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A Streetcar Named Desire: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"In 1947, when [[Marlon Brando]] appeared on stage in a torn, sweaty T-shirt, there was an earthquake; and the male as sex object is still at our culture's center stage. In the age of Calvin Klein steaming hunks, it must be hard for'' [kids today] ''to realize that there was ever a time when a man was nothing but [[Standard Fifties Father|a suit of clothes, a shirt and tie, shined leather shoes, and a gray, felt hat]]."'' |'''[[Gore Vidal]]'''}}
[[Tennessee Williams]]' ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' is a 1947 play about a hundred different things. Reality vs. the imaginary, the old America vs. the new, insanity, abuse, violence, appearances and purity. Most people are familiar with the 1951 movie staring Vivien Leigh, [[Marlon Brando]], and Kim Hunter, which was of course Oscar-tacular.<ref> Although the best remembered performance - Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski - was passed over on Oscar night in favor of Humphrey Bogart in ''[[The African Queen]]''.</ref> But there have been many adaptations including a made for TV movie starring Alec Baldwin and Jessica Lange, an opera and even a ballet. Stuffed full of imagery and complex characters, it may be considered Williams' best known work, and the character of Blanche has been considered the most difficult female role in all of English literature.
The plot revolves around Blanche DuBois - a beauty in her youth who has now begun to fade - coming to stay with her pregnant sister Stella in New Orleans. Blanche has lost the women's ancestral home, Belle Reve, due to the financial strain of caring for their dying relatives, and has quit her job as a school teacher due to her nerves. Blanche meets Stella's husband Stanley and the two develop an almost instant disliking. Blanche finds Stanley vulgar and common, while Stanley hates Blanche's continual snobbery, despite the fact she is now just as poor as them. He is also suspicious of his sister-in-law, thinking that Blanche may have cheated Stella out of her share of the inheritance.
Throughout the play we start getting glimpses that Blanche ''is'' hiding something.
{{tropelist}}
* [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]: Stella, {{spoiler|to the point where she denies Stan's rape ever happening}}.
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