A Streetcar Named Desire
This is an essay on the film directed by Kazan and the book A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. I will focus on scene 3, the poker game. This is a critical point of the relationships between Stanley, Blanche and Stella.
Stanley and Stella are married and live in the down stairs of a flat. Eunice and Steve occupy the top story. The role in their relationship is reversed compared to Stanley and Stella’s, with Eunice being the more dominant.
Blanche is Stella’s sister and they have not seen each since they lived at Belle Reve. Blanche arrives on a streetcar named Desire, so this is were the title presumably came from. The poker game symbolises the relationship between Stanley and Blanche and the ‘game’ they play. There is a lot of conflict between Stanley and Blanche, although Blanche hides her feelings towards him and does the opposite by flirting with him. Mean while Stanley lets his feelings towards her known from the start. Stanley his a very violent and aggressive towards Blanche fighting to be the center of attention were Stella is concerned. Blanche relies on people, manly men to give her compliments, which gives her confidence.
The card game is a symbol of the ‘game’ which Stanley and Blanche play. Stanley enjoys making Blanche feel uncomfortable and cause friction between her and Stella to try and make her feel unwelcome and leave. He even goes as far as buying her train ticket on the streetcar named Desire.
The characters Stanley and Blanche are portrayed as different views of American life. Stanley is meant to be Modern America. He is the working class son of an immigrant family who is making money, earning status and disrespectful towards the culture that Blanche represents. The to cultures eventually collide with each other in the rape scene, scene 10. Scene 3 is a critical build up to it.
Kazan brought out this distinction between Blanche and Stanley in the acting styles. Blanche speaks in a syrupy accent, hides behind polite manners and has a condescending and hyperbolic manner. Stanley is played as brash, surly and insensitive. He slurs and mumbles like a brute; this comes out in scene 3. He is physical and direct while Blanche is imaginative and deceptive. Blanche dress in flouncy folds, Stanley has a sweaty T-shirt and dirty jeans. I think this really stood out, the difference and contrasts between Blanche and Stanley.
I think the set is of a small flat at the corner of a street overlooking a small highstreet with a market. I also thought that there would be low lighting, a few glowing street lamps. I imagined the streets to be dirty, covered in litter, as it is the back streets of New Orleans. This is because ‘the section is poor.’ I also thought that the surrounding area would be made up of flats, shops and warehouses. This is very similar to the setting in the film; there is very little description in the book as it is a play.
I imagined the costumes to be dated to give the film a definite era wearing 40’s clothes.
I imagined Blanche wearing elegant, long flowing dainty dresses. With decoration to draw the eye away from her face to try and hide her true age. I think because of her character not having a lot of confidence it was a way for her to look presentable and noticeable to men. She didn’t agree with Stella’s choice of living arrangements or choice of husband. So she tried her hardest to look better than Stella and look rich with furs and elegant dresses to show Stella and Stanley that she is still in her prime. I feel this is how Blanche was portrayed in the film. I also thought she would have heavy make up and blusher on, but even through the audience saw her constantly applying make up, I feel that this was not the case as it was very subtle.
I thought Stella would be a contrast and wear plain dresses as she was a housewife and didn’t have much money to spend on designer clothes. I imagined her having no make up and not bothering with ‘prettying’ herself up. This could also be because Stella has a husband and is not looking to attract male attention. She would be a contrast to Blanche.
I thought Stanley’s appearance would be a lot different. I imagined him smarter, clean trying to prove to Blanche that Stella had made the right choice. I imagined him wearing a shirt and smart jeans or black trousers. Also I thought he was older than Marlon Brando was .I thought the actor; Marlon Brando was very hard to understand as he slurred his words.
Blanches life seems to be based on lies, she also seems to be putting an act on. I think this is shown well in the acting as she has fake laughter and puts a lot of make up on which is hiding her true face. One example of her lying is when she is talking to Mitch in scene 3. She says, ‘fact that she’s somewhat older than I. Just slightly. Less than a year.’ She uses short sentences, which makes her sound unsure and hides her face by looking away from Mitch. She quickly changes the subject by asking Mitch if he would change a light bulb for her. ‘I can’t stand a naked light bulb, anymore than I can a rude or a vulgar action.’ She will never let anyone see her in the light. This was in scene 3 when she was talking to Mitch, this could mean that she didn’t want him to see her for what she really is, her true self, the fact that she is quite a bit older then Mitch and Stella. This is important as it shows the way Blanche feels about herself how little confidence she has and how fake she is that she can not even show Stella, her own sister, who she really is.
At the beginning of scene 3 Stanley and his friends, Pablo, Steve (who lives upstairs) and Mitch are playing poker. Stella had taken blanche out for dinner, which made Stanley angry because he had no supper. Stanley was already angry because blanche wanted to stay with them in the apartment. Before Blanche enters the house we see her ask if she looked all right ‘you are as fresh as a daisy’ and Blanches reply is ‘one that’s been picked a few days.’ We can tell that she is doing this for attention because she laughs as she says it, therefor it is not taken seriously but it is a typical of Blanches character. She knows that Stanley’s friends will be in there so she applies even more make up in order to look presentable and look desirable.
They then enter, Blanche says, ‘please don’t get up’ this shows how culture and times have changed, it dates the film. This also relates further in the film, Blanche knows that Stanley would not stand up for her, so she says this because he is doing as she asks and she looks in control.
Blanche and Stella try and sound polite and by the way they are acting it is obvious that they have had a good time and I think Stanley is jealous towards them which angers him more. Stella says, ‘well, well, well. I see you boys are still at it!’ this is not serious and seems almost comical to the viewer. This is really an insult as it puts the men down by saying that they are only boys and poker was just a silly game. Blanche tries to act civil and asks if she could ‘kibitz.’ Stanley asks them to go to Eunice’s who occupies the up stairs apartment. Stella then asks if they could stop playing and call it a night. Stanley looses his temper and hits Stella on the thigh the noise that is heard is very loud, which suggests that it was hard. This acts as a warning to Stella and she goes in her bedroom.
Blanches attitude at the start is positive and wants to join in, but when refused she she said nothing else. Blanche then retreats to the one place where she can be alone, the bathroom. Blanche is always bathing, ‘I think I will bathe’ Stella replies ‘again?’
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