Meghan Owens' Summer Assignment

A Streetcar Named Desire, the play that secured Tennessee Williams' reputation as a renowned American playwright, has enjoyed great success worldwide since it was first published in 1947. It is now considered to be one of the great American classics of literature. Williams brings readers into New Orleans, where the play deals with a social confrontation between Blanche DuBois, a pretentious relic of the Old South, and Stanley Kowalski, a rising member of the 1940 immigrant class. A Streetcar Named Desire presents Blanche as a fading Southern belle, who in the process of masking her alcoholism and attempting to forget haunting matters in her past, tries to shield others from the reality of her insanity. A Streetcar Named Desire was Tennessee Williams' first production to be created into a movie, because of the potential seen in the highly impassioned storyline. That being said, most of the content was changed in the film to greater encompass a wide range of audiences. The film gives an in depth view on the essential points of the storyline, but fails to give an accurate overall interpretation of the play itself. It fails to touch on sensitive subjects that would have greatly added to the movie.

The first topic of A Streetcar Named Desire failed to include in the film is that of homosexuality. In the book, this subject is treated openly as Blanche recalls the "coming out" and ultimate suicide of her husband:
    "Then I found out. In the worst of all possible ways. By coming suddenly into a
     room that I thought was empty - which wasn't empty, but had two people in
     it...the boy I had married and an older man who had been his friend for years...A
     few moments later - a shot! He'd stuck the revolver into his mouth, and fired..."
     (Williams 70)
The reality of the death of her husband and his homosexuality leads Blanche to alcoholism. Unable to escape the reality that she caused the death of her husband, Blanche begins to develop an insane need to stay young and beautiful in the eyes of men, leading to her title as a nymphomaniac.

In the movie adaptation of this scene, the subject of homosexuality is completely avoided. Blanche simply states that she has "lost all respect for him [her husband, Alan Grey]". The blatant avoiding of such an essential topic leaves audiences, who have not read the original play, confused. By failing to incorporate his sensitive material, the film lacked the depth needed to fully comprehend Blanche as a character and to understand her struggle with sanity.

The second topic excluded from the film is a conglomeration of segments referring to Blanche's nymphomaniac actions and sexual themes in the play, including lines in reference to sex, which were brought on by the memory of Alan Grey's suicide. An example of this can be seen when Blanche asks Harold "Mitch" Mitchell, one of her suitors, upon learning that he does not speak French, "Voulez vou couche avec moi, ce soir?" (Williams 65), which roughly translates to "Would you like to sleep with me tonight?". Another altered scene in the film is one in which Blanche approaches a young man saying that she would like to "kiss you... softly and sweetly on your mouth!" (Williams 60). Both of the aforementioned lines, due to the fact that they appeared to make Blanche appear overly sexual in nature, were tempered in the film. They drastically evolved Blanche's character from, as the book portrays, an insane, nymphomaniac from the Old South, into a misunderstood, desperate woman who is still recovering from her husband's suicide.

The final subject not incorporated into the film is the rape of Blanche by Stanley Kowalski, the husband of her sister Stella. When Tennessee Williams first wrote A Streetcar Named Desire, he was unafraid to address the topic of rape and even suggesting that Stanley had intended to rape Blanche, as Stanley stated "Come to think of it - maybe you wouldn't be bad to - interfere with... All right, let's have some rough-house!" (Williams 99). Williams even ends the scene with this suggestive description, "She sinks to her knees. He picks up her inert figure and carries her to the bed. The hot trumpet and drums from the Four Deuces sound loudly." (Williams 100) The aforementioned lines were cut from the film, and the rape was made simply to look like a drunken beating. In an attempt to avoid the subject's severity further, in an added scene during the film, Stella (Blanches' sister and Stanley's wife), is seen in front of their home, holding her baby, uttering words of regret and promising to leave Stanley for sure. This scene is intended to suggest Stanley's punishment for his actions and was the only way major motion picture studios would have allowed the "suggestion" of rape to be in the film. By merely implying the rape as a beating, we miss an opportunity, as viewers, to understand the key factors in Blanche's turn to insanity at the end of the film.

