Seesaw Equilibrium

What is exciting is not for one person to be stronger than the other... but for two people to have met their match and yet they are equally as stubborn, as obstinate, as passionate, as crazy as the other.
--Barbra Streisand--

Yes, I realize the irony in having a New Yorker's quote start off a blog post about Southern Lit. It isn't a specifically Northern or Southern quote, though, and I have a newfound obsession with Barbra Streisand, so I have allowed myself the liberty of quoting her. Vivien Leigh is further from being Southern since her flag is different, anyway. Okay, no more of that disclaimer, it's becoming tiresome, right?
I agree with Barbra, of course. These two people meeting their match, we'll call...Blanche and Stanley. He, with his shoving reality and she with her obscure fantasy. He shoves, but she is not palpable enough to be shoved. One who does not fight directly or cannot be fought is often the most frustrating for someone like Stanley. They both destroy--she in the form of a vacuum and he in the form of a fire. There is tension throughout the movie between them. Both, as I said in class, want to conquer or overcome something. Both insist on a world that the other cannot or will not understand. Which one is overcome or conquered in the end of the movie? The reality, Stanley, still exists in the end. However, in Blanche's way, she wins. We still want to imagine her finding her way or her romance somewhere after the drama ends. We do not wonder at Stanley's continuing lifestyle, but we do wonder for Blanche. The lamp remains for Blanche, but the harsh glare of Stanley stays as well. So, they have met their match. Reality and mystery. They both linger.
When these opposites come in close proximity, they repel each other with great excitement. So, Blanche had to leave, but she is not destroyed completely. Losing her mind just drives her further into illusion. Raping Blanche makes Stanley even more brutal.
Yes, Ms. Streisand, it is exciting.