Brash. Brawny. Bold. From the overly-tight shirt that leaves little to the imagination, to the massive sweat stain running down the middle of his shirt, to the flexed muscles and even the sly off-center look that suggests inaccessibility, Stanley Kowalsi in A Streetcar Named Desire (and by extension Marlon Brando) is unmistakably masculine. Indeed, he often occupies the entire frame (just as he is doing above) shedding light on the fact that his dominance and masculinity stems from his physical presence.
This image of Marlon Brando is emblematic not only of his character in the film, Stanley Kowalski, but also sheds light on particular tensions underpinning his personal life.
Brando is a well-noted method actor, which makes his portrayal of Stanley Kowalski particularly powerful, especially when taken within the context of his personal life. Brando was the son of alcoholic parents. His mother was practically absent while his father was abusive. He was a military school dropout. As a result, during the most formative years of his life, Brando's masculinity was consistently threatened. This context allows Brando's portrayal of Kowalski to serve as a fictional extension of his true personality (SID, 224).
Thus, through the lens of Stanley Kowalski, we can see Brando compensating for a personally diminished masculinity, which in turn promotes the authentic development of the work, which can be defined as a melodrama. Brando's well known inability to maintain stable relationships in his personal life can be seen through Stanley Kowalski's unstable relationship with his pregnant wife, Stella. In the scene where Kowalski throws and destroys the radio, physically threatens his wife, shuns her from the home and then cries until she comes back is nothing short of poignant. It also perfectly embodies Brando's emotional instability and conflicted relationship with dominance and vulnerability.
Dyer might even see Brando as embodying the cultural tension surrounding the definition of masculinity. Does ones masculinity rely on the way one looks and occupies space? Or, does it rely on ones interpersonal relationships? While with respect to the former, Brando certainly would be considered masculine, the latter point problematizes his masculinity because he has to literally beg Stella to come back to him (which, at the end of the day, he always successfully manages to do). In embodying this tension, and further in receiving widespread recognition for his role as Stanley Kowalski, Brando not only reveals cultural tensions surrounding masculinity. but in doing so, also embodies them.
Ultimately, the fictional Stanley Kowalski serves as a pathway for the star, Marlon Brando, to express his hidden "moral drives and desires" (SID, 224). That is, a desire to prove an otherwise threatened masculinity. In turn, this mutually beneficial relationship between the Kowalski and Brando sheds light on the the film's overwhelming success as a melodrama because it conflates Stanley Kowalski's fictional search for a lost masculinity with Marlon Brando's very real journey to the same end.
This image of Marlon Brando is emblematic not only of his character in the film, Stanley Kowalski, but also sheds light on particular tensions underpinning his personal life.
Brando is a well-noted method actor, which makes his portrayal of Stanley Kowalski particularly powerful, especially when taken within the context of his personal life. Brando was the son of alcoholic parents. His mother was practically absent while his father was abusive. He was a military school dropout. As a result, during the most formative years of his life, Brando's masculinity was consistently threatened. This context allows Brando's portrayal of Kowalski to serve as a fictional extension of his true personality (SID, 224).
Thus, through the lens of Stanley Kowalski, we can see Brando compensating for a personally diminished masculinity, which in turn promotes the authentic development of the work, which can be defined as a melodrama. Brando's well known inability to maintain stable relationships in his personal life can be seen through Stanley Kowalski's unstable relationship with his pregnant wife, Stella. In the scene where Kowalski throws and destroys the radio, physically threatens his wife, shuns her from the home and then cries until she comes back is nothing short of poignant. It also perfectly embodies Brando's emotional instability and conflicted relationship with dominance and vulnerability.
Dyer might even see Brando as embodying the cultural tension surrounding the definition of masculinity. Does ones masculinity rely on the way one looks and occupies space? Or, does it rely on ones interpersonal relationships? While with respect to the former, Brando certainly would be considered masculine, the latter point problematizes his masculinity because he has to literally beg Stella to come back to him (which, at the end of the day, he always successfully manages to do). In embodying this tension, and further in receiving widespread recognition for his role as Stanley Kowalski, Brando not only reveals cultural tensions surrounding masculinity. but in doing so, also embodies them.
Ultimately, the fictional Stanley Kowalski serves as a pathway for the star, Marlon Brando, to express his hidden "moral drives and desires" (SID, 224). That is, a desire to prove an otherwise threatened masculinity. In turn, this mutually beneficial relationship between the Kowalski and Brando sheds light on the the film's overwhelming success as a melodrama because it conflates Stanley Kowalski's fictional search for a lost masculinity with Marlon Brando's very real journey to the same end.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.