Streetcar Named Desire as a Play and as a Film Essay

Streetcar Named Desire as a Play and as a Film - Essay Example Society was still immersed in a political climate not conducive to equal rights without regard to race or gender let alone sexual orientation. In the original version of the piece, seen as a play, the audience finds out that Blanche’s husband killed himself shortly after she found him in bed with another man. The version which the audience is given in the film is much more suggestive with an expectation for its audience to read between the lines rather than a forward approach to the information which is given in the play. With regard to the issue of Blanche’s rape by Stanley, the play is sure to embrace this incident as it is crucial to the ‘take-home message’ intended originally by Williams. The movie seems to understand this ironically moral inclusion but not without a tradeoff which came in the form of the punishment of Stanley for his actions which is really not part of the ambiance of the play. The issue of Blanche’s rape and her husband’s homosexuality and suicide are the heavier topics demanding a presentation appropriate for their display during that time period, but are not the only morals to the story, so to speak. There are other themes which exist both in the play and in the movie version of Williams’ work. In looking at the movie first, the beginning is the first of many small deviations. The movie’s audience finds Blanche who seemingly emerges from the steam of the train, in an almost ethereal or heavenly manner. This is a contrast because though Blanche is introduced to the audience in this light, she is taken from a place of presumed innocence through the film, only to be displayed as anything but that. The play does not make the same attempt at disillusioning the audience that the film makes at the piece’s beginning, but beyond this point, the play and the movie are overall quite similar with little variations.