Week Three Task: The opening characterisation

In class we watched one of the videos below, the speech given by Isabel Allende on passion and the need for strong women who defy the conventions set by the alpha male society.
In the opening scenes of Streetcar to what extent does Williams dwell on or develop these same themes?

Williams does in an extent develop these themes. We can say that he clearly define some characteristics that make the audience notice some conventions of our daily lives. First the audience notices the social differeces between the characters which on the longway emphazise some of the themes that isabel allende talk in his speech, such as the alpha male. Williams is able to show this with the workers, being the type of alpha male but at the same time with effort to avoid struggling economy. Also Williams contrast all of this with the personality of both women on the play. They are very different, but they share passion and strength. This is shown also because of body language and clothing that the audience can appreciate.

Williams presents and develops this theme for a need of a strong women through a strong critique.He criticises on how women in that time take their lives and transform them as they become dependent to their alpha male and become sumisive just to please them.I think Williams takes this situation to open us our eyes on how society worked those days and fully uses it like a channel to deliever his harsh critique that woman should look for their passion and leave the situation were the alpha male rules and make themselves useful, not only in their household, but outside as well, in society, and be fully independent and emerge as women.I think he tries to deliever that he wants women to speak for themselves, make statements just like Isabel Allende who is a strong woman full of passion who is not afraid to speak for herself.

What I think is that Blanche is seen as a stronger woman than Stella.We can see she is far more independant as she is a teacher, get paid and not like Stella that stays at home and just like lives for Stanley.Through Isabel Allende´s point of view we can see a stronger and more passionate woman through Blanche than Stella but maybe through the play Stella may be influenced by Blanche and become someone fuller in passion than she is now.

On the contrast of Stella we have Stanley, a stereotipical man based on passion and the alpha male ideals of that time.In his house I think he is powerful in front of Stella and their domestic issues but this might change with the arrival of Stella´s sister, Blanche.I dont think he is represented negatively but just as a stereotypical character that goes out with his friends.He might seem a bit negative when he domains Stella sometimes, but not that much to make him seem anoying.

In scene one of Streetcar, Williams develops the themes which Isabel Alliende gave in her speech (passion and the need for strong women) through Stella and Blanche. He develops these themes showing that women are in some way inferior than men and that they “rule”. We can see this through Stella in the video were she goes toward Stanley in a innocent way not showing any strength or authority. But on the other hand, we can see Blanche, who is presented as a strong woman. She is an independent woman. This immediately gives her strength because she doesn’t depend on someone. The way she talks in the video shows us some passion on her and again strength. I think that Williams through these female characters wants to emphasize the fact of how women lack the strength and passion that Isabel Alliende so much expresses on her speech.
I think Stanley is presented negatively but also as an example to emphasize the “power” of men in women. In the video we can see how Stella goes towards him and Stanley obtains what he wants. More that negative, we can see that he is shown as typical men who go out with his friends and a stereotype of men in that time that dominates their women. Obviously we see this as negative, but at that time is normal, but again what Isabel Alliende says is that these are not possible. Therefore Stanley is an example of what Isabel Alliende critics in her speech.

I think Williams characterize Stella as a stronger woman than Blanche. We can see this by the fact that Stella choose to go out of this atmosphere and start a new life after his dad death, meanwhile Blanche stayed. In the first scene we see Blanche nervous, anxious, and uncontrolled; meanwhile on the other hand we see Stella isn’t afraid to cry, secure, happy. Allende defines a strong woman as a woman that fights against adversity and challenges it, who isn’t afraid of saying what she thinks and breaks the stereotype of woman; Stella doesn’t fulfill this completely so you couldn’t say she is strong but also you can’t say she is weak, she is obedient and submissive.

Williams creates the impression of Stanley being a passionate character with alpha male ideals by the things he does. He arrives from work and throws meat to his wife for her to cook, and goes directly to play bowling, something crude and coarse to do. He is sarcastic and likes to hang out with his friend to play poker and drink, he also is confident which gives him power and authority; this are characteristics of typical alpha male stereotype. I think he is presented positively as Stella and him seem to live in harmony and are happy, he enjoys life, and his personality doesn’t seem to affect other people.

Williams Dwell develops the themes of passion and the need for strong women who defy the conventions set by the alpha male society. Social differences between characters are soon represented, as for example, white woman have a name, while the black woman is only knowed as negro women.Stella loves Stanley, but she clearly notices their social differences, while Blanche, although defies in a way the alpha male with her personality is seen in a negaive way by the audience. She is arrogant and rude, representing Isabel Allende´s speech in a negative way. Stanley on the other hand is the typical protective alphamale and contrastst tremendously with Blanche.

