Even more so than One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire is such an iconic work of American cinema that to watch it is to risk allowing it to eclipse your experience of the original drama entirely. Thus, as we watch, I will ask you to remind yourself regularly of Williams’ original and even refer to it from time to time, asking yourself about differences between the two, no matter how subtle and/or effective they may seem.
In your blog post, please comment on ways in which director Elia Kazan adapts and interprets specific staging instructions from Williams’ script (i.e. props, costumes, lighting, sound, set, gestures, movement, and blocking), and / or specific actors’ interpretations of moments from the play. In either case, whether you are evaluating the application of stage directions or the interpretations of dramatic roles, you must refer to specific episodes or lines from the text (please use page numbers).
Please post your 250 – 500 word response before midnight on Monday 10 November. [This assignment has a weight of 2, assessed for standard 3—conventions—and standard 6—analysis.]
The cast of the film looking uncharacteristically cheerful. Warner Bros. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Publicity Still. Digital image. Wikimedia. Wikipedia, 5 July 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.
Jess Barga
ECA English with Ms. Barga 
In the play ASCND, sound is an extremely important theatrical element. The play’s musical component especially plays a significant role because of its theatrical effects as well as its literary significance for the symbolism and meaning behind each musical piece.
One of the most important musical pieces is the “blue piano”, which is played several times throughout the play. Williams indicates that this “blue piano” is playing from a nearby saloon. It is a “tiny piano being played with the infatuated fluency of brown fingers” that “expresses the spirit of the life” of Elysian Fields (p. 3). The “blue piano” reflects the laid-back and sensual nature of New Orleans and is particularly important when introducing the play’s setting to the audience at the beginning of the novel (p. 3). However, the movie’s interpretation of the “blue piano” does not follow Williams’s directions. Instead, the film’s “blue piano” is accompanied by a large instrumentation, including saxophones, drums and trumpets to create a sense of danger and suspense. Although not an exact obedience to Williams’ directions, the film’s version of the “blue piano” is still very convincing, reflecting the frantic and sensual nature of New Orleans, but not is laid-back character. Kazan may have made adapted Williams’ version of the “blue piano” to create a more thrilling mood and capture the audience’s attention by submerging them into the suspenseful sounds of the film.
Another important musical piece is the Varsouviana polka, which is the song Blanche danced to with her husband before he killed himself. This song is first introduced in page 115 when the “polka music sounds, in a minor key, faint with distance” as Blanche says that “[she and her husband] danced the Varsouviana!” one night and then “the boy [she] married broke away… A few moments later – a shot!” and the song abruptly ends with a gunshot. The song highlights the play’s themes of death and reflects how illusions are always shattered by reality (which is represented by the sudden gunshot at the end of the song). However, the film does not include the gunshot sound at the end of the Varsouviana. This removes some of the symbolic meaning and significance behind the song. Additionally, this song is solely heard by Blanche and is repeated with increased frequency throughout the play, highlighting Blanche’s gradual loss of reality and reason. Meanwhile, in the film, the Varsouviana is not given as much significance as it deserves. It is not played sufficient times and is not theatrically underscored when it is symbolically noteworthy. For example, the final scene where Blanche is taken away by the doctor and the matron (p. 171), the Varsouviana is supposed to be played in the background and “filtered into a weird distortion” in specific areas, creating a sense of chaos, confusion and loss of reality. This is the pinnacle of Blanche’s descent into madness, emphasized by the distorted Varsouviana, which is also accompanied by incomprehensible echoes, beating drums and frantic animal sounds. However, the final scene in the film has a primary focus on just the accompanying sounds, which outshine the Varsouviana and undermine its importance at the end of play.
Although it is fair to say that Elia Kazan did justice to Tennessee Williams’ play by implementing the staging instructions, I humbly believe that she did not keep true to some of the iconic moments of the play. Having said that, the lighting and sound was close to perfect, and a near parallel to that of A Streetcar Named Desire. Important scenes such as those where Mitch states that “[he] doesn’t think [he] has ever seen [Blanche] in the light” (143) and that display Blanche’s fragile state of mind are executed perfectly in the movie and the same message of the play is conveyed. Apart from that, the movie is also successful in the implementation of the three most iconic songs of ASND, adding to the suspense of the scenes, most importantly to the climactic rape scene.
Setting is also used very accurately in the movie, and apart from a few changes in comparison to the book, both the French Quarter and Kowalski’s apartment is impressive. The poker scene for example is a memorable one, and in the play the visual aid may have even helped make it more effective.
However, certain messages that are subtly put across in the play such as those of homosexuality and probably the most iconic line of the play, just before the rape scene are not used in the movie. Although these don’t represent the most commonly used staging such as lighting and sound, they are key parts of gesture and the overall lasting effect of the play, and Elia Kazan showed no bravery in excluding these elements.
