Father of the Bride ( 1950 )
Cast: Spencer Tracy (Stanley T. Banks), Joan Bennett (Ellie Banks), Elizabeth Taylor ( Katherine “Kay” Banks), Don Taylor (Buckley Dunstan), and others
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Synopsis: The movie is in both comedy and romance when it was released on June 16, 1950. The film tells the tale of a father who is very set in his old ways and stereotypes. His twenty year old daughter is ready for things to change and very unconventionally tells them she is going to get married. Throughout the film we witness the father’s struggle with letting go of not only his daughter, but the past traditions he has always known. The night before the wedding Stanley has a dream in which his worse fears come to life. It is during
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The father’s character is an easy to relate to as most fathers share his thoughts to some degree. In the opening scene we see him sitting in a chair trying to recover from his daughter wedding reception, that has just ended at their home. He tells of all he has learned, and things he was wrong about. He goes on to compare the news of his daughter 's marriage to that of a storm breaking. “It was a day like any other day, and then it hit.” The scene played out is easily compared to that of other shows of that time and life in the early 1950’s. The wife/mother, stays at home and the kids have their certain roles to fill as well. It is like that, but different in some ways as well, you see the boys are not at home for dinner and off doing their own things, yet have a plate set at the table. Kay calls her dad pops, she loves him but thinks him old fashioned. It is at the dinner table that the Stanley, the father, starts to notice something is different about his daughter and tries to figure it out. She lets on at this Buckley that she is head over heals for. Her mother asks, “are you going to marry Buckley” to which Kay replies, “I guess I will”. The father begins trying to figure out who this Buckley is and runs down a long list of boys who Kay had brought to the house. Stanley has something negative about each one of these boys, “the one with the teeth”, …show more content…
This is yet another comparison of the old ways to new modern ideas. Needless to say he never gets to make his big speech he has prepared for his daughter and all the guest. The house is too small, they had to use the church for the wedding, the food, the clothes, the cake the bills keep mounting as does Stanley stress over the wedding. Atlast it is the night before the wedding, but Stanley can’t sleep. He tosses and turns and begins to dream. This is the point in the film with a clear tie to Dali and his idea of surrealism. He can see himself arriving at the church, and he is late. His eyes are a focal point at the top of the screen (again the eye). He can’t seem to move his feet and begins to be sucked into the floor one foot at a time. As he pulls his leg free his pants are torn and tattered, then it is arms. In the background we hear the wedding march but in a warped kind of way. We see the horrified faces of the wedding guest as Stanley keeps trying to get down the aisle. Suddenly the floor turns like a bounce house, but with glue on it, pulling off his pants leaving him in only rags. His daughters screams at the altar and this wakes him up from his nightmare. This dream state paints a clear picture of all Stanley’s fears. That is doesn’t know this Buckley fella, he is going to go broke
The film reflects the class difference from beginning through the end, especially between Annie and Helen. Annie is a single woman in her late 30s without saving or boyfriend. She had a terrible failure in her bakery shop, which leads her to work as a sale clerk in a jewelry store. When Annie arrived Lillian’s engagement party,
Through Rachel Getting Married, Demme was able to truthfully display the pain and misery that family members are able to inflict upon each other, even during an event that is presumed to be celebrating family. The film miraculously captured that intangible quality many of us can recognize with: the happiness of being around loved ones we see too rarely and the high of having everyone together in the same place. The center of the celebration was two sisters, Kym and Rachel. Both of complete opposites: one with a Ph.D. in psychology and one self-destructive addict. Our first introduction to Kym didn’t present us with an exactly positive image: she’s a caustic young woman with a history of drug-addiction, run-ins with the law, selfishness and
Chelsea, the daughter of Ethel and Norman, is at a very difficult stage in her life. She has divorced already and is back in the dating game, this time her partner is a dentist named Bill who has a 13 year old son, Billy. Billy stays with her parents while her and Bill travel around Europe, and elope in Brussels, consequently causing her boyfriend’s son to become her step son. Step parent/step children families are becoming increasingly commonplace now. Divorce and remarriage rates are higher now than ever in the past, and with that comes a rise in the blended family. The relationship between Billy and his step mother, Chelsea, seems quite amiable. Though she is an adult now, her father’s acceptance is something that Chelsea has always craved. After returning from Europe, much to her delight and dismay, she learns of how well Billy and her father got on while she was away, despite the initial
Within Tennessee Williams's story about love and abuse within marriage and challenging familial ties, there lie three very different characters that all see the world in vastly different ways. These members of a family that operate completely outside of our generation’s norms, are constantly unsure of themselves and their station within the binary not only of their familial unit, but within the gender binary that is established for them to follow. Throughout the story of the strange family, each character goes through a different arch that changes them irrevocably whether it is able to be perceived or not by those around them. The only male, Stanley is initially the macho force in the home who controls everything without question. He has no consequences for his actions against his wife and is never held accountable for treating the people around him poorly; this lasts until Blanche arrives. Blanche is an outwardly demure, but spirited young woman who after experiencing untold misfortune breaks mentally and decides to no longer care what others may think of her. She lives her life lavishly and foolishly by having dalliances with younger or richer men who shower her with gifts and attention to get sex from her all too willing form. Her effect on Stanley is one of temptation and challenge; she continually tries to convince her sister that she is too good for the man and in turn fosters a resentment for her in him. Stella acts as the antithesis of Stanley and Blanche’s extreme personalities. She is innocence and purity where they are the darkness that threatens to overtake her life. Throughout, Stella is a pawn that they both try to use against the other to no real avail as she is determined to make the best choice for herself. In th...
