The+New+Hero

Jacob Weiss April 3rd, 2012 Animal-Like Men: The New Hero I reluctantly agree with Robert Brustein. I hate to say this, but my American heroes are very similar to the inarticulate beast that is Stanley Kowalski. I never really thought about it before; I just saw the portrayals of the American family man in shows like Family Guy and the Simpsons as entertainment. I now see the deeper meaning. I now look at films like Rocky and Mission Impossible with such a different attitude.

The man responsible for the new hero is Stanley Kowalski. He is exactly as Brustein advertizes. He is inarticulate. He opens the play with the cunning and intellectual phrases “Catch”, “Meat” and “Bowling” (Williams, 4)! Most of the time he is yelling, eating, drunk or abusive…and yet there is somehow a charm to him.

This charm is what resonates with the people around him, especially Stella. His charm blinds her from the truth. It’s not like Stanley didn’t drink, hit, yell and pig out before Blanche came to town. Stanley always acted like that; Blanche was just the only one that was able to see his flaws past his charm. Stella obviously was blinded by his charm. She “can hardly stand it when he is away for a night…”(Williams, 19).

Stanley really only expresses his basic desires. This is exemplified when Stanley repeatedly yells “Stell-lahhhhh!” at the top of his lungs after hitting her for disrupting his poker game (Williams, 66). He demands her back immediately after drunkenly smacking her. He’s quite the gentleman. Stanley only takes action when things change around him. He doesn’t want anything to challenge his male dominated household. He must be the king of the jungle. He sees Blanche as an intruder; she challenges his power. Stanley sees her as a threat. She, unlike those around her, sees past his charm. She has the power of exposing Stanley’s animal-like qualities to Stella. Before she came Stanley could act anyway he wanted and get away with it. Blanche interferes with the “norm” of the household, and Stanley could not allow that to continue. He uses his animal instinct to not only hurt her, but also to effectively destroy her. She is in such a mess by the end of the book that she has to be sent off to a mental institution. This is after Stanley exposed her past, ruined her last chance of marriage and raped her. He sought to destroy her and he ultimately accomplished his goal.

Stanley is perfectly fine with his miserable conditions. He actually wants to continue being an animal-like husband. He has no desire to progress and become a proper gentleman. He is truly “Stanley Kowalski---survivor of the stone age” (Williams, 83). “He acts like an animal, has animal’s habits! Eats like one, moves like one, talks like one” (Williams, 83)! Blanche understood this clearly and saw through Stanley’s charm. She saw the animal in him and warned Stella “Don’t---don’t hang back with the brutes” (Williams, 83)!

The blindness of Stanley’s community and many contemporary Americans allows the inarticulate, animal-like men on television and in films entertain us. We consumers filter out their flaws and see their charm and humor. We enjoy watching them and want more of them. We //desire// them.

I go home at night and //desire// to watch Family Guy and The Simpsons. Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin are heroes of television. People reserve time from their day to amuse themselves with their antics. We Americans enjoy watching the portrayal of a middle-class family with a fat, dumb, drunk, inarticulate, lazy, violent and loud husband…and most of us only see the charm and humor. I am guilty of desiring this “new hero”. I find portrayals of fat, dumb, drunk, inarticulate, lazy, violent and loud men heroic; I admire them because they entertain me. I guess I am guilty of finding animal-like men to be heroic…I hope someday to forgive myself. __Works Cited__ Williams, Tennessee. // A Streetcar Named Desire //. New York, NY: New Directions Corporation, 2004. Print.