On August 12th last year, we moved into Samwise the Brave to embark on a journey around the 50 states. Throughout this year, we’ve spent considerable time soaking in where we are and planning where to go next. The places we explored, the borders we crossed, and the long travel days we kept each other company with our thoughts and anxieties and ideas — we never imagined one year of life could be this fulfilling and this energizing.
During a recent drive, we discussed a piece in Medium that said the cure to burnout is experiencing “profound and utter awe.” The most compelling example is the perspective shift astronauts gain after seeing the earth from space and feeling a “universal connectedness” that transforms how they think about their lives. Having just left the jaw-dropping scenery of Niagara Falls and Toronto and finding ourselves perched above the great blue strait between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan on the Mackinac Bridge, we couldn’t help but breathe a collective breath of awe.
This sense of awe has fed us and fueled us this year. Every mountain, canyon, and roaring waterfall. Every sunset, skyline, and capitol dome. Every week had something in store that amazed and renewed us. String 52 of those weeks together, and you get the opposite of burnout — a year of burnin.
In place of complacency, we now know the empowering feeling of taking deliberate steps toward goals we set ourselves. In place of spectating others or wishing to have done something, we now push each other to do it and not feel shame if it turns out it’s not something we enjoy doing. In place of seeking external validation, we try to keep the fire of what truly matters lit on the inside.
There are so many ways full-time RVing has strengthened us as people, as a married couple, and as citizens of this country. Looking forward to the next chapter of our life in Denver after we wrap up our journey next month, we’re grateful and excited to carry the fire into the future!
This week we’re talking about Dazed and Confused. But before we get into it, I want to say thank you for checking out the Reels on Wheels Movie Club. If you don’t know what that is, I’m choosing one film a week to watch and dive into. I announce the Movie of the Week in advance so you can watch too, and I’m hoping to kick off a discussion by sharing my thoughts on the film.
We’ve spent the last few weeks in Austin, Texas, so I wanted to pick a film related to this place. Richard Linklater is probably the most well known Austin filmmaker. He even started the Austin Film Society back in 1985. I chose Dazed and Confused because it is Linklater’s classic coming-of-age comedy, and it also happened to be available on Hulu!
The film features an ensemble cast portraying a diverse set of high school personalities and cliques to broadly capture the sense of youth, mayhem, and angst associated with a typical small-town American high school experience. Linklater wrote and directed the film, drawing on his personal experience as a Texas high schooler in the 1970s.
Plot Summary
Set in 1976, Dazed and Confused centers on a group of high schoolers on the last day of school. The rising seniors are hazing the rising freshman. In particular, a group of rising seniors including the school’s quarterback Randall “Pink” Floyd (Jason London), try to chase down a group of rising freshman including Mitch Cramer (Wiley Wiggins). The football players are also deciding whether to sign a pledge not to party, drink, or do drugs for the upcoming season. That night, many students meet up to party at a local pool hall and in the woods near a moontower. After his hazing, Mitch joins in on these parties. In the morning, Pink decides that he will not sign the pledge, even if he does play football in the coming season.
Setting: Austin or Anywhere, USA
As I mentioned earlier, we’re currently in Austin, where Dazed and Confused was filmed. In fact, at least some of the “Party at the Moontower” sequence was filmed at Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park, located just one minute down the road from our current campground!
The movie benefits greatly from filming around town at real locations, conveying the sense that these characters were real high school kids with real high school problems. It succeeds at portraying the Austin-area specifically, but also feels appropriately generic so it’s relatable to any one who grew up in a small town. Linklater’s humanist writing and style is amplified by setting these characters in recognizable places.
Having grown up in a small town myself, I can say that the setting of this film (as well as many of the personalities) felt very familiar. Dazed and Confused is over 25 years old and set in 1976, but there is certainly a through-line of the small town American experience that transcends many of the changes that have taken place over this time period. The film’s setting plays a role in this, but it’s the cast of characters we see on screen and their mostly hilarious interactions that form the core of this film.
Capturing that High School Feeling
Dazed and Confused is hard to capture in a plot summary because so much of what makes it great has nothing to do with the plot. There are some characters that are more like traditional protagonists, like Pink or Mitch, and some more like traditional antagonists, like the brutish O’Bannion (Ben Affleck) chasing down the underclassmen. But overall the movie tends to feel largely plotless – in a good way. After all, high school doesn’t have a set plotline.
What largely defines high school is different types of kids all growing up together. Sometimes that means butting heads, but sometimes that means coming together in unexpected ways. And Linklater does a great job of showing how these various groups – jocks, popular kids, intellectuals, stoners, partiers, upperclassman, underclassman, and more – can be distinguished but also overlap. He does so not by relying heavily on tropes that have become familiar in high school movies, but through clever writing and dialogue that have stood the test of time.
This movie is not grand. It’s not centered around anything particularly compelling. There’s not much in the way of significant motivation or character conflict beyond the hazing rituals and the decision about the pledge. But that’s also its strength. Many high school movies have the tendency to over-dramatize the experience. It’s tropes are pretty familiar – prom is the most important night of your life or it’s the football championship or graduation changing everything, to name a few.
By keeping the overarching stakes realistically inconsequential, Linklater keeps the audience’s focus on the personal. Just as in life, the high school experiences portrayed are really only important for these specific kids in these specific moments. And the slice-of-life shown here – just one day in these kids’ lives – allows us to go along for the ride with these characters acting as a conduit for the audience.
We don’t know any of the characters particularly well, but there are certainly enough for most people to relate to at least one. The movie transports you into this world, even for one fleeting, mayhem-filled day. And while some iconic moments and characters have pervaded pop culture, particularly Matthew McConaughey’s Wooderson, by the end you’re left with mostly just a feeling – that high school feeling.
