A Streetcar Named Desire - Elia Kazan
Unedited Thoughts - This is part of my unedited thoughts series.
Blanche, Vivien Leigh, is all kinds of crazy – almost from the word go. The first real glimpse we get is the hysterical reaction to the loss of the family home. Her sister Stella, Kim Hunter, doesn’t really care but her husband, Stan, Marlon Brando, does. This is the background conflict of the plot and the instigating action of the story that occurs well before the film starts.
She is self destructive and undermines herself. She says she doesn’t want to be alone – and acts this way throughout as she tries to get Mitch to marry her. But she kisses the newspaper boy as she is waiting for Mitch to arrive – anyone could have seen and this is a prime example of the steps she takes to destroy herself.
She is also essentially homeless – she relies on her sister and Stan to put her up after she flees the situation she was in before the film starts. Yet as soon as she arrives she is confrontational – she tries to come between Stella and Stan – despite how obvious their love for each is.
Her antics are entertaining to watch until you realise that she is probably mentally unwell – then it just becomes sad. It is at this point that all the people cease to become adversaries and they coddle her in preparation of her trip to the asylum.
There is an interesting juxtaposition of the ‘acceptable’ or desirable with reality. This starts with Blanche’s high past ideals – which we have never seen. She is a complete snob about the conditions that Stella and Stan live in. But this isn’t just about the physical condition.
Blanche gets up in Stella’s face about how she shouldn’t be with a man like Stan – he is below her. He is more an animal than a man. As her past catches up with her we begin to see that Stan and Blanche are very similar in their anamalistic tendancies. Stan’s as just overt – Blanche’s occured before the film starts.
It’s almost as if she sees the truth of herself in Stan and is disgusted by what she sees. This explains the actions she takes to try and break up Stella and Stan. She is trying to save her sister from herself – Blanche.
Stan is terrible. The violence is unacceptable. He beats Stella. Worse he beats pregnant Stella. He takes the violence out on the apartment and his friends. He isn’t ever fooled by Blanche’s tales – though to be honest I don’t think that Stella is either.
Stella plays along because she doesn’t care. She sees that it cannot hurt her. She has made a new life with Stan. While the money from the old family home would be nice – it doesn’t really matter.
For Stan it feels more like a matter of pride and principle. Blanche arrives and attacks him and how he is by pretending to be superior. He finds out the truth and throws it back in her face bringing her down to his level.
I didn’t really enjoy this very much. It is a story of people being horrible to each other. No-one is good or blameless. No-one is the hero. We don’t want anyone to win.
