Blue Jasmine 2

There are two texts that underlie Blue Jasmine. One is Streetcar Named Desire and the other is The Great Gatsby. The allusions are not overly subtle. Jokes about Polacks are alluded to. Jasmine's sister's boyfriend is a modern Stanley. He champions the primal, instinctive life. Life is about beer, sex, conversations and parties. On the other hand, you have the life of Jasmine. Jasmine's life is about vodka martinis, sex, conversations, exercise, and parties. Her husband is like the Great Gatsby, making fast money by laundering money from illegitimate businesses into phantom corporations.

For the typical wealthy person, sex is almost impersonal. He chooses to have sex with a woman almost as a form of a business relationship. The affinity is simply shared interest and not lasting. Again, as in the Great Gatsby and Woody Allen's other movies, the hero, the rich man, falls in love with a young innocent: Yeats famous line: "The ceremony of innocence is drowned."

Throughout the film, Jasmine's mind is obessing about why the world is so strange, stupid, and repetitive. She cannot reconcile her vision of the world with the real world so she turns to alcohol as a cure. Of course, alcohol only worsens her condition. Also, her mind becomes completely associative. Her mind becomes a dream of free-associated thoughts and images.