Smoke and Mirrors in the South: Elia Kazan's A Streetcar Named Desire

Elia Kazan's adaptation of Tennessee Williams' famous play presents a central character that is deeply flawed as a result of both the external factors at play – the American South, the era in which the text was written and filmed – and inner turmoil emerging from a troubled past, writes Jasmine Crittenden.

Additional keywords: Film as Text, Viven Leigh, Marlon Brando, class, Blanche DuBois, sexism, literary adaptation, classic Hollywood cinema.