It is because of this, that even though the lighting, sound and staging is perfect, I believe the main point is missed and the film fails to reach the level of the play. When you make a film based on a book, you have to keep true to its iconic lines and the possible provocative messages, and in my opinion Elia Kazan was not successful.
While the cinematographic interpretation of A Streetcar Named Desire on behalf of Elia Kazan does posses some merit, it is of essence to mention its demise in its use of lighting. Throughout the play Blanche strives to preserve her idealized version of reality before other characters, more predominantly Mitch, through the use of shadow. Yet, the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire continually exposes Blanche before normal degrees of luminosity within Stanly and Stella’s apartment. While the use of the shadow is irrefutably present in chosen scenes in the movie, such as that in French Quarter (P.100), the reluctance to preserve it has austere consequences. Possibly one of the dramatic instances during the film was the shedding of light upon Blanche’s face on behalf of Mitch (P.145). Nevertheless, notwithstanding the dramatis created from the sudden lighting of the eclipsed, the scene could have provoked more sensation had Blanche been obscured under lighting the entire movie.
Perhaps one of the plays most illustrious scenes is that of the Poker Night (P.48). Not only does the scene foster both character and setting within the play, but also does so through the use of lighting and staging directions. While the movie does attempt to provide a relatively accurate adaptation of the events within the play and the blocking of certain objects and characters, it neglects a number of props and staging directions vital to the scenes development. Van Gogh’s painting of a billiard-parlor, “The Night Café”, is possibly one of the most significant props omitted during the film’s account of events. The painting itself encompasses the essence of the lurid yet contrasting assortment of colors, which thus reflects the atmosphere of the scene itself. Not only is the painting omitted from the scene but also the vividly coloured shirts of Stanly, Steve, Mitch and Pablo. That being said, the absence of both the painting and more specifically the coloured shirts may derive from the limiting factor of the film is in black and white. Despite Kazan did resort throughout most of the scene and film in making the most of this through the masterful use of shadows, it fails to sustain the original ambient of vigor during the Poker Scene.
I believe that in the movie of “A Street-car Named Desire”, the use of light was almost perfectly executed. The movie’s use of light, enhanced by the simple gray gradients created by the black and white movie, manage to surpass the play’s own instructions. Of course, the biggest example of this is during Scene 9 in the play, at Mitch’s final discovery that Blanche’s persona, everything she was and had told him, had been a lie. In the play the light is used to illuminate all of Blanche’s imperfections, but this cannot be shown better than the movie manages to do during this scene. When Mitch says “What it means is I’ve never had a good look at you, Blanche” and later turns the light on, the uncovering of her net of shadowy lies is finally and forcefully taken from her, and he sees her as she really is. And what he sees disgusts him. The angle of the camera, the blinding brightness of the light where once everything was somewhat shadowy and verging on dark, shows Blanche’s own persona, once mysterious and exotic, ripped and annihilated by the blinding light of truth.
Blanche, in the movie, is always covered by some shadow. She really tries to be in the darkness all the time, and so the audience itself can’t see her correctly until the aforementioned scene. In the play we can only imagine her, and the emotion and meaning of the light is much more difficult to perceive. The movie shows all the meaning there can be in the lighting, and manages to show, without telling, its importance.
First off, Marlon Brando’s way of acting seems to point out that he interprets Stanley as an ineloquent and yet more intimidating character than Williams made him be. This is noticeable in the scene where Stanley meets Blanche for the first time (pg. 27). During this episode, Blanche mentions that she wishes to stay if “it’s not inconvenient” for the Kowalski couple. His robust host then says “good.” Brando does mention this. However, he states “good” in a mumble-like manner that makes Stanley look sloppy in speech. However, the lack of a clear approvable from Stanley’s part fills up the air with tense unease and frightening mood. The pros of this different interpretation are that they help introduce Stanley in a way places emphasis in some of this character’s main features: a low socioeconomic background and tough attitude. Nonetheless, this way of acting sometimes makes the task of understanding Brando an onerous one. In addition, Brando does not only interpret his dramatic role in a certain way but also reproduces particular scenes in “A Street Named Desire” (ASND) differently. For example, in the same scene mentioned beforehand, Brando, in the text, is supposed to say simply say “cats…hey Stella!” Nevertheless, in the ASND film he screeches a cat-like sound in front of Blanche. This is actually beneficial to the film as it enhances Stanley’s brusque and animalistic demeanor. Finally, Karl Malden, actor for Mitch, interprets his character as more forceful and brutish than in the ASND text version. This is true in the scene where he declares his disinterest in marrying Blanche (pg. 150). In the text, Mitch is supposed to state the reason for this detachment and lower his hands from Blanche’s waist. Nonetheless, in the film, Mitch tries to force a kiss out of the heartbroken Blanche. This interpretation by Malden negatively affects ASND as it contradicts Mitch’s original demeanor: a kind and gentle one that foils Stanley.
