Kowalski in the 21th century
The Golden Globe awarded ‘Big Little Lies’ certainly strucks its audience with a déja vu-like sensation as one encounters the lethal hunk Perry. Released in the year of #metoo, it addresses issues like domestic abuse, echoing the recent boost in western feminist sentiment. In the midst of all this excitement of female empowerment, it is important to salute those who made this progress possible in the first place. For one, Tennessee Williams’ portrait of the brutish Stanley Kowalski in the iconic play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ exposed the explicitly reality for many households, causing a lot of controversy at the time of its release. The resemblance between Stanley and Perry is striking with regards to the behavioural pattern and this post sets out to identify why that is.
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Stanley and Stella’s power dynamic is not particularly surprising given the time period they exist in and its overwhelming patriarchy. Stella is disconnected from any form of support system and develops a form of Stockholm syndrome since she is out of touch with the reality in which domestic violence is intolerable. Stella is overly sympathetic and justifies Stanley’s violent behaviour towards her, similarly to Celeste. Celeste giving up on her high profile career to become a housewife merely because of her Perry’s insecurities is a clear example of how she is deliberately isolated from the outside world for the purpose of Perry securing his dominance. One of the contrasting factors between the two women is predominantly the time and context, however, the same logic applies. They are held down and when they defy their respective husbands, breaking away from their submission, there is a disturbance in the relationship’s hostile