That’s what makes Dazed and Confused truly a cult classic that stands the test of time. Linklater manages to capture the high school experience genuinely while also infusing comedy at every turn. In a lighthearted way, the film deals with important themes associated with youth, like the difficulties of growing up, grappling with oncoming adulthood, and the impacts of the passage of time. It also portrays the mostly innocent fun of just being a kid muddling through your teenage years one way or another. Ultimately, as Wooderson says, “You just gotta keep livin’ man, L-I-V-I-N.”
But what did you think of Dazed and Confused? Did you find it relatable as a coming-of-age story? Let me know in the comments or @rvleaguers on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Thanks again for checking out the Reels on Wheels Movie Club!
Today we’re talking about Avengers: Endgame. But before we get into it, I want to say thank you for checking out the Reels on Wheels Movie Club. For those of you who don’t know what this is, I’m choosing one film a week to watch and dive into. I announce the Movie of the Week in advance so you can watch too, and I’m hoping to kick off a discussion by sharing my thoughts on the film on Movie Mondays. For more, check out my prior posts on No Country for Old Men and A Streetcar Named Desire.
Avengers: Endgame has captivated audiences all over the world, living up to overwhelming expectations, and smashing box office records. The film crossed the $2 billion mark in just 11 days and already passed Titanic to become the second-highest grossing film of all time. With 21 prior films leading up to this moment, directors Anthony and Joe Russo, collectively known as the Russo Brothers, faced the behemoth task of bringing the Infinity Saga story arc to a close and wrapping up the storylines for several of the MCU’s most beloved characters. To accomplish this, they crafted a movie running just over 3 hours, accommodating both epic blockbuster sequences and quiet character moments. The film masterfully balances the MCU’s now marquee blend of action, comedy, drama, and heart.
Plot Summary
Avengers: Endgame finds our heroes dealing with the aftermath of the events of Infinity War. Thanos (Josh Brolin) won and those that survived are picking up the pieces. When the team regroups and finds Thanos at The Garden, he reveals that he’s already destroyed the Infinity Stones. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) goes for the head, ending Thanos, but putting them no closer to reversing the Snap.
Five years pass, and Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) is now coordinating the Avengers’ efforts both on and off-world to face various threats. Among them is Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), whose family was killed in the Snap, and who has since been on a one-man mission to mercilessly kill criminals the world over.
Meanwhile, Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) finally emerges from the quantum realm and convinces Steve (Chris Evans) and Natasha that they might be able to travel through time. They approach Tony (Robert Downey Jr.), who now has a daughter with Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow), about their idea, but he refuses to get involved. They then approach Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), now the Smart Hulk, who agrees. At the same time, Tony decides to work on the time travel concept at home and manages to run a successful model. The team then regroup for a Time Heist. The Hulk and Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) travel to New Asgard on Earth and find a depressed, alcoholic, and out-of-shape Thor who is reluctant but eventually joins them. And Natasha travels to Japan to bring Hawkeye in.
The team split up to recover the stones through time and space. Iron Man, Captain America, Ant-Man, and the Hulk travel to 2012 New York to recover the Space, Mind, and Time Stones. Thor and Rocket travel to 2013 Asgard to recover the Reality Stone. Nebula (Karen Gillan), War Machine (Don Cheadle), Hawkeye, and Black Widow travel to 2014 to recover the Power Stone from Morag and the Soul Stone from Vormir.
In 2012 New York, Bruce convinces the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) to give him the Time Stone by promising to return them all to their proper places once they are done. Steve tricks Hydra agents into giving him the Mind Stone (in Loki’s scepter), but Loki (Tom Hiddleston) escapes with the Space Stone when a scuffle ensues. This forces the team to come up with a new plan, with Steve and Tony traveling back even further to 1970 where they can recover a Space Stone and more Pym Particles for the return trip. They do so, but only after Tony runs into his father and Steve sees his old love Peggy Carter (Haley Atwell).
In 2013 Asgard, Rocket extracts the Reality Stone from Jane Foster, while Thor encounters his mother. She realizes he is from the future and talks him through the issues he has been having coping with his failures. Thor summons Mjolnir, his hammer, and they return to 2023.
In 2014 Morag, War Machine and Nebula intercept and knock out Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), while Natasha and Clint continue on to Vormir. Nebula obtains the Power Stone and War Machine travels back with it, but before Nebula can travel back, she is disabled when she interfaces with 2014 Nebula. This alerts Thanos to their presence and time-traveling plan, and he captures Nebula. He then sends 2014 Nebula to travel through time and infiltrate the Avengers.
In Vormir, Black Widow and Hawkeye learn that one must die in order to obtain the Soul Stone. Both are willing, but Black Widow bests Hawkeye, and she sacrifices her life so that Hawkeye can obtain the stone.
When they all return to 2023, they mourn the loss of Black Widow and commit to making her sacrifice worth it. Tony builds a gauntlet capable of harnessing the power of the stones, while 2014 Nebula uses the time machine to summon Thanos and his army from the past. The Hulk wields the gauntlet, injuring his arm severely, but successfully bringing back all of those killed in the Snap. Moments later, Thanos’s army arrives and bombards the facility. Thanos sends 2014 Nebula to find and bring him the Infinity Stones.
A massive battle ensues, with Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor facing off against Thanos. Captain America wields Mjolnir, but they are still bested by Thanos. When all hope seems lost, reinforcements arrive in the form of all the revived heroes who assemble to face off against Thanos and his army. Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) also arrives from space, destroying Thanos’s mothership along the way. Several heroes attempt to get the stones away from Thanos and send it through to the quantum realm, but he thwarts their efforts and obtains the gauntlet with all the stones. Before he is able to use them, Iron Man takes them all into his own armor. He wields them to dust Thanos and his forces, but in doing so, he is mortally wounded and dies.
