The representation of desire in the films of Tennessee Williams: homosexuality male against Hays Code

Abstract

Desire is one of the most identifying features of literary and film production of Tennessee Williams. Due to the success of his works on Broadway during the 1940s, several producers and Hollywood filmmakers decided to adapt them to fight against the Hays Code, structure censor that since 1933 controlled the film industry, and be able to speak directly to the public in issues closer to their sexual, emotional, vital and existential reality. Williams films were released between 1950 and 1968, and in these years the Code underwent a gradual easing until its demise in 1967. Although various modifications with respect to the original texts were necessary so that films could be release, all represent desire clearly, both with metaphors in the first years as in a more direct way in the past. In this sense, topics such as adultery, nymphomania, drug addiction and homosexuality were treated for the first time in Hollywood at this time, and in the representation of the last one films of Williams played an important role. As a result of their personal and family circumstances, this author had a special sensitivity to reflect the desire in their complex characters, and showed in the male rejection and acceptance of two such controversial topics as homosexuality. From these considerations, this work aims to reflect on the way in which the desire of homosexual characters of Williams has been represented during the hegemony of the Hays Code in some of its most relevant adaptations: A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly, Last Summer.