In the movie “A Streetcar Named Desire”, Elia Kazan approaches various staging instructions from William’s original play in particular ways. These theatrical elements help strengthen the quality and development of the overall plot. One of the most successful physical aspects that were applied in the movie include the use of lighting. In both the movie and play, this is an essential characteristic since it highlights Blanche’s personality and her delicate state. For example, in scene nine, Mitch realises that he hasn’t really seen Blanche’s face due to the lack of light and he is in the process of turning turning the lights on, Blanche “cries and covers her face) (Williams 145). Similarly, in scene three of the movie, Kazan successfully employs the lack of lighting when Mitch and Blanche first meet. In this scene, Blanche’s face is completely dark, reviling her deceiving attempts to bear Mitch’s trust. Hence, the use of lighting in both the movie and the text of ASND is strongly portrait. Furthermore, another significant theatrical element in ASND is the use of sound, this includes the songs “Varsouviana”, “Paper Moon” and “Blue Piano”. Just like the lighting elements, the music is excellently portrait in both the play and movie. However, one difference that Kazan omits in the movie is the constant ‘inhuman sounds’ that are heard throughout the house, especially in moments of extreme tension between Blanche and Stanley. One example that the noises take place is at the climax scene (scene ten) when Blanche’s aristocracy and personality is completely vulnerable compared to Stanley’s manhood, “The “blue piano” goes softly. She turns confusedly and makes a faint gesture. The inhuman jungle voices rise up.” (Williams 139). Therefore, these noxious moans and sounds symbolise Blanche’s metaphorical death by facing the raw and ugly truth. Likewise, another scene where these noises appear is the concluding scene (eleven), when the doctor gains Blanche’s trust and “The lurid reflections fade from the walls, the inhuman cries and noises die out and her own hoarse crying is calmed” (Williams 153), representing Blanche’s dependence towards strangers and hence, her anxiety to leave Stella’s house.
Overall, the theatrical actions of the play, such as the lighting and the sound elements are well portrait in both the play and the movie. However, despite the decision to eliminate the animal sounds, Kazan made a valid choice by inserting music into those moments. Hence, it is agreeable that Elia Kazan did an amazing job directing and keeping the theatrical elements Tennessee William portrait in his original text, “A Streetcar Named Desire”
Despite being considered a gem of American cinema and held in high esteem by film connoisseurs worldwide, the film adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire falls short of its literary counterpart. Apart from the lack of appropriate emphasis on the play’s iconic music, the primary contributor to the movie’s downfall is the director’s decision to omit some of the original play’s most chilling and memorable lines.
While the movie manages to portray Blanche’s fragile and teetering psyche well, it is incapable of effectively depicting one of the most traumatic moments from her past. In the play, Tennessee Williams says that “there was something different about the boy…a softness and tenderness which wasn’t like a man’s” and describes Blanche’s shock when she walks into “a room that [she] thought was empty…but had two people in it…the boy [she] had married and an older man that had been his friend for years” in order to elaborate on the shocking discovery which heralds the end of her star-crossed love affair (pg. 114). However, Elia Kazan, the film’s director, omits these vital (albeit explicit) lines due to their provocative nature and hence diminishes the scene’s emotional impact. While Allan Grey’s homosexuality is still subtly implied in the movie, the director’s decision to lightly skirt around the issue directly contradicts ASND’s blunt and fearless approach when discussing human nature and desire. The other major and arguably unforgiveable dialogue discrepancy is Kazan’s omission of the most iconic quote during play’s final confrontation. After unraveling Blanche’s final attempts at deception, Stanley reveals the full depths of his (and metaphorically humans’) degeneracy by claiming that “[They’d] had this date with each other from the beginning” before proceeding to rape her (pg. 162). In the play, this line signals the end of the conflict between Blanche’s refined values and Stanley’s raw and animalistic desires; however, the film concludes this iconic moment on an unsatisfactory note and doesn’t inspire the same level of shock and despair as its counterpart.
Ultimately, it’s important to note that censorship isn’t the cause of the film’s inadequacy, it’s merely a manifestation of a deeper problem—Hollywood’s unwillingness to cast a realistic and/or unfavorable light on human nature. Where Williams’ play stresses the overwhelming nature of our flaws and savage instincts, Kazan’s movie subtly claims that sustaining illusions similar to those of Blanche’s is possible. In fact, making such a statement is practically a requisite for a director working in an industry bent on facilitating “happy endings” and mending the broken heart. Therefore, accurately conveying the play’s message requires the director to relinquish his/her (and Hollywood’s) deep-rooted tendency to add a happier twist to the story and leave it as it is.
