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Streetcar Named Desire Play Vs Movie Essay

1306 Words6 Pages

In the film portrayal of the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, the director Elia Kazan brings the play to life. Even though some of the original content in the play needed to be slightly modified due to taboos that existed during the time period that the movie was released, Streetcar is brought to life in this black and white film. Viewers who may have previously read the original play by Tennessee Williams will find the movie not only pleasant to watch but also true to the ideals and characters that Williams wrote about in the original text.
In the play, many important themes exist and can easily be identified throughout all 11 scenes of the play. The theme of female dependence on men is time and time seen throughout the …show more content…

His flirtatious nature toward women other than his wife is shown by the taking off of his shirt in the movie and by saying that “[his] motto is being comfortable”. Brando’s acting in this scene conveys that Stanley is aware that he has a muscular upper body that initially impresses Blanche. He is proud of his physical appearance; even though that is the very thing he ridicules Blanche about on numerous occasions. Additionally, his loyalties to Mitch are shown in the film, instead of just being mentioned which occurs in the play. Kazan makes the decision to show the chaos that erupts at the plant where the two work after Stanley exposes the truth about Blanche’s past. The showing of this in the film shows that despite Stanley’s tough exterior and tough-guy persona, he genuinely cares about the well-being of his friends. Furthermore, by Kazan showing this scene, a previous reader can see that there is some truth to Mitch’s line on page 117 when he says “I called him a liar at first”. Finally, in the play, while Stanley’s power over Stella may have been present for the entirety of the play, this is not the case in the film. His powers over Stella end when she decides to run to Eunice’s and to not ever return to the apartment ever again after Blanche leaves for the mental

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