The survivors mourn Tony, and later Steve says farewell to Bucky (Sebastian Stan) and Sam (Anthony Mackie), and departs alone to return the Infinity Stones and Mjolnir to their proper places through time and space. Instead of returning, he travels back to the 1940s to be with Peggy Carter and lives a full life. In 2023, an old Steve Rogers returns and hands off his shield to Sam.
Overall Impressions
There is so much to say about this movie. It succeeds for both casual and die-hard fans of the franchise because it pays attention to characters, their relationships, and emotions. It delivers epic action and is certainly one of the greatest blockbusters of all time. It’s also long. The film adds about a half-hour to Infinity War’s runtime, but it’s not bloated. It uses that additional time to explore our characters more deeply. The film resonates because we are emotionally invested in these characters. We care what they have to say to each other over a peanut butter sandwich, we care about their infighting, we care about them dealing with and overcoming resentment. Our heroes are human. We see them get torn down, struggle to cope, move on in some ways, and ultimately triumph.
I don’t think we’ll have a film that creates this type of global moment again for a long time. And it is completely earned. It delivers on every level. It achieved the gargantuan feat of fully capturing the essence the Marvel Cinematic Universe in one astonishing film, and in doing so it has cemented itself in cinematic history as one of the greatest of all time.
Setting the Stage
I’ve seen some describe the first act of the film as slow, but I think that misses the point entirely. First of all, the Avengers literally decapitate Thanos in the first act, so it still has action. But more importantly, it lets us see Tony grapple with his own death and failure, Steve and others at a support group dealing with grief even five years after the Snap, Natasha struggling to keep doing her job and hold the team together, Clint going off the deep end after losing his family, Thor’s descent into depression and alcoholism, and even small moments like that between Nebula and Rocket. We need to feel the effects of the Snap before embarking on a time-traveling adventure or else the dramatic end of Infinity War would be entirely undermined. We see Five Years Later slowly appear on the screen, but we also feel the years through our characters and their stories, especially in this first act.
Devoting significant screen time to these moments and establishing the post-Snap as the new normal allows this film to distinguish itself from Infinity War and stand on its own. Yes, it’s a follow up, and yes, it’s entirely premised on those events, but it doesn’t just feel like picking up where we left off and completing that story.
In a way, the first act delivers that immediate follow up audiences might have expected relatively quickly. They find Thanos, and they kill him. But that’s it. They fail again because the stones aren’t there, and they can’t do anything to save the dead. That closes the book on Infinity War – Thanos won. To reverse it after five years pushes our heroes to their limits and asks them to make compromises and trade offs. Where in Infinity War we hear “We don’t trade lives,” in Endgame, the stakes are higher because the gloves come off and everything is on the table.
The film also boldly commits to the character decisions it makes in the first act. It’s fairly clear that Thor has had the most trouble in the aftermath of the Snap. What at first might just seem like a quick gag to show an out-of-shape Thor, turns out to be what we get for the entire film. This allows them to show him grow as a character and rise up out of this slump to fight Thanos again. He doesn’t just magically get abs again. We don’t need to see a training montage of him getting into physical shape. What’s more important is that we know where he is emotionally. The film focuses on his journey to overcome those intangible issues to be the hero he truly is regardless of his outward appearance.
The Time Heist
The Time Heist is the crux of this film. While many of its most epic moments come in the climactic battle later, the events in and around the Heist are its core. Our characters come together to plan the heist at the Avengers facility, providing some of our best interactions, like when Thor hilariously recounts the events of Thor: The Dark World while the others look on visibly confused. We even get small things like a shot of Natasha, Hulk, and Tony lying down in the office brainstorming in sweats, when Natasha realizes that three stones were in New York in 2012. It’s small moments like that that make the characters feel more human. Yes, that’s what it’s like when you do a group project and you’re just trying to figure something out.
The film completely commits to the heist. We get the music, the sneaking around, the costumes, all the hijinks you look for in a fun heist. We also get moments only the MCU has earned, like having Captain America fight himself and admire his own “America’s ass.” The heist also allows our characters to revisit their own pasts and delivers emotional closure, some of which we didn’t even know we needed.
Notably, it deals with parental closure for both Tony and Thor. Tony’s strained relationship with his father has been visited before in the MCU. He never got closure before his parents were murdered by the Winter Soldier, and his father was very distant with him growing up. He finally connected with his father in 1970, when Howard was a soon-to-be father. Tony now has his own daughter and could see that his father was apprehensive and nervous about being a good dad. This showed that for all his faults, perhaps his dad was really just trying his best. Tony was finally able to tell him that for all the bad, he really only remembered the good parts. His goodbye hug may have perturbed Howard a bit, but it gave Tony the chance to connect and say goodbye.
Similarly, Thor’s mother was taken from him too early – one of a string of failures he internalized that drove him to his downtrodden state. Admittedly, most people don’t look fondly on the Dark World, and we did not really emotionally invest in Thor’s mother, probably because she had very little actual character development in that film. But here we see how big of an absence she really has been in Thor’s life. When he’s finally able to talk through all of his misadventures and failings with her, she is able to comfort and lift him up out of the doldrums, and he too is able to get closure by saying goodbye. Before he goes, he summons Mjolnir, and his face when his hammer returns to his grasp says it all. In spite of all his struggles, he is still worthy.
Meanwhile, Captain America sees Peggy Carter once again, and he is reminded tangibly of the life he’d given up when he went into the ice in 1945. We can feel how desperately he wishes to have had a life with her, and it pays off later.
