A bit of stream of consciousness about women, the Oscars, and a theme recaptured, March 3, 2014

 Now that Cate Blanchett won the Oscar for Best Actress, and in her acceptance speech noted the film was about women, and her co-star Sarah Hawkins was nominated for best supporting [3/4/14 correction: Hawkins was only nominated, did not win (as previously stated) — that cool young African American woman won for 12 Years a Slave]… but in Jasmine, two women – a movie about two women. Cate saying that it should be noted the movie made money, people do come to see films made about women.

Then a throwaway comment somewhere in there by, I don’t know, who – the announcer, perhaps, “the modern day Blanche DuBois” And I get it. Yes. This story is Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams another troubled man  who wrote excellent and complex roles for women. (Woody Allen wrote this one.)

 It is the same story: fragile, homeless and faux elegant, barely in touch with reality woman is forced to live, as a last resort, with her poor sister, who has a husband/boyfriend of a rough sort (Marlon Brando yelling “Stella! Stella!” — Hal, Ginger’s boyfriend confronts her, makes a scene in the grocery store where she works).

is he a Brando type or what??

 If I had caught on to the shadowing, I would have known that it could only end badly. (Blanche guided away to the asylum “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers”) and in Blue Jasmine… well, I won’t spoil it if you haven’t seen it.

 You watch it and tell me if you see more connections with Streetcar. I know Streetcar well. Bob and I saw a traditional staging of the play at the Guthrie a couple of years ago… it was dedicated to a talented man (can’t remember his name right now) who staged Streetcar at the U when I was an undergraduate. I worked on props. I was one of the ones whose job it was to crash a box of broken glass behind the scenes (when Blanche breaks a bottle to defend herself) and hand her the “broken” one off stage. Tennessee Williams was still living at that time and he actually came to one of the productions since he knew the director. (I did not see him, though… he was not at one of my performances)

All that came rushing back as I thought of Blue Jasmine. I am pulled into her story and her desperate attempts to save herself, but alas, like Blanche, she doesn’t have much reserve or strength to save herself and is always in danger of sinking into madness, anxiety…all the pills and her Stoli martini with a twist do not seem to help.  

Blue Jasmine is out on DVD – Netflix – and Streetcar Named Desire, with Marlon Brando, is out there too. Looking up Streetcar on IMBD I note that a remake in 1995 starred Alec Baldwin… he is in Jasmine too. Vivian Leigh won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1952 for playing Blanche. And playing the lead role in Jasmine is  Cate BLANCHEtte — lots more parallels in the story too, such as how the sister ends up… no spoilers – you have to see it.

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