"A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951): Adaptation that Makes a Difference

Sažetak

The aim of the paper is to show the transformations of Tennessee Williams's play A Streetcar Named Desire in the transposition to the “big screen.” In this paper we rely on the recent adaptation theory in which film adaptation is primarily perceived as an autonomous film work of equal status as the original. New adaptation theory rejects fidelity to the original as a criterion for evaluation since the ad aptation process involves the transposition from one sign system to another (single - track verbal media to a multi - track media which uses words, sound and moving photographic images) and different material and practical contingencies (film shooting is a col laborative project subjected to the influence of studio and censorship, complexities of the shooting process, material infrastructure, budgetary constraints, etc.). In light of theory of adaptation as a product and a process conditioned by the context of c reation and reception, the analysis of the film A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) has shown that this film, although “mutilated” by the changes imposed by the censorship, grew into a unique, author’s work shaped by the vision of the film director Elia Kazan and as such cannot be reduced to the replica of the original.