In the film “A Streetcar Named Desire” there are multiple scenes that have conflict between appearance and reality. The plot of the film is ambiguous and it ends without a resolution. The incredible camera work and techniques that Elia Kazan did, created a feeling of confusion and misjudgment, making the audience want to see more. On the other hand, Kazan’s film main character Blanche DuBois, is played by Vivien Leigh. Furthermore, Vivien Leigh, creates a divergent character in the film who fights between her reality, fantasy and the judgements that are made towards her. The film uses a handful of scenes from the play, written by Tennessee Williams, however there are some very important lines left out in certain scenes in the film. It is
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In the play Blanche is simply misunderstood while in the film she is made out to be delusional. It is noticed that in the film, Kazan made Blanche crazier than Williams intended to in his play. Misha Berson agrees with the fact that Vivien Leigh had a tough character to play, “And it is evidence of the slippery brilliance of Williams’s vision that Blanche’s mental state is as subjectively open to interpretation as a Rorschach blot. In Kazan’s film, Vivien Leigh’s fragile Blanche swiftly sinks into a gardenia-scented vortex of delusion” (111). While Blanche is trying to keep her life on track in the play, she is weakened in the movie by being portrayed as a character who is barely holding on to a thread. On the other hand, Vivien Leigh’s way of acting also affected the creation of the film and her interactions with other characters. For starters, she is from a different country and is thought different acting skills then the rest of the cast, which caused tension between them. Linda Costanzo states, “A clash of acting techniques seemed to pit Leigh against others from the start. Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden, like Kazan himself, were trained in The Method of Stanislavsky. Leigh, in contrast, came from an antithetical tradition: Stylized/Classical Acting, a tradition which, at the time, the Method Actors had rejected as formulated, as rigid ” (73). Originally in the play and on camera, Blanche and Stanley always had tension between them and they both seemed to always insult each other. Equally, Vivien Leigh “was quoted in print as having said that Brando was ‘a slob’, the tension between them on the set was rumored to be as ‘thick as New Orleans humidity’.” (73). Due to the tension between them, it was very easy for both of them to play their parts and show true emotion and tension. Not only was this a huge plus for Kazan on screen but it also caused awkwardness
In the play Blanche is simply misunderstood while in the film she is made out to be delusional. It is noticed that in the film, Kazan made Blanche crazier than Williams intended to in his play. Misha Berson agrees with the fact that Vivien Leigh had a tough character to play, “And it is evidence of the slippery brilliance of Williams’s vision that Blanche’s mental state is as subjectively open to interpretation as a Rorschach blot. In Kazan’s film, Vivien Leigh’s fragile Blanche swiftly sinks into a gardenia-scented vortex of delusion” (111). While Blanche is trying to keep her life on track in the play, she is weakened in the movie by being portrayed as a character who is barely holding on to a thread. On the other hand, Vivien Leigh’s way of acting also affected the creation of the film and her interactions with other characters. For starters, she is from a different country and is thought different acting skills then the rest of the cast, which caused tension between them. Linda Costanzo states, “A clash of acting techniques seemed to pit Leigh against others from the start. Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden, like Kazan himself, were trained in The Method of Stanislavsky. Leigh, in contrast, came from an antithetical tradition: Stylized/Classical Acting, a tradition which, at the time, the Method Actors had rejected as formulated, as rigid ” (73). Originally in the play and on camera, Blanche and Stanley always had tension between them and they both seemed to always insult each other. Equally, Vivien Leigh “was quoted in print as having said that Brando was ‘a slob’, the tension between them on the set was rumored to be as ‘thick as New Orleans humidity’.” (73). Due to the tension between them, it was very easy for both of them to play their parts and show true emotion and tension. Not only was this a huge plus for Kazan on screen but it also caused awkwardness