A Streetcar Named Desire was first adapted for film in
1951 by Tennessee Williams. Although the stage directions of the written play
was clear, Tennessee William’s film adaption would give the audience a clearer
idea of the mood during the scenes through stage lightings and actor
performances.
There were a lot of additions and minor changes to what
happened in the novel that could affect the meaning and perception of the
character greatly such as the part “My clothes’re stickin’ to me. Do you mind
if I make myself comfortable? (he starts
to remove his shirt)” (26) where according to the play Stanley started
removing his shirt before Blanche had given a response yet, but in the film it
was clear that Stanley only took it off after Blanche told him “please, please
do.”
Furthermore, the acting of the actors made it easier for
the audience to understand the character’s personality and what they were like.
For example, the look in Blanche’s eyes whenever she got reminded of Belle Reve
or her dead husband showed that there was definitely some mental stress within
the character in between all her daintiness and frailness. Stanley was often
being portrayed as this violent-tempered, vicious man but in the film for the
most part, the actor did not seem to be reenacting the character of the written
play as much. Although he could be rough at times where he yanked and pushed
Stella several times throughout scene 1, the way he spoke made him sound
stupid, irritating, and ridiculous. His way of slurred speech along with the
loudness while speaking when arguing with Stella proved his animalistic
stupidity but didn’t seem too violent.
Besides the actor performances, the lightings of the film
also would provide the audience with better ideas of the scene’s mood as
whenever Blanche was reminded with Belle Reve or her dead husband in the middle
of a conversation the lights would start blinking at a slow and steady rate,
sort of like the lightings in a horror movie, and that no one else would notice
the light. It reflected what was going through Blanche’s head as those were
certainly traumatizing experiences for her, placing her on the brink of sanity
every time.
The lighting and actor performances brought the originally
written play to a film filled with emotion and mood.
