and gritty. I must say that Vivian Leigh did an excellent job portraying such a tough character. At times, I saw some of her "Scarlett O'Hara" belle creeping in and it was interesting to see her make a distinction between the two characters. I also really enjoyed seeing how Stanley was portrayed. He was the "Americanized immigrant", who has had to work for everything he has, yet has no real understanding of the society that Blanche and Stella come from. He still used violence in a very unhealthy way and we still see Stella stay with him, until he goes too far. I enjoyed the ending of the movie more than the book, because Stella left Stanley and went upstairs with the baby. Stanley's behavior towards Blanche, raping her and then sending her to an institution were the things that Stella could not abide by and it was nice to see that Hollywood acknowledged that no one should sellout their sister. All in all, the movie really hit home the themes that Tennessee Williams wrote about.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I like how you described the play of light in the movie and it sounds like you really enjoyed it. I also really liked the change at the end that the movie people made. It is more comforting to think that Stella wouldn't stay with Stanley, it is a much happier ending then the play. Although the play version would have more likely been the reality of the situation.
Jenilyn,
I was actually slightly disappointed in the movie adaptation of “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams. I enjoyed being able to picture all of the characters as I saw them. For me, Blanche’s character was very different from how I thought she would be; she really seemed crazed in the whole movie. Whereas, when I was reading the play, I saw her as slowly, but steadily losing her mind as time passed and more and more people betrayed her. Perhaps the movie version was more accurate, but I still couldn’t help but feeling slightly disappointed.
I agree with you. I really enjoyed the film. I thought the actor that played Stanley could have been better, meaning, I dont think he played the character very well. I pictured him differently, look wise. But overall, I really enjoyed comparing the film and the play. Im glad I read the play before I watched the film, becuase you in the film you can get all the smll details, that you might have missed in the play.
Jenilyn,
I like how you said Hollywood would not acknowledge the fact that no one should sllout their sister. It's nice they came to the realization that certain things will not be tolerated in film as they would in a book. You sort of touchd based on this when you described the lighting and form of the set the movie took place in. When people read they can draw their own conclusions and basically use their imaginations more, but seeing is a whole different "look" at things. Everything is there for you and the message that Stanley rules above all probably would have clashed with the times.
Post a Comment