Evocation of the Old South in film adaptations of Tennessee Williams: a space as a narrative element

Abstract

The south of the United States plays a decisive role in the literary work of the American playwright Tennessee Williams. This universe, which is centered in the main city of Louisiana, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Delta, has an important cinematographic representation thanks to the adaptations of the main works of the writer, carried out between 1950 and 1968. Thus, the southern space has a notable prominence in these films, and in some cases acquires the nature of character, due to its relevant narrative weight and to the constant evocation that characters make of it. With the objectives of to emphasise the Old South as poetic and romantic in the classic American cinema, to reflect on the relationship of Williams with their place of origin, and approach to the representation of the southern universe in its main film adaptations, this work tries to reflect the South influence the construction of the themes and characters of the playwright. In this sense, films like A Streetcar Named Desire, Baby Doll, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly, Last Summer or Sweet Bird of Youth, among other prominent, share the same scope despite carried out in different locations of southern United States. From these considerations, this work aims to reflect on how the south inheriting of the Old South stands as a narrative element that determines the dramatic evolution in the film adaptations of Tennessee Williams.