Listening to a review discussion about “A Streetcar Named Desire”. Half the time is spent apologizing for the domestic violence.
When you dissect a movie, you have to keep in mind the times in which it was made. 1951 is a very different time from 2010. Also, 1951 New Orleans is very different from 2010 ANYWHERE!
As they talked about the film they went on and on about, “I’m not condoning what happens but…” Is that really necessary? I’ve heard women got slapped around a bit but was punching a woman or rape really ever condoned? And even if it was “overlooked”, you can’t judge the character by today’s standards. Stanley Kowalski could not exist in our time. Stop trying to hold him up to our society. We’ve domesticated our Neanderthals and redefined what a “man” should be. The stereotype might still exist out in some swampy trailer park but it wouldn’t take much to get him locked up today. Don’t you people watch “COPS”?
You are not allowed to retcon our past. I was originally going with the “it was 60 years ago, times were different, move on” route but I’ve changed my mind. I think the story still holds up today. Stanley was abusive, Stella and Blanche had issues. One sister was drawn to the the raw and primal dominating man, the other sister turned toward using her femininity to dominate men. When the three of them collide, the shit hits the fan. It’s about unchecked passion and overt manipulation, dangerous physical relationships and sexuality… At least, that’s what I got out of it… Today they’re trying to make it about codependency and a need for therapy.
I think you could remake the movie today and make it grittier, dirtier, more brutal. And you’d ruin it. The industry standards are more lax and you could show the whole story without cutting out the parts deemed “too vulgar” for society. I think you’d have a hard time getting anyone to believe the story takes place in modern day though. It’s not like you’re asking them to believe that an old retired blues musician is keeping a naked white girl chained to his radiator or anything…
So maybe you could remake it. But who would you cast? Vivian Leigh, Kim Hunter, Marlon Brando, Karl Malden. Maybe you get away with Hunter and Malden but the Leigh and Brando roles are too iconic to recast.
Juliette Lewis as Stella? (Daddy issues, attracted to pain and humiliation)
Sean Penn as Stanley? (Emotionally stunted and acts out to express emotions)
Megan Fox as Blanche? (Past her prime and living off the last remnants of her sex appeal)
Ryan Reynolds as Mitch? (The death of chivalry, crushed beneath a woman’s heel)
That just all sounds like shit doesn’t it?
Oh, and as long as we’re talking about recasting movies, I know the rumor can’t be true but Robert Pattinson starring as “Edward Scissorhands” didn’t bother me as much as; who would you cast in the Vincent Price role? Christopher Lee?!
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