The play “A Streetcar Named Desire” was very similar to the movie version when it came to plot. I felt that the lines recited in the movie were exactly the same in the play. However, a main problem I had with the movie was the actors. The actors were not exactly how I had pictured them while reading the play, and I prefer the characters I imagined in my mind. I am aware that the movie was not made recently, but I felt the acting was terrible, except for Stanley’s character. The acting was very poor on many levels. I felt there was no emotion coming from Stella and Blanche when they recited their lines, and the producer could have found much better actresses to take their places. The emotion that I felt from the characters while reading the play was much more powerful than in the movie. For instance, when Blanche was about to be raped by Stanley in the play, there was a lot more of a build up and nervousness felt while reading. When I watched this scene in class, I didn’t think Blanche showed any emotions nor was scared whatsoever right before she was raped in the movie. This made the movie very boring and dry since I didn’t feel like the actors were good enough for the parts they played, minus Stanley. I feel that if there was a modern day movie made of “A Streetcar Named Desire” there would be a lot of more emotions put into the parts. Also, in our present society, the rape scene would definitely be shown. Our society has changed drastically since this movie was made, and in today’s media a scene such as this would be expected to be shown in full detail. I found this humorous in a strange way that things like this are expected to be shown in movies because that is what the media wants to see. Times have changed a lot and I am not sure if it is for better or for worse. People want realness in film now and want everything to be revealed and shown, no matter how extreme it may be.
Blanche was portrayed as very sexual in the movie, and I didn’t think she was as sexual in the play. In the play, I felt that Blanche was more of a snooty person and thought she was better than everyone else. In the film she didn’t give this feeling to me as the viewer, but I felt that she was more into her sexual encounters with men. Stella was older looking than I had imagined while reading the play. I felt that Stella was older looking than Stanley and she was very high strung when it came to her relationship with Stanley. From watching their relationship despite the bad acting, the viewer could tell that Stanley had Stella wrapped around his finger. One similarity about Stella in the movie and the play was her weakness. It was upsetting to see someone drop everything for a person that doesn’t appreciate you half as much as you appreciate them and this was the way that Stella and Stanley’s relationship worked. I was very surprising to see how good of an actor Stanley’s character was, especially for his time. Stanley was better than I imagined in the movie than in the play and was very good at showing his true colors that were described in the play. Stanley did a good job of making Blanche feel smaller than a bug and stepping on her whenever he wished, and was abusive to Stella and embarrassed her whenever he wanted to.
Overall I think the movie was dull, boring, and dry and could have been a lot better. It was sad to see such a good play shown in such a bad lighting on film. I think that this should be publicized and fixed, and remade into a modern version of the play with better actors and better music.
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4 comments:
I agree that there should be a much more modern movie than the one which exists. The lighting, acting, and overall feel of the movie is nothing like I had expected after reading the play. I much prefer the characters that I had made in my mind over the characters on screen. Although I think that I would even have prefered someone better to play Stanley, as for being a low middle class "polock" he seems entirely too attractive. With a new movie there could be more modern actors to liven up the script. Although I agree that the script should be kept as close to exact as possible to preserve the way in which it was meant to be taken in, a modernized version wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to the play, or even the movie.
I agree with your point about the acting being less than extraordinary. Blanche's character seemed to just recite all of her lines as quickly as possible, which made her seem hysterical throughout the whole movie and didn't give her much depth since we think she is having a Courtney Love-esque breakdown the whole movie. I also think you're right in that Blanche's so-called power, if she has any, in the play, is derived from her social standing and the movie emphasizes her sexuality as her source of strength as opposed to her Old Southern aristocracy.
Somebody's a little sour about the movie huh? LOL. I agree with what you are saying though I though that Blanche definitely seemed more older than we had pictured her being and Stella also. Stanley definitely took a new light in the movie and seemed to have a much shorter temper with Blanche and Stella. I feel like when me and you read it to eachother we showed more emotion than the characters in the movie did. Overall I found the movie to be way more mediocre than the actual playwright.
I agree with you, that the movie was not up to the standards I thought it would be. I didnt think the actor that played Stanley was really fit for the character. But I thought the other actress and actors were fit to play the part they played. I enjoyed watching the movie but I thought there were some parts that could have been better.
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