Comments | futuresoon: (без темы)

futuresoon

(Untitled)

Apr 02, 2008 14:25

You know you're a very sad person when, upon having to write a paper on a famous stage director, you pick Elia Kazan, not because you've seen any of his plays or movies, but because he directed both versions of A Streetcar Named Desire, the male lead of which was named Stanley Kowalski, which would go on to become the partial namesake of one of the ( Read more... )

a streetcar named desire, i like directors, due south, i like movies, my life and welcome to it, yes i am really very odd, i like theatre

Comments 5

selenak April 3 2008, 04:03:06 UTC

ROTFLOL. Well, one thing is sure, you won't be bored. Kazan is Mr. Controversy Incarnate. His attitude towards women (specifically actresses) in his memoirs pisses me off, and of course there is the whole MacCarthy era betrayal of fellow directors, scriptwriters etc. thing, which led to what happened when he got the lifetime Academy Award, but he was ever so talented, no question about.

Also? He occasionally acted in front of the camera, and one of the last time he did that was in The Godfather II. Never let it be said I am not obsessive about things I'm fannish about as well.

futuresoon April 3 2008, 04:05:40 UTC

Oh, I read all about the whole HUAC debacle. But I haven't read anything about his attitudes towards women...really, I haven't read that much about him at all; just the HUAC thing and the movies/plays he did and the awards they got and so on. I suspect I may have to actually see some of these movies at some point--and yes, that includes The Godfather, don't you worry...

selenak April 3 2008, 04:14:19 UTC

Excellent. And hey, it would be useful to you to start with A Streetcar Named Desire (after all, the only reason why Ray Kowalski's ex is called Stella is that Stanley Kowalski's wife is called Stella). In my review of my DVD rewatching, I both praise the film and talk a bit about my non-HUAC related issues with Kazan:

http://selenak.livejournal.com/224820.html

futuresoon April 3 2008, 05:03:35 UTC

*nods* Knew about the Stella thing, too (oh, the things you can pick up when you read too damn much). And, ooooh, I think I shall have to make reference to Kazan's treatment of Leigh in my paper--that's, well, not cool, but definitely interesting and something more than the "poor, talented guy who got caught in a bad rap he didn't deserve" way I've seen him described so far. People, man, they are never one thing nor the other.

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