I Feel Like I Should Have Been On Drugs

From beginning to end, watching West Side Story was a psychedelic roller coaster. For the first five minutes, I actually though the DVD I borrowed may have been so old that it didn't work anymore because it was just lines and changing colors for so long. Obviously, the director's choice of lighting and trippy scene transitions isn't as important to our discussion as the choices he made when it came to adapting Romeo and Juliet. Since we will be discussing a minimum of three things we liked about this adaptation in class(though three was the maximum for me), I will use this post to talk about the things that I did not like.

• I actually felt the need to take a side from the beginning. I think one of the things in Romeo and Juliet that is so important is we don't know why they were fighting, and we don't feel the need to take a side. From the opening scene I very strongly hated the Jets. It wasn't until half way through the movie that I actively hated both gangs. Perhaps taking a side is supposed to be part of the adaption, since Dr. MB mentioned that this movie/musical was pretty revolutionary at the time. Perhaps by taking a side, it drew in the viewer and made them a part of the turf war, but viewing it strictly from a adaptation stand point, I feel like they dropped the ball on this one.
• The authority figure/ Prince Escalus figure was extremely unlikable and also seemed to take a side, rather than being neutral in the conflict. Though Detective Schrank didn't appreciate the gang violence, he definitely seemed to have his prejudices against the Puerto Ricans. It was fairly clear from his first scene, but became even clearer in Doc's shop when he was antagonizing the Sharks. I feel like this was another failed attempt to adapt something key about the play. For there to be any real threat from the authority, I feel like he shouldn't be taking sides.
• Though Maria was engaged to marry Chino, there wasn't the same sense of urgency that there was in the play because of Juliet's engagement to Paris. Maria and Chino's engagement was barely referenced, and he is simply not in the forefront of the action enough to remember he is there (until Bernardo is killed, of course).  Unlike Paris, there is actually something likable about Chino. I cannot place what it is, but he is not the total ass that Paris is.
• I know we were told to look past the dancing and that the older the musical, the more ballet-like the dancing, but it really made it hard for me to be scared or concerned about anybody's actions. For the longest time, I wasn't concerned about anyone getting hurt because they we just pirouetting around each other. I feel that if the choreography was updated, I might actually feel a bit of a sense of concern for these people. The hatred was downplayed because they were doing plies and such.

As it's own entity, I don't hate the movie, but as an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, I definitely see some problems.