Differences

One of the major differences between the written play and the movie Street Car Named Desire is the ending. In the original version Stella does not confront her suspicions about the validity of Blanche claim and continues to delude herself about Stanley's actions. It is quite the opposite in the movie as Stella eventually confronts these ideas and runs to Eunice's instead to back to Stanley, however we don't know how long this lasts as this is the final scene.

Another difference between the original play is Mitch's outburst toward Stanley in the last scene. This short confrontation between Mitch and Stanley present in the movie was not in the original text. The fight in the movie made the audience more certain of the rape than the book describes as the passage in which it occurs is some what vague.

Another thing that was different between the original and the movie was that the movie focused on Blanches confusion with reality and fantasies; the original also incorporates the emotional turmoil she experiences as the music haunts her as to the shadows on the wall. Though the Polka music does play quite often in the movie, the original uses it more as a memory that haunts her rather than something that occurs when she becomes agitated. And in the movie the creeping shadow are used very little if at all to show how she can't get away from her past as it does in the original.

Another difference between the movie and the original play is that in the original Blanche's dead husband was gay while he is not in the movie. For whatever reason this was omitted from the movie it did effect some of the audiences perceptions of Blanche. Because of this difference Blanches reaction can be interpreted differently as can her residual guilt that drives her slightly mad. After reading Alice's blog post on the subject I understand that even more of the story was impacted by this small change in character. I found "It saps the love the love Blanche held for Allen and, to some extent, belies Blanche's ideal of fairytale love," to be a really interesting idea that I had not thought of before (http://airossignol.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/film-adaptations-rarely-good-often-sacrilegious/).