Transcript File
A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams • America’s most famous playwrite • Writes in Southern gothic style- stories full of weird, twisted characters • Characters reflect own dysfunctional life Hated by the church • He was blacklisted by the Catholic church: • “His work is revolting, deplorable, morally repellent and offensive to Christian standards of decency” Meanie Williams • Father was a physically and emotionally abusive traveling shoe salesman • He hated Tennessee but loved brother Crazy mother Williams • Mother was a descendent of wealthy southern family • Appearances crucial • Smothering and manipulative Off to the loonie bin • Williams loved his beautiful sister, Rose • Rose was promiscuous- family claimed she was mentally ill • Parents made her get a lobotomy Crazy Life= famous writer • Williams never forgave his parents • Credited alcoholism and own mental instability to bizarre and cruel family • Homosexual, alcoholic, drug addict Famous works • Won the Pulitzer Prize for Streetcar in 1948 • Won the Pulitzer Prize for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) • Won awards for Glass Menagerie Death by Eye Drops • One of the most interesting deaths of all authors • Choked to death on the cap of an eye drop bottle in 1971- MAY have been drug related??!! A Streetcar Named Desire • Most famous American play • Iconic line- STELLA! • Story of the clash between body and mind • Reflected Williams’ view of himself as a loser in that battle Stanley Kowalski • Played by Marlon Brando • Meat eating beast • Hottie- sexual undertones constant • Crude, mannerless, uneducated but honest, realistic Stella Kowalski • Stanley’s wife • Brought up with money and manners- turns away from gentility • Unable to resist the attraction of Stanley’s animal charm (and sweaty undershirt) Blanche Du Bois • Name means “White Forest” • Clings to civilities of old life- poetry, literature, manners • Former “belle of the ball” • Oddly similar to teacher in Room 505?…picture a Diet Pepsi in her left hand Blanche • Deceptive- lies about plantation, jewels, boyfriends, job • Has seduced a studentbeen fired • Utter loneliness results in affairs with strangers • Fragile, emotionally unstable, afraid Themes and Symbols • Streetcars- Take “Desire” to “Cemeteries to “Elysian Fields” • Sex- Death • Light- Shadow • Fantasy v. RealityBelle Reeve= “beautiful dream” • Women’s harmful dependence on men • Survival of the fittestmeat The Censors Speak • 1950’s -- very strong censorship committee controls all media • Refuses to allow the word “homosexual” or “rape” • “correct standards of life must be presented” • “the sympathy of the audience shall never be thrown to the side of wrongdoing, evil or sin” Compromise • Elia Kazan and the censors reached an agreement that these issues could be implied but not explicitly shown- first treatment of these issues on film In conclusion…. • P.S. Why you should not pick a spouse based on hotness at age 25