Play vs. Film

I thought that they did a really good job picking actors for these roles. You can completely believe that Blanche is crazy; her facial expressions when she talks, and the reactions to the voices she hears in her head sell the crazy bit. I felt a little more sympathy for Blanche reading the play rather than watching the film, this may be because actually seeing it had more of an impact than reading it. While reading it I must admit that I did not notice a lot of blanches double loaded lines. Each time she goes to lie in the film she puts her hands up to her throat and chest, as if to help block the fact that she is seeping lies. I also thought it was interesting the way the actress that played Blanche varied her voice, when she would lie and on most occasions it was soft, airy and fast paced. However, when she was actually telling the truth, her voice would go deep and become slower. This was an interesting contrast to me, it made Blanch seem like she was crazy and brought her character to life.

Stanley’s character was also made believable; the actor did a great job portraying this overly masculinized and sexualized person. The movie made me feel more sympathy for Stanley than the play did, because you actually felt bad that this crazy sister in law was really messing up his life. While I still greatly disagreed with all of his actions, it was easier to see where he was coming from when you actually were able to watch it.

I thought that Stella’s character was portrayed differently in the movie then in the film, she seemed to be more physical with Stanley, at one point she ripped his shirt and pushed him around a bit, i didnt see that at all in the play. she also, seemed a lot more independent, and willing to stand up for what is right. While she did not do these things completely, the play led you to believe she never did these things and never would. The new ending also made Stella a stronger character, even though she sent her sister away to a mental hospital, she resists Stanley completely after that, where she actually tells him never to touch her again, and says that she is never going back there as she ran up the stairs with her baby. I think that his new scene helps to add to the theme of the play and to the character Stella. It made it so that I was that mad at her for sending her sister away, because in the end she at least made the right choice and left Stanley.

Some of the scenes that they added made it all seem more realistic. Such as the police officer that comes when Blanche freaks out, and the fact that she just screamed like crazy rather than yelling fire.

I thought it was interesting how open they made Stella’s and Stanley’s house, at one point you see Blanche rushing around closing all these shutters and curtains and it makes it seem like their home is a lot bigger than it actually is, while still maintaining that fact that it’s a really poor house. I also thought that the scenery chosen for Blanche and Mitch’s date did well to show the gloominess of Blanche’s character. The fog over the lake, and the dock setting worked well with Blanche’s dark story that she tells Mitch.

I just feel in general watching this play is much easier to pick up on everything than reading the play. It brought it to life more and helped the themes in the story to be easier to pick out. In addition, the ending made me a lot happier; I was not as disappointed as I was with the play. This may be due to the fact that I am a product of the time where endings need to be happy or at least somewhat politically correct to ease my feelings about movies.