James Harbaugh

EXERCISE #4
SOUND
Part A:
By the the time the halfway point of A Streetcar Named Desire arrives, Blanches
relationship with Mitch has become quite serious. The pair goes on a number of dates, and they
seem to grow quite fond of each other. On one such outing, the two go dancing at a club by the
water. When the two step outside to rest on the pier, they quickly engage in simple, humorous
dialogue. The tone of conversation soon turns somber, however, when Mitch brings up his dying
mother, and his fear of losing one of the few people in his life that he truly loves. As she gazes
out into the fog, Blanche begins to recount her own story of such a loss, the death of her husband
Allen. As she explains how he died, a few important sound effects come into play. Blanche tells
Mitch that while the two were dancing at a Casino, Allen suddenly left her, and shot himself in
the mouth with a revolver. As she tells him this, the sound of a gunshot can be heard. The
audience is therefore made to believe that this gun shot sound effect mirrors what Blanche would
have heard that night at the Casino. Aside from this gunshot, the scene is almost completely
silent until faint music begins to play under the dialogue. The polka music that plays is the same
music that Blanche and her husband danced to together before he committed suicide. In fact, this
polka music plays multiple times throughout the movie whenever Allen, or anything about her
past life is mentioned. The tune is distorted, and somewhat distant sounding. This is meant to
symbolize the confusion and doubt that clouds Blanches mind. When Blanche tells Mitch that
Allen had shot himself with a revolver, the music stops. This is because Blanche has told him a
fact that she knows to be clear and true. As she tries to explain why the man she loved would do
such a thing, the music begins to play again because she does not truly know the answer, and it
haunts her. This confirms the idea that the polka song plays whenever Blanche is troubled or
confused, adding an eerie mood to the film.The director could have simply chosen to use
dramatic, scary music to make it immediately clear that Blanche is mentally ill. The use of the
polka, which is not normally associated with such an illness, and is generally regarded as a
happy form of song only adds to the ominous nature of the character, and the film as a whole.

Part B:
When Blanche arrives at Stellas home in New Orleans at the beginning of the film, the
two sisters are alone. Stellas husband, Stanley, is not yet back from work. Blanche uses his
absence to air some grievances about the state her sister left her in to marry the man she refers to
as the pollack. The two quickly become angry with one another, and just as the conversation
reaches an intense level, a streetcar passes by loudly on the street (hidden from view), cutting
their conversation short. The significance of this is that the conversation is interrupted at its peak,
just when it seems Blanche is about to reveal a big secret about her past. This plants a seed of
curiosity as to what else could have been known or what else is yet to be revealed about Blanche
and the past she evidently prefers not to speak of as the film progresses. This short scene and its
equally short sound effect relate back to the films larger theme about secrecy, and more
specifically, Blanches need to deny reality. Throughout the film, tells a series of dramatic tales
about her past, hew wealth, and her lovers that seem almost too good to be true. Stanley sees
right through her facade however, and exposes her for who she really is. Whenever he questions
her about it, she consistently attempts to change the subject or derail his train of thought.
Although she knows the stories she has told to be false, Blanche still seems to want to believe
them to be true because it comforts her, and helps to distract her from the painful reality that is
the life she is living. She refuses to let anyone destroy her false sense of reality, because it is the
only sense of happiness she can to cling to. Many sound effects portray this denial throughout the
film, but the thundering of the streetcar is the most poignant and painful reminder of Blanches
past, and the secrets from it that continue to haunt her.