And even characters with no prior history are developed in relation to each other. One great example is Rhodey and Nebula. When her arm is burned retrieving the Power Stone, her robotic arm is revealed. She is visibly uncomfortable saying that she wasn’t always this way. Rhodey replies that he wasn’t either, referring to his leg paralysis and need for mechanical assistance to walk, and says that they work with what they’ve got. This little moment of comfort says a lot about these characters. It shows how even two seemingly dissimilar characters can still connect on a human level.
All of these are great examples of how emotionally intelligent writing elevates this film. It’s amazing that all of these character developments take place in the midst of the exciting fun of the Time Heist. It would be easy to get lost in the action of the primary events – recovering the Infinity Stones through a series of mini-adventures – but the writers and directors never lose sight of the characters that underpin the story. It’s why the MCU has connected with audiences where other blockbuster franchises have faltered.
And you simply can’t talk about the poignancy of the Time Heist without talking about Clint and Natasha on Vormir. This is the end of one of the original Avengers, and it’s the moment when the film commits to the idea that the stakes are real and lives will be lost permanently. What’s quite beautiful about it is the love between these two characters isn’t romantic – but a deep friendship and shared history that binds them to each other. Both are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, but this is Natasha’s moment to save her family. As she said previously, she had nothing and then she had this family – the Avengers – and she would do anything to save them. Her sacrifice is the boldest and bravest because she only has faith that it will work – she can’t know for sure. While it would have been awesome to see her in that A-Force female hero team up that comes later, we’ll never forget her sacrifice on Vormir.
Putting the End in Endgame
The climactic battle is absolutely one of the most epic sequences ever put on film. The Big Three – Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor – face off against Thanos, Captain America wields Mjolnir, the Avengers – all of them and their allies – Assemble, and Iron Man wields the gauntlet, giving his life to finally save the universe from Thanos.
The directors did a great job of not letting this battle get away from the audience. One great tool was the Infinity Gauntlet relay race. There is a lot going on once the big battle breaks out, but by focusing in on the gauntlet and having individual characters carry it, we can focus in on them in particular so that it’s not just 40 minutes of CGI characters punching each other.
Needless to say, the movie delivered. This was not just the climax of one epic film, but of an entire story arc that spanned over a decade. It rose to the occasion. Not just by its scale but also by its significance to the story. All of the Avengers, anyone willing to come and fight alongside them against Thanos and the forces of evil, come together, and we finally have a moment worthy of the iconic line from Captain America, “Avengers Assemble!” But more so than that – it closes the story arc on Iron Man – the most beloved character in the MCU and now one of the most iconic characters in the world. Fittingly, the story comes full circle as he declares, like he famously did at the end of Iron Man in 2008, “I am Iron Man.”
We’ve watched him grow as a character over the course of these films from a selfish billionaire playboy to a selfless hero willing to put it all on the line to fight the greatest threat in the universe. And not only was he willing to do it, he was also capable. He figured out the time travel, he built a gauntlet and a suit capable of wielding the stones, and he was able to wield them all to defeat Thanos and his army. Having completed his mission and protected the world, he could, as Pepper said, finally rest. It’s very difficult for a franchise to end or, in this case, end its most beloved character. Endgame managed to do so in a way that was emotionally powerful. The audience can mourn with the survivors but also celebrate Tony’s ultimate triumph over his greatest foe.
And our last big send-off, which was not in death in the same way, but similarly fitting, was Captain America. He finally got his dance with Peggy, and that life that Tony had told him to get. We’ve seen Steve give up a normal life so many times over – the soldier always standing up for what is right even at great personal cost. He was just a simple kid from Brooklyn who didn’t think it was right that others were laying down their lives in World War II while he stayed behind. From that humble origin, he has grown to face threats both in personal relationships, particularly with Bucky and even Iron Man, and cosmic, facing down aliens in New York and Thanos himself. He’s been the man out of time and in many ways, out of his depth, but he’s risen to every occasion. Finally, after their final battle together, he says goodbye to his friends – those he lost in Natasha and Tony – and those who remain – notably Bucky and Sam, and returns to Peggy to live a normal, quiet life. It was beautiful, he says. He doesn’t tell Sam or the audience about it, but all we need is that intimate moment of him dancing with Peggy to know that finally our Captain can rest too.
Closing this Chapter
So we’ve said goodbye to many of our favorite characters. This felt like a true ending. There was no mid or post credits scene, just the sound of Iron Man hammering away at his original armor – a full circle. Of course, Endgame isn’t the end of the MCU. The latest Spiderman trailer just dropped this morning, and we will see how the universe expands and deals with new threats to come. But Endgame closed the loop on a massive, unprecedented cinematic storyline.
It did so not by resting on its laurels, but by once again thrilling audiences with something new and exciting. It’s a film that stands out with other epic conclusions, in the same vein as Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, but it also sets the stage for what’s to come. And while it may be many years before we see this or any franchise crescendo so successfully, we can’t wait to see what’s next.
Ranking and Conclusion
But let’s get down to business. How does Endgame stack up against the rest of the MCU? This is an incredibly difficult decision. I can say from the start, I know it’s in my Top 5, but that’s where it gets tricky. My immediate reaction was that this film vaulted into the top spot, but I wanted to be sure that this wasn’t just recency bias.
Now two weeks since seeing it for the first time, I can say it still stands apart. It is the epic, expansive, grand finale. It pays off on storylines that we have all followed for over a decade and lived up to insanely high expectations. It created a cultural moment all over the world as audiences rushed to theaters to share in this once-in-a-generation experience. This film is something truly spectacular and special. It is the very definition of the MCU, and for that reason I’m dethroning Winter Soldier, and slotting it in at Number 1.