...t people around Elysian Fields were living a contrasting lifestyle from theirs. That “their” type is not the one they’re used to. Stella and Blanche were raised on a plantation with money, while Stanley and his friends were poor and uneducated. The conflict began when these two classes were pushed together in the same world. This is shown when Stanley and Blanche meet each other, and their opposite lifestyles are obvious. Stanley is sweaty, dirty, and rude; whereas Blanche is well dressed and soft spoken.
Not unlike real life, the comedy fodder available in this episode is derived from enmeshment, particularly Beverly’s with her son Adam. This enmeshment is a direct derivative of the emotional distance between her and Murray. There seems to be diffused boundaries between family members because of their enmeshment with each other. Not that one wants to blame the mother or scapegoat Barry, but the family rules must be investigated so one can understand how the family reaches homeostasis and aids the family in identifying how their behaviors affect each
The character Stanley represents the theme of reality. Stanley Kowalski is the simple blue-collar husband of Stella. His actions, reactions, and words show reality in its harshest most purist form. His actions are similar to a primitive human. For example he doesn’t close the door when he uses the restroom. This rudeness represents the harsh reality that Blanche refuses to accept. Moreover, when he was drunk he hit Stella. This attack on Blanches sister could be a symbolic “wake up” slap to the face of Blanche.
The movie depicts what it was like to be Australian in the decades of the 50’s and 60’s and the decisions of the Australian government over this period, through the journey of four Aboriginal women and one Irish man. The movie explores the treatment of indigenous people living in this era in comparison to white Australians. The unique ways in which the characters made their living provided for scrutiny, judgement and vulnerability. In the movie you see just how differently the Aboriginal community was treated compared to the white Australians during these era’s.
. . .” implies the narrator can only see through so much of the door, his sight is restricted to only his father. This allows for a very strong description of his father in the moment. The narrators’ father was walking towards his bedroom with his back to his wife. He had clearly dismissed his wife’s’ argument until she cruelly remarked “Well, I hope you 'll be satisfied when they come home knocked up and you 'll have had your way.” (Alistair Macleod 229). Without stopping, revealing how shocked he was to hear this, he turns around. He is mid stride, but so taken back that he spins to face her. The offence that he feels is a result of his opinion that it would be best for his children to find a better way of life than his own. His children have an opportunity for a much more fulfilling life and he wants nothing more than for them to pursue it. This would seemingly be a goodtime for him to explain to his wife the way he feels; instead he holds it in, knowing that she would not understand. By turning back around without saying a word the only statement he makes is that he is mad. In this moment he is described as looking old and hard worked, though very
Stanley is, at first sought to be a dominant, rough individual but William’s use of stage direction implies an opposing thought. For example, Williams describes Blanche’s bed near the bedroom of Stella and Stanley’s, but what is so vital about the position of the bed readers may question. Conclusively, Stanley’s...
Stanley (Stella's husband) represents a theme of realism in the play; he is shown as a primitive, masculine character that is irresistible to Stella and on some levels even to his "opponent" Stella's sister Blanche.
A first reader of Scene Ten of the play might conclude that sex between Stanley and Blanche seems out of place. It might not ring true given the preceding circumstances. There is not much overt sexual tensi...
William accumulates these ideas to suggest that conventional thinking and traditions should be used solely as a guide, being changed and refined as society progresses. This idea is revealed through the shift from the aristocratically and pretentious society old south possessed, embodied by the Blanche and Belle Reve, to the industrialized New South, which is represented by Stanley. While Blanche tries to cling to the past, relying on her manners and pretensions, Stella adapts to the changing times, committing the taboo of marrying Stanley, a polish immigrant who is a whole social class lower than her. This social pyramid is shown to lose value, as the brutality of the new world, as shown in Stanley’s dominant physique and actions, overtakes the politeness and gentleness of the old, with Blanche’s departure from reality signaling the death of the Old South.
...ices, such an attempt to elicit sympathy for this monster falls short” (Bell 2). Stanley is looked at as the monster of the play which is how he should be viewed. Luck was not on Blanches side through her life which made her make the mistakes she made. Even though her past was not clean, Stanley did not purge her of this. He tried to show her the reality of the world, but through his brutal treatment, only made her sensibility worse. Stanley is a primitive ape-like man, driven only by instinct, who views women as objects and has no respect for others. He is a wife batter and a rapist who is responsible for the crumbling sanity of Blanche who is “the last victim of the Old South, one who inherits the trappings of that grand society but pays the final price for the inability to adapt to a modern world that seeks to wipe grace and gentility out of existence” (Bell 2).
Stanley’s treatment of Blanche leaves her alone once again, with what little dreams of returning to her previous status destroyed like the paper lampshade that once gave her the shield from the real her she desperately craved. Stella, the one person Blanche believed she could rely on, sides against her husband after Blanche’s ordeal, leading Blanche to be taken away, relying on the “kindness of strangers”. This final image that Williams leaves us with fully demonstrates that Blanche has been cruelly and finally forced away from her “chosen image of what and who” she is, leaving an empty woman, once full of hope for her future.