A Streetcar Named Desire Review_Paul Ahn
I have seen the movie “A Streetcar Named Desire” when I was only in seventh grade. Had no idea what the movie was about and I just had found the dvd collection in my uncles house so I just decided to watch it. The cover of the dvd had Marlon Brando with his usual pose that became an icon for the movie. Since it was named street car named desire and it had a spunky looking guy on the car I had guessed it was street racing. I was stunned by the fact that they had the concept of street racing back in the 1960s. For obvious reasons I had thought this movie had very long intro until I realized the movie had nothing to do with street racing. Back then I lost interest in the film since it had a plot that I did not fully understand and found the main antagonist (Blanche) very annoying. I had felt that she was being very overly dramatic with actions that I could not understand where it was coming from.
After sometime I again got to watch the movie again (for this paper). As soon as the movie begin I understood that the street car was literally a street car named desire. I also understood that the male characters that are in this film are soldiers that are back from world war II and a lot of the western world’s men that had returned from the war had unstable temperaments. That is why I am assuming that this era not only in the U.S but in Europe as well, had tremendous break social psychology which included organized crime and unstable families. The whole plot of “The Streetcar Named Desire” is I think based upon the desire to escape from the past and start with the slate completely wiped clean, and the hardship or the impossible reality that comes along with it. Blanche wants to start a new life with Mitch and her obsession of the possibility drives her insane because she sees Mitch as her only way out of her past mistakes. While Stanley is the gruesome truth that keeps on clinging onto her. Since Stanley is Blanche’s brother in-law his relationship with Blanche is complicated but in a way the film gives off the feeling that both Blanche and Stanley had a certain feel of attraction between each other despite their hatred for each other. Blanche’s disgust for Stanley is one of the major factors which led Blanche to her downfall (Since it was Stanley that had uncovered her past, and it was probably her disgust for Stanley that made him to be vengeful) and maybe it was herself that she saw when she discovered Stanley.