If A Streetcar Named Desire had been produced in 2013, as opposed to 1951, multiple aspects that added to the overall depth of the storyline would not have been removed. In the early 1950s, movies were seen in a different light than literary works with regard to censorship of "inappropriate" material. The Production Code Administration and The Motion Picture Production Code sought to make A Streetcar Named Desire less erotic by involving lines that showcased "family values". Scenes involving homosexuality, rape, and nymphomaniac tendencies were modified for the film, in an attempt to make an adult work of literature less offensive for general movie audiences. This resulted in a failed attempt to fully understand key events in the storyline, and a lack of depth in the main character, Blanche DuBois. Without the adult themes that were included in the play, this film falls flat in attempting to recreate the literary masterpiece, A Streetcar Named Desire.

Introduction: I noted a lot of passive verbs, specifically “was”, “is”, and “be”, in my sentences. One example of this can be seen in the first couple of sentence in my essay: “A Streetcar Named Desire, the play that secured Tennessee Williams’ reputation as a renowned American playwright, has enjoyed great success worldwide since it was first published in 1947. It is now considered to be one of the great American classics of literature.” – I could simply shorten this to, “A Streetcar Named Desire, the play that secured Tennessee Williams’ reputation as a renowned playwright, has enjoyed great success worldwide.” I don’t think the publishing date or the merit of the play adds to this sentence.
I tend to be very verbose when writing and this can lead to confusion or run on sentences. I think if I were to tighten up my wording and remove the passive verb, my work would have been more clean and concise and my thesis would be easier to pick out and understand. Overall, I think I was able to give a decent overview of the play itself, and perhaps with more work, I could make the rest of the paragraph less wordy.  

First Body Paragraph: I found less instances of the passive verb in my paragraphs about homosexuality being taken out of the film. I, honestly, don’t like how I began the paragraph (ie: “The first topic A Streetcar Named Desire failed to include in the film is that of homosexuality”). I think it could have been worded more concisely, the passive verb taken out, and I see some editing mistakes made in my original cut. I really like the quote in my first body paragraph; I think citing examples from sources add to the depth of an essay - although I think mine was too long. Looking back, there might have been a way to put the quote into my own words and add small bits of it into my writing. However, I feel strongly about including the passion and drama involved with the scene as a whole. Also, I think I could have elaborated on Blanche’s alcoholism and nymphomaniac tendencies in this passage.

Second Body Paragraph: There are more passive verbs that could be dealt with in this passage, specifically “is”, “were”, and “be”. I don’t think my examples of the sexual themes within the play hold their own – adding more examples or strengthening my reasoning behind them could have greatly added to my writing. My transitions in this passage need to be improved upon. They seem choppy, especially when I move from one example to the next. Also, I failed to further expand on Blanche’s alcoholism in this passage, perhaps that could have added to the depth of the essay?    

Third Body Paragraph: The same as the aforementioned passages, I don’t think my transitions into this were well constructed. I see quite a few editing mistakes, simply from re-typing my essay into the computer. There are quite a few passive verbs in this paragraph, and I think rewording a lot of my material could have deleted that. Tightening up my language concerning the added scene during the film and the sentences before each of the quotes could be very beneficial. I think some of my points could have been expanded on, perhaps something concerning Blanche’s alcoholism and it being increased by Stanley’s actions towards her.

Conclusion: Overall, I think my conclusion does a nice job of wrapping up the essay, re-stating the thesis (in different wording as seen in the introduction), and giving “new” information to the readers without expanding on another thesis topic for a different essay. I think I could have tightened up some of my wording, and strengthened my last sentence – but I’m fairly happy with how this paragraph turned out.