We have all experienced the traumatic situation in which a book- turned- movie turns disastrous. Percy Jackson, Inkheart, All the Pretty the Horses, the list goes on and on, disappointing literary lovers everywhere. Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire is a great example of a wonderful literary piece turned into a bad movie, but it is not the acting or actors that destroy it, but rather how the meaning of the play is completely changed. The context of A Streetcar Named Desire changes considerably between the movie and book version. Originally a play with a devastating story and equally devastating ending, Streetcar had a more political stance on the common housewife and where the patriarchy lays in everyday life. The movie on the other hand takes a more Hollywood stance with the happy ending. Because the movie version changes the ending of Stella and Stanley’s relationship, it downplays the power of the patriarch and the difficulties of being female.  

Stanley himself in both the book and play is equally horrifying and hyper masculine. There is no argument that he himself (in both medias) portray a demanding and all powerful figure in which both Blanche and Stella are crushed by. I would even argue that scenes like Blanche’s rape are even more representative of male power in the movie rather than the text. (Side note: I personally don’t think there is any debate whether or not Blanche got raped in the text, but I suppose there could be some confusion) The movie also physically represents Stanley well by making him gorgeous and scary, romanticizing the common working man with his wife-beater shirts and sweaty grasp. By making him a rugged, loud, but simultaneously wanted figure, Stanley is correctly portrayed as the want of masculinity from women. (we are going to go with 50s sexuality, so mostly heteronormative views) Blanche condemns her own late husband, because of his sexuality and openly flirts with Stanley due to his blatant masculinity and sexuality behind it. Both the text and the movie have almost identical versions of Stanley which embodies the patriarchy, but the text is more useful in breaking down the long lasting effects of the patriarchy through its ending.

The text allows for a more psychological view of male power, which is particular in the end. Let’s review both of the endings. The movie version (link if you’d like to see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eprAw7tWi1Y) shows Stella finally resisting Stanley’s screams and leaving with the baby, because she is so distressed that her sister is being sent away. That is a fine ending, but it is different than Williams’ first gut wrenching ending. The text describes the final scene with Stella crying over her sister being dragged away, holding her new born child, and having her insensitive husband make sexual advances towards her. Although it might not seem to make much of a difference in the overall effect of the story, I think the ending alters it drastically. The movie version is nice, because it is covered in hope for the future. The common housewife can escape from the grasp of the patriarchy, because she is autonomous. Stella represents the new woman, a woman who is capable of change and resistance to outdated trends and abusive relationships. She is a survivor, a champion, a leader of women. But this obliterates William’s message. William sets up the ending as two women who are trapped. One is trapped in a psych ward because she has been driven to madness through male trauma, such as an unsuccessful marriage and getting raped. The other is trapped in her own home, suffering under an abusive husband that she must stay with, because she has no money of her own and a new born baby. This ending emphasizes the oppression of women and begs us to question who has the worst outcome, Blanche or Stella.

Williams purposely wrote Streetcar as a disturbing play, showing the constant and unmoving presence of male authority over women. By allowing the play to have any other ending, especially a good one, the initial message is lost. The movie ending doesn’t respect William’s critique, but rather goes for a Hollywood ending of redemption. Some might argue that making Stella a more outspoken and strong character would make this piece inherently more feminist or build on the initial message that William’s is trying to send. But I think that the hopelessness and entrapment William’s carries with Streetcar shows society’s inability to allow women autonomy, including how women make money for themselves and where they have to make sacrifices, especially if they are mothers. Stella let Blanche go for the well-being of her child, but not for herself. Any other ending is laughing at female trauma.