The Darkest White
Though I am doing gesture for my scene presentation, I simply can’t stop thinking of the use of light and shadow in A Streetcar Named Desire. Older movies, having no color have to make good use of the elements of hand. Streetcar does an incredible job with light. In fact, before, I took light for granted, and did not notice how it could be used to explain different elements of the film. Setting, character and mood are all dramatically changed and described by the element of light.
From the very start one can notice the power of light and the change it produces on characters. Blanche, starting from the bar scene is eternally hidden in a shroud of shadow. Her face is half concealed and only some of her features are visible. It is like a mask that covers her true identity, the alcoholic, pompous and sexual deviant she is revealed as at the end of the play. When Mitch visits her for the final time he tells Blanche that he has “ever seen her in the light”. Mitch then turns on the light in the room in order to see her better. No one is able to see the real Blanche until the very end of the play. In the movie, it is an important climax to the film that surpasses the scene in the play. In the movie, the Kowalski home is totally dark. When Mitch turns on the light the room is becomes flooded with light. Blanche, like a vampire shies away from the light and contorts with exaggerated gesture. She yells and screams and has a tantrum. In this scene, every element becomes more exaggerated because of the light which helps highlight everything.
The setting is another important element that is changed by light. Considering the play only takes place in the Kowalski home and in its immediate vicinity. The house is especially characterized by the murky setting. The small cramped rooms and hallways are accentuated by the murky created by the film. Mr. Kazan makes sure that the house does not have sharp contrasts but rather the entire house is enveloped in a similar light and the walls and the rummage all blend together in muddy shades of grey. The pier where Mitch and Blanche meet is also given little detail and or description. Kazan changes all this and makes the pier another interesting setting. The inside of the tavern is well lighted, but the pier itself outside is very dark. Next to the pier the Gulf of Mexico stretches out. The water is a heavy black and is highlighted by the white of the moon that shines on the waves. It is a mysterious setting indeed, great for the unraveling of Blanche’s love story. It also adds to the romance and the seclusion.
In the play there aren’t at times too much specifications on the lighting. There are specific examples here and there, but it’s not the same. The movie is a masterpiece for this. With little specification it creates great mood and setting and the character features are all highlighted. Everything has added depth and everything is hidden in a shroud of mystery. Light is perhaps the most important element to the film then. Considering light receives a ton of mention in the play as a literary element, in the movie it actually takes a physical form that proves very palpable.
In the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” there are many important theatrical components that were successfully applied to the actual movie, hence supporting the true essence of the storyline. Some key physical elements used included the use of sound and lighting, to name the ones that stood out the most.
Sound in both the movie and play are essential to the development and interpretation of the plot and characterization of certain roles, specifically for Blanche. The method of sound used is music, which appears frequently as the plot line varies and her mental state deteriorates. One of the most essential songs that was mentioned in the play and applied in the movie was “Varsouviana”. In scene 9, Blanche tells Mitch that the Varsouviana was “the polka tune they were playing when Allan..” killed himself “there now, the shot! It always stops after that” (pg. 141). This portion of the play is included in the movie through the playing of the music, and it serves to represent Blanche’s mental deterioration, more specifically her life being an illusion and the gun shot being the signal that brings her back to the cruel hardships of reality. Another iconic piece of music is the song Paper Moon, which Blanche sings in scene 7, and it was accurately incorporated into the actual movie. In the play, Blanche is singing about how she wants to find someone to join her and believe in the fantasy she has created for herself through the lines “But it wouldn’t be make believe if you believed in me!” (pg. 121). At the same time, Stanley is telling Stella about all the lies Blanche has been feeding them, creating juxtaposition between the situations. In the movie, there director manages to incorporate snippets from Stanley’s conversation with Stella as well as parts of Blanche singing, and they fit together perfectly alike the actual play.
In terms of lighting, Elia Kazan does a great job incorporating this feature into the actual story line as dictated by Tennessee Williams. One iconic section where lighting is used is in scene 9, when Mitch and Blanche have a discussion on Blanche’s lies. Mitch tells her to turn on the light because he hasn’t seen her before, and after ripping the paper lantern off the lamp and turning on the light, Blanche “cries out and covers her face” (pg. 145). In the movie, this scene was spot on with the clear struggle between Mitch trying to find out the truth and Blanche struggling to maintain her illusion. The only difference is that in the movie, Mitch grabs Blanche’s face and puts it next to the light bulb while in the actual play, he turns on the light and looks at her face, but the movie’s interpretation seemed to have a greater impact on the plot. Regardless of this fact, this iconic use of lighting in the movie provides the audience with a glance of the deterioration of Blanche’s character in the same way as the actual play.
In conclusion, the use of sound and lighting in “A Streetcar Named Desire” is very alike and spot on in both the movie and the play. Elia Kazan does a superb job maintaining the stage directions written by Tennessee Williams and, in my opinion, both forms of “A Streetcar Named Desire” could not be more alike in terms of physical elements.