A Streetcar Named Desire Codes And Conventions

Parodies can be found almost anywhere. An individual can search the internet for a piece of literature or movie that mocks another. A parody is made from virtually any piece of literature or event that the author chooses to ridicule. Some individuals may even claim that the parody is better than the original. However, the originality of parodies and whether these works can stand as their own are debated. Christopher Durang’s “For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls” and Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs prove that parodies are a transformative use of the originals, Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire. The difference in the character’s personalities demonstrates how parodies can be seen as independent works.
In both plays, Blanche is a widow and becomes heavily dependent on her sister after settling into her home. The main difference between these two women is that in Brighton Beach Memoirs, Blanche realizes that she has her two daughters, Laurie and Nora, to care for; thus, she must no longer rely on her sister for financial support and tries to become independent when leaving Kate’s home. Contrastingly, in A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche is too dependent and never thinks to separate herself from her sister. She, however, makes herself at home in Stella’s apartment and tries finding herself a man who would take care of her. These drastic differences exhibit that parodies have characters with separate personalities, which enables them to stand on their own, not as a copy of the
Compared to The Glass Menagerie, which leaves the audience to infer that the characters would rather escape reality than face it, “For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls” directly indicates Tom, Amanda, and Lawrence’s feelings. This is made evident when Lawrence states, “I don’t like the world, mama. I like it here in this room” (Durang 13). Furthermore, in the Brighton Beach Memoirs, the audience gets a better understanding of the extent of the family’s financial problems. Stanley’s sacrifice, Nora’s possible audition, and Jack’s tiresome three jobs show how hard the family works to support one another and continue to maintain their income. However, in A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams does not provide the audience with how hard the family struggles financially, but rather how Stanley sees money as power. Additionally, Durang’s parody gives a better indication of how dependent and close Blanche is with her sister. Even though in A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche finds comfort in alcohol after fighting with her sister, the audience does not recognize the same sense of dependency in comparison to Blanche and Kate in Brighton Beach Memoirs. In this drama, the audience is easily able to detect that as a widow and a mother of two, Blanche desperately needs help to support her family, which is why she turned to her sister. Without much thought,