But what did you think of Endgame? How does it stack up in your MCU ranking? Let me know in the comments or @rvleaguers on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Thanks again for checking this out, and be sure to come back for more Reels on Wheels!
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) already includes 22 films, with 1 more on the way this year, more than even some of the most expansive film franchises. And while the MCU is by many measures the most successful franchise in history, with so many entries, there are some that are better, some that are worse, and some that are middling. So let’s not just talk MCU – let’s rank it! You can check out my full ranking below, and watch my videos below for the full context.
Today we’re talking about A Streetcar Named Desire. But before I get into it, I want to say thank you for checking out the Reels on Wheels Movie Club. For those of you who don’t know what this is, I’m choosing one film a week to watch and dive into. I announce the Movie of the Week in advance so you can watch too, and I’m hoping to kick off a discussion by sharing my thoughts on the film on Movie Mondays.
Why This Film?
New Orleans is a city unlike any other. It’s a city which many words are insufficient to describe, but for now I’ll stick with vibrant. It starts with the people, and then there’s the music, the food, and so much more. During our stint there last week, I was inspired to look into some of the most notable New Orleans films. There are many titles of note related to the Big Easy, including (not surprisingly) The Big Easy, King Creole, The Princess and the Frog, and Interview with a Vampire.
So with no shortage of options for this Movie of the Week, I decided to go with a film that is widely considered to be one of the best of all time: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). The film received numerous accolades with four Academy Awards wins (including best actress, best supporting actress, and best supporting actor) and is listed on the American Film Institute’s Top 100 movies at number 47. Even though I’d heard of this film and seen it referenced in pop culture, I’d never actually seen it. And now that I have, I can see why it’s considered one of the all-time greats (though it’s not always enjoyable to watch what’s playing out on the screen).
Summary
Directed by Elia Kazan and adapted from the Tennessee WIlliams pulitzer prize winning play of the same name, the film tells the story of Blanche DuBois (played by Vivian Leigh) after moving in with her sister, Stella Kowalksi (played by Kim Hunter) and brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski (played by Marlon Brando) in New Orleans. Blanche is a middle-aged school-teacher who claims to be on leave from her job due to her nerves and is haunted by the death of her husband when she was younger. Her sister is happy to host her, but the brutish Stan is put-off by her high-class mannerisms and skeptical of her story.
He rummages through Blanche’s belongings thinking she is hiding money from them, but Blanche’s papers show that the family estate was indeed lost to foreclosure. One night during a poker game, Stanley strikes Stella in a drunken outburst and later pleads with her to forgive him and return, which she does. Blanche wants Stella to leave Stanley, but she refuses. Meanwhile, Blanche strikes up a romance with Stanley’s more well-mannered friend, Mitch (Karl Malden).
Months pass and the tension between Blanche and Stanley has grown, and Stanley has been investigating Blanche’s past. Mitch and Blanche near the point of an engagement until Stanley finds that Blanche had a history of promiscuity and a relationship with an underage student that cost her her teaching position. Stella is upset with Stanley for trying to ruin Blanche’s relationship, and then she goes into labor. Mitch confronts Blanche and their romance ends, and later Stanley returns from the hospital to find Blanche fantasizing about a better future. He antagonizes her before physically attacking her. Blanche is left in a severely disturbed mental state, and it is implied that Stanley raped her. Due to these events, Stella has Blanche committed to a mental institution and decides to take her baby and leave Stanley with no intention to return.
Overall Impressions
Overall, this film took me by surprise. Perhaps I haven’t watched enough older films so my impression is inaccurate, but I was surprised at how dark it was. We’re faced with issues like mental health, domestic violence, suicide, and rape all in a movie rated PG! In any case, once I settled in to exactly what kind of a movie this was going to be, I was able to appreciate the film for many reasons including the integration of its setting, the standout performances, the brilliant writing, and the character-focused story it told. I’m going to get into each of those in turn.
Setting
As I said, this film was chosen in conjunction with our travels to New Orleans. It was fascinating to see how the city was portrayed in this film from 1951. There are some similarities even to the modern day, such as the hustle and bustle you feel from the very outset, as a flustered Blanche makes her way into the French Quarter. There’s people, music, and energy all around. It’s hectic for her as it would be for any out-of-town visitor who didn’t know what to expect. And this immediately indicates to the audience that our main character is a fish-out-of-water here. She’s flustered by her new surroundings, the city, the neighborhood, and her sister’s home. Unlike many films, where the setting may only be a backdrop and little more, here it is highlighted to help tell the story.
One quote in particular stood out to me. When Blanche is talking to the young boy who comes by before she goes out with Mitch, she speaks wistfully and asks “Don’t you just love those long rainy afternoons in New Orleans when an hour isn’t just an hour–but a little piece of eternity dropped into your hands–and who knows what to do with it?” She’s nostalgic, she yearns for more time, she is attracted to his youth and perhaps missing her own, and calling out New Orleans’ ability to slow-down time helps to convey that.
Of course, this is based on a stage play from the 1940s, so there is much more missing from this depiction of the city than what one experiences in reality. Needless to say, this is not a full and accurate representation of the residents of the city, nor the scale of its size, nor the depth of its culture. But it was great to see how the setting played a role in the story.
Performances
With legendary actors like Vivian Leigh and Marlon Brando, you have to talk about the performances in this film. You can really feel that this movie is based on a play. It’s dialogue heavy and most of the scenes take place in one location – in and around the Kowalski home. So the film is anchored by the writing (which I’ll get to below) and, of course, the performances. Ultimately, it’s the ensemble’s ability to feel truly human as they struggle through complicated, tense, and tragic developments in their relationships that elevates this film.
