Behind the Scenes

Behind the scenes

Streetcar Named Desire, a playwright by Tennessee Williams, was made to play on stage but it was also turned into a movie on 1951 directed by Elia Kazan, who also directed the original stage production, starring Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski and Vivien Leigh as Blanche Dubois. The two versions, both screenplay and stage play, have the same storyline, character’s characteristics, as well the settings. Reading the dialogue makes the reader wants to see the story whether if it is a stage play or in a movie. The execution of the plot will depend on how the movie director or stage director guide their actors and actresses to perform well to make the storytelling elegant. The original script remained the same for the movie adaptation. However, even if we say that both adaptations are pretty much the same, there will be revisions, small or big, just like any other typical stage play turned into film. The opening scene is one of the key points which makes the film version outstands the play version because of visual effects that is implemented to the movie. Censorship played a significant role in altering the image of the play that is why original screen is different from play due to regulations of Motion Picture Association of America. The film version has less exposure of the issue when it comes to bisexuality and child exploitation compare to stage play version. The differences between the stage production and film version is the opening scene of the storyline which emphasize the theme like desire, the kissing scene between Blanche DuBois and the boy collector and the censorship of homosexuality in the story.

First, Elia Kazan, the film director, wants to emphasize the opening screen of the play as close as pos...

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... and child exploitation were altered or deleted from the film in attempt to make it more wholesome to the society. Although a number of scenes were extracted in the movie, and new dialogue was written to make the screenplay less erotic. The opening scene is one of the major changes between the movie and the play. In the movie, the act highlights the main theme of the storyline that helps the viewer to get the gist of the plot from the very beginning: Desire. The amorous relationship between Blanche and the collector boy made scene less lascivious. The exploitation of an adolescent in the play was removed in the film because it is inappropriate to the viewer. Censorship is also one of the key figures that altered the scene from the original play. In the screenplay, homosexuality of Blanche’s late young husband was totally removed because it is expressed as immoral.