Proper props
circulating objects in The glass menagerie and A streetcar named Desire
Keywords:
Bagagem, Roupas, Gênero, Erotismo, Consumismo, Memória, Luggage, Clothes, Gender, Eroticism, Consumerism, MemoryAbstract
Este artigo, fundamentado em recentes estudos teatrais que teorizam sobre o papel dos adereços de cena, analisa a função que esses objetos desempenham nas peças The glass menagerie e A streetcar named Desire, de Tennessee Williams. Ao reexaminar essas obras através da representação de elementos como roupas, bagagens, cartas e garrafas, é possível obter uma compreensão mais aprofundada das questões significativas inseridas na dinâmica simbólica das duas peças. Uma visão diacrônica e sincrônica dos adereços significativos e recorrentes presentes nessas peças demonstra como certos objetos circulam em uma paisagem cultural onde gênero e sexualidade dominam o discurso dramático da época. O teatro de Williams, portanto, revela uma preocupação com uma noção redutiva de objetificação que diminui e menospreza os seres humanos em geral, e as mulheres em particular. Ao lançar uma crítica sutil à sociedade materialista e consumista dos Estados Unidos na década de 1940, essas peças conferem aos adereços o poder de evidenciar desigualdades de gênero e políticas sexuais hegemônicas.
Abstract
Building on recent theatre scholarship theorizing the role of stage properties, this article parses the function that objects acquire in Tennessee Williams’s plays The glass menagerie and A streetcar named Desire. Reconsidering these works through the role of objects such as clothes, baggage, letters, and bottles, allows for a deeper understanding of the issues embedded in the signifying economy of the two plays. A diachronic and synchronic overview of the meaningful and recurring props to be found in these works shows how certain objects circulate in a cultural landscape where gender and sexuality dominate the dramatic discourse of the era. Williams’s theatre thus proves preoccupied with a reductive sense of objectification that belittles and disparages human beings in general and women in particular. Through a subtle indictment of the materialist and consumerist world of 1940s America, these plays give objects the power to evidence gender inequalities and hegemonic sexual politics.
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