The fact that Vivian Leigh can really act is no secret. She won two Academy Awards for Best Actress, for her iconic performances as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and here as Blanche DuBois. She brought not just talent but also experience to this role, as she had already played Blanche on stage in London’s West End in 1949. Her performance here is captivating. Blanche is a complicated character, mixing sincerity, deception, anxiety, instability, despair, hope, and – dare I say – desire, among other things. And Leigh is able to deliver all of this in a way that shows us a full picture of her character, where the portrayal could have otherwise felt disjointed and lost.
One scene I want to highlight is the final confrontation with Stanley, when she finally confesses the truth about her past. Up until this point, we’d seen her do many things, but always preserving some part of her act. She had never let down her guard and fully expressed her true self. When she revealed her secrets out loud, confirming to Stanley that she did indeed have the sordid past he discovered, you can hear the inflection and tone of her voice change as well. She’s not wistful, and she drops the high-class persona. She’s more direct and aggressive and her face and voice reflect this.
This performance allows the audience to see, feel, and internalize – not just through her words – the dramatic turn of events that unfolds as she confirms Stanley’s suspicions. It also evokes a sense of dread in the audience because we know just how monstrous Stanley can be when provoked, and up until this point, Blanche had used her lies and stories to defuse at least some of the tension.
And that gets us back to Marlon Brando as Stanley. He’s not the biggest person, but he’s so physically dominant and imposing in every scene he’s in. He sells us on at once being charming and crude, being attractive and repulsive.
Early on, we, along with Blanche, are drawn in by what I found to be a curious moment of female-gaze – curious because so much of film (even today) is dominated by the male-gaze on women, and this is a film from 1951. Blanche appears to be quite intrigued when Stanley comes home and takes off his sweaty shirt, but she’s quickly disillusioned by his thuggish nature, which Brando completely owns.
Still, the film’s iconic moment, where Stanley yells out for Stella after having beaten her, only works because the audience can’t completely hate Stanley and cast him aside as simply a monster serving no other purpose than to antagonize other characters. And it’s honestly a bit uncomfortable for that reason. But I think that’s part of the point. Brando allows us to sympathize for Stella not just as a victim of Stanley’s physical abuse, but also as a victim of his allure. When she returns to him in that moment, we can see and feel why.
Brando also excels at keeping the rage in check and unleashing it in an instant to shock the audience. Early on, when he is rummaging through Blanche’s things looking for answers and she approaches him fishing for compliments, he’s just not giving in. He says she looks okay and just seems to be skeptical of her, but then suddenly he just erupts without warning. We immediately understand that we have a character who’s a volcano. His volatility keeps the audience on their toes.
Both Kim Hunter and Karl Malden delivered Oscar-winning performances as well, and they are well-deserved accolades, but I won’t get into more detail about their performances here because I could go on all day.
Writing
I do also want to commend the writing. It’s so evident that this is an adaptation of a pulitzer prize winning play. Not only is the story complex, emotional, and distinctly human, but also there were simply moments where I had to step back and appreciate certain lines.
One example is the quote I mentioned earlier about New Orleans: “Don’t you just love those long rainy afternoons in New Orleans when an hour isn’t just an hour–but a little piece of eternity dropped into your hands–and who knows what to do with it?” Notwithstanding any deeper meaning, this is just beautifully written.
Another standout moment was the scene where Blanche recalls the loss of her former husband to Mitch. “When I was sixteen” she says “I made the discovery – love. All at once and much, much too completely. It was like you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow, that’s how it struck the world for me.” And when he died and the love was gone, she says, “the searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned off again.” That just hits hard. The feeling of intense, young love, the tragic loss, and the sudden and intense emotions associated with both are expertly conveyed by this writing. And this excellent writing serves the film throughout.
Characters
The story forces the audience to grapple with issues of family relationships, abuse, mental health, trauma, and more. This movie could simply be described as watching one man torment two women, but that wouldn’t capture the full story. We’re watching a character study on individuals who are dealing with different demons in different ways.
Stanley is a portrait of toxic masculinity. He’s insecure and takes out his frustrations on his wife and anyone or anything else around. He says he’s the king of his castle and can’t stand being criticized or spoken to in any way he sees as disrespectful. His famous cries for Stella show that he does fear losing her and seems to even be dependent on her, but that’s what makes him so dangerous. He draws her in and deceives her into thinking they are happy. He even tries to blame Blanche’s presence for their marital issues. Ultimately, he’s an abusive and violent person at his core. Even when he is right – discovering Blanche’s lies and true history – he uses that to tear her down even further, take advantage of her weak mental state, and – worst of all – rape her.
Blanche is a person who is trying to desperately to run away from her past. She’s haunted by it. We see the recurring theme of lights to show that she wants to remain in the shadow of the reality she’s crafted for as long as possible. She wants to put a shade on the light in her room. She only goes out in the evenings with Mitch. She says that being in love was like casting a blinding light on the world that went out after her husband’s tragic end. And when Mitch finally confronts her, he – or rather the truth – force her into the light. And it’s in this moment and after, when she can no longer hide in the shadows of her half-truths, that she reckons with her actual reality and begins to fully breakdown. Combined with the trauma inflicted on her by Stanley, she simply can’t bear it. Her story is a tragedy.
