Dyer, Brando, and "Streetcar" (Sheridan Pierce Core Post #3)

“The biggest problem facing film is trying to construct character along more or less novelistic lines is how to render a character’s ‘inner life’” (Dyer 133).

Dyer’s insight on the Point of View shot was particularly interesting, since, in A Streetcar Named Desire, most of the point of view shots come from Blanche DuBois.  So, from the start of the film the audience views Stanley Kowalski as a threatening character who often makes a point of invading Blanche’s space.  I found it intriguing how Brando is able to subtly (and at times not-so-subtly) ruffle her feathers.  Whether it’s physically going through Blanche’s trunks or making digs about her attire, Stanley knows how to eat away at the persona she has invented for herself.

As Dyer also points out, “The ‘truth’ about a character’s personality and the feelings which it evokes may be determined by what the reader takes to be the truth about the person of the star playing the part” (Dyer 141).  Brando was not the most established actor when he starred in the film adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire.  The character of Stanley turned out to be a good fit for him, and became one of his most notable roles.  Although it was at times difficult to understand what Brando was saying, he nonetheless connects with an audience.  Stanley is a no-nonsense character.  He acts recklessly and abusively, and he makes his opinions heard whether Blanche or Stella like them or not.

“The film may, throughout its deployment of the other signs of character and the rhetoric of film, bring out certain features of the star’s image and ignore others” (Dyer 143).  Brando, later becoming known for playing mysterious characters, plays well into the character of Stanley.  Of course women of the time would have considered him handsome, but that is why he works so well for the role.  Stella is drawn in by Stanley, his looks and his mystere, but we come to see that the relationship is abusive.  Stanley’s behavior is completely unpredictable.

In A Streetcar Named Desire, appearance becomes an important facet of characterizing Blanche and Stanley.  Both of them are making a statement with the clothes they wear.  Blanche dresses above her means, a point that Stanley makes to Stella early on in the film.  She wears furs and silk gowns when she has no money, job, or residence.  Blanche is trying to give off an impression that she is a wealthy woman when she is not, and she has grown accustomed to living in the lies she creates.  Stanley, on the other hand, is a man with a job, but he dresses very simply and plainly.  While he may not be living in complete delusion as Blanche is, he is not a good person.