Shakespeare and West Side Stor
West Side Story, a 1961 production starring Rita Moreno and Natalie Wood, is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story is a flashy production filled with music, dance and light. It presents Shakespeare's play from a 1960's inner city perspective. In the movie two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, demonstrate cultural prejudices between Puerto Rican and American inner city dwellers. The hatred between the two groups is evident from the beginning of the film. The play opens with the Jets, the American "gang," roaming the streets snapping their fingers and dancing. The Jets run into the Sharks while singing and a fight that is filmed as a dance ensues. The cops come and break up the fight. The groups pretend to be friends when associating with the cops. When faced with the prospects of getting in trouble the gangs work together to prevent this from happening. By showing the members of these gangs working together, the directors want to remind the audience that the gangs are made up of boys who do not understand that their prejudice is cycling out of control. The hatred displayed by the two groups is destined to crush the "w
The scene where Maria and Tony meet is the most dramatic scene in the movie. est side" equivalent of Romeo and Juliet, Maria and Tony. The dancing, lighting and music increase the appeal to the "Sixties" audience and performers such as Rita Moreno and Natalie Wood, who are accompanied by the legendary score written by Leonard Bernstein make West Side Story a classic. The floor becomes completely dark, only lightened by a spotlight focused on Tony and Maria. The "rumble," which is organized between the two gangs and is meant to be a fair fight, is an example of one of the fights portrayed as a dance. " Dancing numbers add to the effect that the music provides. The movie leaves the audience with the perception that the two gangs will no longer fight, though it took death to make them realize that their prejudice was wrong. Musical and dance compositions give the movie more appeal to the Sixties audience. The music, which is loud, the dancing, which is fast, and the lighting, which is bright, changes when they see each other. Many of the fight scenes are portrayed in a dancing style. The two groups are dancing in the same hall when Maria and Tony see each other. In the balcony scene, music draws the audience into the scene in a more emotional sense. In the dance Bernardo ends up pulling a knife and stabbing Tony's friend, which is then followed by Tony stabbing Bernardo. The scene is characterized by what the audience envisions as a stereotypical intercity apartment balcony.
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Acceptance Essays
