Elia Kazan

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…

Often considered the best work of American theater to date, the tragedy Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller leaves room for much more than simply theatrical analysis. The play gives us one of the most unique glimpses into post-World War II America that is available to us today. Arthur Miller attaches the capitalistic ideals of America to his characters, thus accurately portraying the standard middle class family of the 1940s. The play’s tragic hero Willy Loman, a Jewish man, is a representation…

A Streetcar Named Desire starts with Blanche arriving at her sisters, Stella’s apartment in New Orleans. She had arrived with all her belongs and some bad news. She had lost the Belle Reve, which was their families’ mansion. When Stanley and Blanche meet, it’s an automatic unsettling relationship between the two. Stanley thinks that she cheated Stella with the share of Bella Reve. Their relationship gets worse when Stanley gets too drunk while playing poker and beats Stella. This same night,…

When reading the play, A Streetcar named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams, and when watching the film directed by Elia Kazan, there seemed to be differences between the two. This story follows a middle-aged woman by the name of Blanche, played by Vivien Leigh in the film, who has lost all of her family’s fortune and moves in with her sister Stella, played by Kim Hunter. Stella’s husband, Stanley, played by Marlon Brando, is not too fond of Blanche and throughout the plot, he and Blanche…

Our history seems to have a strange way of repeating itself. Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible wrote about the Salem witch trials that took place in 1692. This was a time of mass hysteria caused by religious views, but it also was connected to some of the exact things that make humans imperfect: greed, lust, wrath, and even pride. Later on, that same hysteria reappeared during the McCarthyism era, for very similar reasons. So the question is, how much were these two time periods alike?…

The House Committee on Un- American Activities (HUAC) was an investigating committee of the United State House of Representatives that operated during the 1930s to 1970s. Martin Dies was the first chairman of the Un-American Activities, which was established in 1938. At first, the role of the HUAC was to investigate a variety of political groups as well as subversive activities. Due to the Red Scare of the 1950, many hearings were structured towards investigating whether a person is a communist…

Miller molds John’s character to represent that of his best friend, Elia Kazan, who snitched on actors to the House of Un-American Activities Committee during the “Red Scare.” Because of his false accusations, Kazan was able to escape the wrath from the common people, who would ruin lives of the accused communists. From Miller, we can learn that humans tend to blame others when they are afraid…

Upon first glance the films Pinky (1949) and Lost Boundaries (1949) appear to be progressive. They portray controversial ideas such as miscegenation and equality between whites and blacks. But are these films really trying to make a statement of equality? While on the surface Pinky and Lost Boundaries, make a contentious political statement; in actuality they make a mockery of the idea of egalitarianism. The film Pinky addresses the questionable idea of a mixed race couple and of a black…

Imagine living in a society where everyone is scared for their lives and the innocent lie to keep themselves safe. During the times of the Red Scare and the Salem witch trials, this was common everyday life. The Salem witch trials consisted of events which accused the innocent of being witches. Similarly, throughout the McCarthyism era, innocent people were accused of being communists with no solid proof. The Salem witch trials initiated in the spring of 1692, “after a group of young girls in…

McCarthyism and Movie Trumbo The Cold War was the longest global conflicted from 1945 to 1989 where The United States and the Soviet Union tried to have global hegemony after the WWII. It was a period full of threats, fear and persecution, which imposed its indelible mark on the conscience of the society of that time. In the reality, this conflict was bipolar, manipulative, propagandist and absurd clashed between 2 ideologist as capitalism and Communist. Throughout the different stages of the…