Meanwhile, Stella finally can come to terms with the reality that Stanley can’t possibly love her. Perhaps before she could justify his violence and aggression and return to him if he begged forgiveness and said he loved her and that he was wrong. But how could she possibly do so now that he had done the unforgivable to her sister while she was giving birth to their child? She too was forced to face the reality of her life and finally walk away from Stanley for good. Though I will say the ending was ambiguous enough, with her simply going upstairs to Eunice’s apartment like the last time, that she could still return this time as well. Viewed this way, the ending is even more tragic.
Final Thoughts
A Streetcar Named Desire is definitely a film that stands the test of time. Anchored by brilliant writing and excellent performances, the film tells a tragic story that can transcend generations by asking audiences to grapple with serious issues that are human at their core.
I want to leave a couple of questions about our two complicated main characters. First, what’s your take on Stanley Kowalski – is he just a monster or something more? And what about Blanche – do you completely sympathize with her or do you think her actions in any way contributed to her outcome? And one last, more general question – do you think this film is appropriately regarded among the best of all time? Other thoughts?
Let me know in the comments or @rvleaguers on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Thanks again for checking this out, and come back next week when we’ll be discussing, as I’m sure you guessed, Avengers Endgame! Happy Avengers week!
“Why do you do this?” – a question we get asked often when people learn that we live and travel full-time in our RV. It’s easy to immediately think of the things we gave up. We had a spacious Jersey City apartment with a walk-in closet, washer/dryer, and dishwasher, a law firm job in Manhattan, the picturesque park down the block, and the corner deli where we could get Taylor Ham, egg, and cheese sandwiches (a Jersey staple) whenever we wanted.
But when we reflected on our life, we realized that although we were happy, we always dreamed of a more meaningful life together with more time, more experience, and more freedom. Despite all the inertia and deeply instilled risk aversion tugging us to stay the course, we knew that what we stood to gain from breaking out of our old routine far outweighed the conventional comforts we’d be leaving behind. We simply couldn’t deny the call of the open road any longer.
Today is Day 250 since we embarked on our new life, and we wanted to reflect on those key reasons that compelled us to take a giant leap of faith back in August of last year. Here is our Top 10 list (in no particular order) of why we RV:
1. More quality time
We wanted more quality time with each other, beyond just evenings and weekends. Practically speaking, we’re young, energetic, newly married, and don’t have kids yet, so we saw this as the perfect opportunity to maximize our time together. RV life has allowed us to spend pretty much every day together and nurture our relationship.
2. More time outdoors
Before moving into Samwise, we both spent the vast majority of our time indoors. Whether it was in a windowless office or in the apartment, our weekdays were not vitamin D heavy, to say the least. At the end of a long day or week, it was often the default to just curl up on the big comfy couch and loaf. We wanted to be more physical and spend more time outdoors. Living in an RV connects us to the outdoors all the time, as our home naturally extends to the space outside. Whether it’s a short walk around our campground or a full day exploring a national park, our new default has become spending time outside in nature.
3. More time to create
Before, we found ourselves almost exclusively consuming content rather than creating. Of course, we still love to watch our favorite shows, movies, and everything else, but we’ve become more thoughtful about our habits. Now we can devote significantly more time to finding and creating with our own voice. We’ve also exchanged a lot of time doing routine things like commuting every day with a dynamic life that regularly introduces us to new places, scenery, and communities. This helps keep our minds stimulated and inspired to keep creating.
4. Experience this country
As Americans who both grew up in the small state of NJ, we have always shared a passion to experience our big country to the fullest extent possible. By RVing, we can visit more of America’s vibrant cities, spectacular national parks, small historic towns, and see all the corn fields, wind farms, and giant roadside dinosaur statues in between. We’re privileged to call such a massive and diverse land our home. We want to take full advantage of that by seeing and living it for ourselves – to truly understand our culture and find the familiar in far-flung places across all 50 states.
5. Collect experiences, not stuff
Yi caught onto the Minimalism and Marie Kondo’s tidying movements many years ago (before it was cool). So we’d already made an effort to downsize our possessions and keep only those we really value – those that “spark joy.” When we reduced physical clutter, we also made room for ourselves mentally and emotionally, allowing us to focus more on seeking and appreciating new experiences. Moving into Samwise took us to the next level. Even in a 30ft RV, our space is very limited. We try to keep only the essentials, things that serve a purpose and spark joy – looking at you multi-position ladder! We used to collect commemorative magnets when we traveled to new places, but now we focus on collecting the precious memories.
6. Living our values
We’ve always seen ourselves as adventurous people who get out there and try new things. But we wanted to walk the walk, and exchanging our Jersey City apartment for an RV allowed us to do that. When your home has wheels, you’re constantly setting out a course to something new and encouraging yourself to not fall into the routine. We also hope to impart these values onto our kids one day, and draw on this experience to encourage them to be curious, bold, and open-minded. We want to teach them to be unafraid of taking calculated risks, embracing adventure, and appreciating all that the world has the offer.
7. Freedom to live and work how we want
We now live in a hyper-connected digital economy, and we wanted to take advantage of this shift in the world to free ourselves from the traditional office and daily commute. Through living it, we hoped to prove that a rewarding career and work life doesn’t always have to be tethered to a neatly defined path. You can forge your own personal mission and path by doing what you love. We value the ability to be location-independent, and RV life has given us the flexibility to work from anywhere and truly shape our work life by doing what excites us.
8. Freedom to be at home anywhere we go
This one might be a little self-explanatory. We have a home that moves with us, so no matter where we move, we still feel at home. But it’s not just the physical aspect of taking everything to new places – it’s the feeling of being at home in Samwise and by extension, feeling at home in our new community. Over these past 250 days, we’ve been home in states as far as North Dakota, Utah, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, Arizona, and more. We’ve lived in the mountains, the desert, the plains, and the coasts. RV life gives us the steady comfort of home with each exciting new environment.
