Monthly Archives: December 2007

Streetcar through the eyes of Stella

Streetcar

Kim Hunter (Stella) takes Stanley (Marlon Brando) back.

A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by Tennessee Williams. It was both a critical and box office success. The story concerns a sexual triangle of Blanche DuBois—a pretentious, fading beauty; macho alpha male Stanley Kowalski, a rising member of the industrial, inner-city immigrant class; and Stella Kowalski, the submissive sister of Blanche.

Stella is a victim of domestic violence and often finds herself taking refuge at her neighbour Eunice’s home, only to return to Stanley when he cries for her to take him back. Blanche, who has arrived for a “visit”, is horrified by her sister’s situation and tries to convince Stella to divorce Stanley, but Stella refuses, bound to Stanley by sexual attraction and her pregnancy with his child.

The night Stella is having their baby, Stanley drunkenly happens upon Blanche and rapes her. This sends Blanche completely over the edge into a nervous breakdown, and Stanley forces Stella to send her off to a mental institution.

In some versions of A Streetcar Named Desire, Stella leaves Stanley after she finds out about the rape.

Milyunanochesco

Il Fiore delle mille e una notte/Arabian Nights (1974) – Pier Paolo Pasolini [Amazon.com]

Comparing Antoine Galland‘s and Richard Burton‘s translations of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, Jorge Luis Borges wrote:

“Another fact is undeniable. The most famous and eloquent encomiums of The Thousand and One Nights – by Coleridge, Thomas de Quincey, Stendhal, Tennyson, Edgar Allan Poe, Newman – are from readers of Galland’s translation. Two hundred years and ten better translations have passed, but the man in Europe or the Americas who thinks of the Thousand and One Nights thinks, invariably of this first translation. The Spanish adjective milyunanochesco [thousand-and-one-nights-esque] … has nothing to do with the erudite obscenities of Burton or Mardrus, and everything to do with Antoine Galland’s bijoux and sorceries.” –Jorge Luis Borges, “The Translators of The Thousand and One Nights“

The image above is from the 1974 film adaptation by Pasolini. It laterally depicts a nude man and woman facing each other. The woman sits, legs apart; the man kneels in front of her and points a bow to her genital area. The tip of the arrow has a phallus attached.

United Colors of Benetton

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1fNsjx1R6I&]

One of the few interesting magazines to come out of the late 20th and early 21st centuries was Colors by Benetton. Their first ever issue in 1991 featured an unwashed newborn baby [1] . Here [2] is an overview of the first 60 issues.

Benetton is nowhere as big a brand today as it was in the 1980s and while I was not exactly taken with their clothes, I did like the ads. I don’t see a comparable contemporary brand such as Tommy Hilfiger kicking this century a conscience.

Benetton Priest kissing a Nun

The mood wasn’t always as serious though, witness this playful update of the nunsploitation theme to the 20th century: a priest kissing a nun.

Cult fiction #2

The Diceman (1971) – Luke Rhinehart

[Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

The Dice Man is a comedic novel published in 1971 by George Cockcroft under the pen name Luke Rhinehart and tells the story of a psychiatrist who begins making life decisions based on the casting of dice. The novel is noted for its subversivity, anti-psychiatry sentiments and for reflecting moods of the early 1970s. Due to its subversive nature and chapters concerned with controversial issues such as rape, murder and sexual experimentation, it was banned in several countries. Upon its initial publication, the cover bore the confident subheader, “This book can change your life” and quickly became a modern cult classic.

Previous entries in this series.

 

World music classics #14

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7dAxvj2mlU]

Rockit (1983) – Herbie Hancock

I believe I’d never seen the Godley & Creme video to this song before. What a strange affair. Definitely a work of the uncanny, celebrating disembodied body parts and general weirdness.

Also check one of my guilty pleasures: “I’m Not in Love” by 10cc. I love the soundscapes of that one.

See previous entries in this series.

Icons of erotic art #7

Although French artist Francis Picabia’s work from the 1940s such as [1], [2], [3] and Woman with Bulldog [4]; which borrowed generously from soft-core pornography, is a much more likely candidate for the Icons of erotic art series, today I wish to celebrate Picabia’s entirely unerotic 1915 work: Portrait of an American Girl in the Nude[5], a drawing which depicts a spark plug supposedly representing Agnes Meyer. It is a satirical homage to the machine age and the American pin up girl.

Images sourced at Lemateurdart and K-Punk.

Previous entries in Icons of Erotic Art here, and in a Wiki format here.

This entry also counts as the 15th significant artwork of the 20th century.