A Streetcar Named Desire
Reading Assignment over December Vacation: Read Scenes 1-5 of A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams.
Purpose for reading: Try to apply one or more of these Theories to a character analysis of Blanche, Stanley, or Stella.
Lesson One: Carousel Brainstorming
There are nine stations. Each station takes about 5-7 minutes.
You'll also complete an individual template as you engage in each
carousel station poster survey.
"Review the Setting” Draw the most important features of the setting of the play based on the stage directions on page 3.
“Setting as Metaphor” “Why is New Orleans a good setting as metaphor for conflicts in a play?”
“The Story of Blanche’s Past” In Scene One, Blanche tells the story of how she lost Belle Reve. Re-read that story. Make bullet points about the most important reasons Belle Reve was lost.
“Conflicts in Scene Two” Complete the prompts, using the play.
“Social Culture --- The Mentality of the South” Identify the most important points that the author makes.
“Scene Three: The Poker Party” Brainstorm as many elements of a Poker Party that might symbolize human life and conflicts.
Be ready to talk out how these symbols play out at the end of scene three.
“Stella’s Escape and Return” Read through the excerpt. Identify the most important points the author makes.
“Scene Four: Desire” Work through the various types of Desire listed. Write a synthesis sentence for as many as you can
that describe the universal nature of desire, per category.
“Lighting in Scenes One through Five” Identify in a bulleted list as many different uses of lighting as you can in the stage directions that Tennessee Williams provides.
Homework: Read Scene Six of A Streetcar Named Desire for our next class.
Lesson Two: Deconstructing and Grounding in Theory
We'll divide the class into 9 groups, each of which discusses what’s important in one of the Carousel Stations. Each group goes to its spotand take notes from the various Carousel Posters, using the provided “Template for Scenes One-Five: A Streetcar Named Desire” handout (see attachment). Then you report out to the class.Introduce Theories. Give broad discussion of each theory. Choose one character and to try to write about that character’s behavior through that lens. Sharing session.
Lesson Three: What is “intertextuality?”
Prezi: Overview of Scenes One-Six, including film clips. A Prezi review of the entire play that was created by Dr. Carolyn is located here.
Intertextual Comparison---
Mid-20th Century Play: 2013 Film
Preview Blue Jasmine with brief discussion of contemporary recontextualizations (Fiske’s primary/ secondary/ tertiary).
Discuss our need to balance respect for original text with understanding of contemporary audience expectations, and how translation from stage to film set (interior and exterior) extends/ changes the primary text’s intent.
View/ discuss first section of Blue Jasmine. Students complete note-taking template as you view.
Lesson Five: “A Streetcar Named Marge” from The Simpsons
Compare a recontextualization of A Streetcar Named Desire to the original text by Tennessee Williams. Preview of terms: The Simpsons as a genre; allusions; Ayn Rand; The Great Escape. The Birds.
View and analyze The Simpsons episode called, "A Streetcar Named Marge." Compare it to the original Tennessee Williams text, Ayn Rand's novels, and the films The Birds and The Great Escape.
Think now more broadly about the intertextual possibilities when adding in Blue Jasmine.
Final Project
Your objective:
Create an intertextual analysis of A Streetcar Named Desire, Blue Jasmine, "A Streetcar Named Marge," and other texts based on the original Williams play.
See the Rubric here.
"What can A Streetcar Named Desire intertextual compositions tell us about our own lives?" Use scholarly and textual evidence in your response. Here are some scholarly resources for you:
Theories and Streetcar Citations