9. Freedom to express ourselves
The RV lifestyle has allowed us to define our lives and put our voice out there. This goes hand in hand with #3 (more time to create) – now we have the freedom to be creative and expressive. Instead of just watching travel videos, or reading others’ posts, or watching movie reviews, we create those things. We experience, travel to awe-inspiring places, and learn how to create videos and blog about the things we’re interested in and our experiences. We’re challenging ourselves to learn new skills. Trying something new can be frustrating at times, but the reward is ultimately getting to express our own voice.
10. Freedom to live intentionally
For us, that means being intentional from our everyday decisions to how we plan for the future. RV life teaches us to be more conscious as consumers, to set goals for ourselves that align with our values, and to not let toxic notions of success – that our personal worth is tied to the size of our paycheck or job title – derail us from the life we want to live. No one laid out the RV life for us. We had to go out and get it. Planning and executing on this dream has liberated us to really define our own path going forward, whatever that might be.
New Orleans is a city unlike any other. It’s a city which many words are insufficient to describe, but for now I’ll stick with vibrant. It starts with the people, and then there’s the music, the food, and so much more. During our stint here this week, I’ve been inspired to look into some of the most notable New Orleans films. There are many titles of note related to the Big Easy, including (not surprisingly) The Big Easy, King Creole, Princess and the Frog, and Interview with a Vampire.
So with no shortage of options for this Movie of the Week, I’ve decided to go with a film that is widely considered to be one of the best of all time: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Adapted from the Tennessee WIlliams play of the same name, the film tells the story of Blanche DuBois (Vivian Leigh) after moving in with her sister (Kim Hunter) and brother-in-law (Marlon Brando) in New Orleans. The film received numerous accolades including four Academy Awards and is listed on the American Film Institute’s Top 100 movies at number 47.
I’ll be back to kickoff a discussion with my thoughts on the film on the next #MovieMonday. In the meantime, you can find A Streetcar Named Desire streaming online or in your grandparents’ old movie collection.
A Streetcar Named Desire trailer:
And check out last week’s episode on No Country for Old Men!
No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers’ Best Picture winner, is a genre-bending film that subverts expectations and delivers one of cinema’s most iconic and terrifying villains. In this first ever installment of the Reels on Wheels Movie Club, we’re deep diving into the film and talking about its themes, direction, score (or lack thereof) and more!
Video Time Stamps
Introduction: 0:00 Overall Impressions: 2:45 Opening Sequence Setting the Tone: 4:55 On Anton Chigurh: 8:22 Coin Toss Scene: 12:11 Genre, Theme, and Subverting Expectations: 16:18 Concluding Thoughts and Questions: 25:22
Those of you who follow us may have noticed an uptick in movie-related content recently. As avid Marvel fans, we’re all in on the hype leading up to Avengers: Endgame. But the MCU is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our movie watching habits. In fact, our relationship’s foundations are built on binge watching movies together (and this was in 2011, well before “Netflix and Chill” was a thing). We even created a Google Spreadsheet with a tab to document every film we watched together by date and genre. That spreadsheet also included other tabs for things like “New Year’s Resolutions” – but only the movie sheet survives to this day.
With over 100 years of cinematic history, there’s an almost endless supply of movies to consume and digest. So far, besides a penchant for movie watching, I’ve got a couple of college cinema courses and countless hours of other channels’ movie-related content under my belt (looking at you, ScreenJunkies). But I really want to better understand the history, craft, and art of cinema, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
So What Do I Propose?
Starting this week, I’m going to choose at least one movie per week to deep dive into. First, I’ll let you know in advance what the Movie of the Week is. Then, I’ll kick off a discussion with my thoughts on the movie the following “Movie Monday.” I hope you’ll join me in watching (or re-watching) the movie, and together we can grow our knowledge and passion for film. I want to focus on particularly significant films of all types, but I’m not just going to go down the AFI Top 100 list. I mean, we all know what the Movie of the Week will be come April 26.
Oh and yes, I’m calling this the Reels on Wheels Movie Club. It’s kind of like a book club, but with movies. See what I did there?
Inaugural Movie of the Week: No Country for Old Men (2007)
This week we made our way to Texas, which inspired me to look into iconic Texas films. One pair of directors has made several: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, collectively known as the Coen Brothers. For the inaugural Movie of the Week, I’m picking a film that I’ve wanted to see ever since it came out, but somehow have managed to miss: No Country For Old Men (2007). The Coen Brothers’ neo-Western crime thriller adapts Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel of the same name. And it won several Oscars, including Best Picture. It’s available now on Netflix or to rent on several other streaming services. Be sure to check back in on Movie Monday for the discussion of this film and for next week’s pick!
We really enjoyed our stay at the Preferred RV Resort! Here’s a look at why:
Camp Name
Preferred RV Resort
Location
Pahrump, NV
Club (GS, PA, KOA)
Passport America (2 weeks), Good Sam
Price
$475/month normal rate; PA $20/night
Site Type
Large gravel back-in, full hookups, space for car, mature tree
Bathrooms
Separate mens/womens, shower+ toilet stalls
Amenities
Heated indoor/outdoor pool with activities, indoor hot tub, common kitchen, entertainment room, pool, wood shop, sewing room, stained glass workshop, small fitness room Grounds: playground, horseshoes, cactus garden, koi ponds
Wi-Fi Quality
Medium speeds download/upload, enough to stream
Verizon Coverage
2-3 bars LTE, medium speeds
TV
Antenna, Las Vegas channels
Local Attractions
Pahrump Winery, Johnny’s (diner), Casinos Red Rock Canyon (45min), Las Vegas (1hr)