I beleive the escence and passion of Isabel Allende´s speech is seen in the negro women, who does not even have a name. The need of this type of people to enter with dignity in society is what Isabel wants.

People in society are defined by their sex and their social roles. they are expected to behave a certain way or another by the rest of the people. and i think this is one of the major themes that the author tries to develop. first of all, we see a very strong man who comes from work, in contrast with a fragile beautiful woman. this stereotypes are later broken, when we see Blanche talking with Stella, and we see Blanche as an incredibly passionate and active woman, but yet struggling. maybe reflecting the struggle for women when they fight against stereotypes. Though we can also see the negative side: she has fought for herself, lost a great deal of land and is now on a very unconfortable place. maybe her struggle reflect the ambiguity of braking the stereotypes, and how the author dwells on this theme.

I think that Williams dwells with the themes presented in Isabel Alliende speech by complementing them. He agrees with Isabel that girls in this society are weak and have no authority, they let themselves be treated as inferiors by men. In scene one he shows the need for strong woman. Williams represents this weakness of woman through Stella and Blanche. Stella in the movie is weak when talking with Stanley as she seems an innocent woman who is fragile when exposed to men, specially the men who she loves. She has no authority in the frame of the movie, as she doesn't have enough and appropiate personality. Blanche also represents the weakness of woman in this society because although she seems a stronger character as she speaks louder and has more personality to talk, we can see that she still seems vulnerable to men and can be weakened when talking when men. In conclusion we can say that Williams tries to show the same problems of women in society as Isabel Alliende presented on her speech, such as the weakness of woman in the daily life.

In Streetcar Named Desire every character is carefully characterised to a theme or stereotype. This is specially clear at the beginning of the play, in the form of Stanley, Stella and Blanche. There are some clear dialogues that give us a sense of characterisation as well as some actions. For example the first time we meet Stanley, he comes from work with a bag of red meat and threws it at his wife. This is a clear comparison to the idea of the Alpha Male. But what is more important is how the contrast between Stanley and Stella makes her look like a weak, stereotipical women from that time. The video in my opinion is a little more confusive in the sense that roles are a bit changed and it seems out of context; Stanley seems to be regretful and depending on Stella, while Stella goes slowly down the stairs with great confidence and ruling the situation. But we must not forget moments ago Stanley had just hitted her and she is coming back to his arms which for my opinion, only increases the sense of Stella being weak to Stanley's mojo. Also the scene has succesfully achieved to represent Stanley as physical, crude and passionate: characteristics of the Alpha Male.
Although this video confuses things a little bit, throughout the whole play we can realize that although at moments Stella and Blanche may seem as strong female characters, we learn that is just appereances to hide their real weaknesses. For example how Stella does not do anything after she gets hurt over and over and how Blanche although seems cocky and loves to flirt, really is insecure and have no self respect.

I think that Williams dwells with the theme that Allende talks about to a certain point. If it is passion what we talk about, it is evident that in the opening scenes we are presented to a very passionate couple that bases the relationship mostly on that rather than tenderness or other things. We can see in the video of the movie how a problem between Stella and Stanley is solved through their passion, and this is what Allende wants to transmit in her speech, how passionate people can do great things that can change the world and in this case, solve a fight. On the other hand, I don't think that Stella is shown as a weak woman, as she can handle Stanley who is kind of bestial, like a wild animal that is hard to deal with. She certainly has the role of the wife that stays at home and cooks and cleans so she fits this stereotype, but she doesn't seem to have a problem with this, as she can do other things when she wants to and loves Stanley. Blache can be seen as a more weak woman who is constantly worried about how she looks when men are present and is easily intimidated, but also she lives an independent life and has a job (or had) so we have two women that combine two forms of weakness. Still I think that passion is more relevant in the opening scenes, and it has more to do with the passion that Allende talks about, compared to the abuse of women she presents.

In the play I think from the beginning we are presented a strong characterization coming from Blanche, Stella and Stanley. This is vissible mainly in the form of their dialogues as well as their actions, as for Stanley its early easy to see the Alpha male inside him, as he enters and throws the meat to Stella. Even though they love each other as a couple, social differences are notorious, showing Stanleys "fake" superiority over Stella, as he shows big passion over what he does and he is very emotional, but from time to time seems to land on the same level of respect with Stella.

What Allende wants is to adapt the principles of equality, for women to believe they can reach the same status as an alpha male in their society, not less. A good example is the racial contrast shown in this play, were black women are seen as inferior, this is what Alliende wishes to change, by fighting back society.