The Tragedy of Toneo & Mariette

So first and foremost I want to say that I'd heard of West Side Story before this weekend, but only in passing; I never realized it was meant to be a Romeo & Juliet adaptation until I actually watched it (and, well, until we were told so in class). Having seen it now though, I can say with certainty that I would've recognized it for what it is right away, even though the setting is radically different.

There were some details about the movie I really appreciated, such as how the conflict wasn't a feud between families, but instead about the struggles between Puerto Rican immigrants and neglected lower class teenagers, and how it escalated into gang warfare- certainly not the direction I would have taken it, primarily because it's not a reality we often see these days (or perhaps, one we're not shown).

A smaller detail I found interesting was the fact that Tony, the equivalent of Romeo, was not technically involved in the feud prior to his meeting Maria. While he had once been one of the Jets, he had left the gang, removing himself from the conflict with the Sharks. This was in stark contrast to the original, where Romeo was directly involved in the fighting between the Montagues and Capulets from the beginning.

In class, we discussed how it was weird that both Juliet and Maria ended up hooking up/discussing marriage with someone they barely knew, even after their lover murdered their brother. We all agreed that even in Romeo & Juliet this was bizarre, but I'd also like to point out why I feel like it's even moreso in West Side Story: Because in WSS, we actually see the relationship between Maria and Bernardo.

In Romeo & Juliet- unless I missed a big section- we never actually see Tybalt and Juliet interact. The only way we know they had a relationship at all is that someone- I think one of the Capulet parents, or maybe the nurse- refers to Tybalt as Juliet's 'beloved brother' or something like that when telling her about his death. We don't see the love between them; we're told, and I feel like that important detail is what makes it slightly easier to overlook the fact that Juliet still wants to elope with her brother's killer.

But WSS, unlike R&J, actually explores this sibling relationship. Although there's not a ton of interaction between the two, we do see enough to get the impression that Bernardo loves Maria very much and is very protective of her, and Maria- although annoyed by this- loves him back. This is what made it so much harder for me to ignore the fact that she still wants to elope with Tony; despite us actually seeing how much she and her brother loved each other, she still instantly forgives the man who kills him, and even sleeps with him. It's jarring and out of character for her to essentially be 'Murderer! You killed my brother!', have Tony say 'I know it was an accident I'm sorry lol', and Maria's just be like 'Aight then take those clothes off'. It's just weird.

I have no real opinions

This is a fine adaptation. I won’t bore you telling you how much I hate musicals or how the dancing drove me crazy. This was the first time I watched this movie, and I watched it with an open mind. Before I saw this movie, we had a discussion in class about what parts of Romeo and Juliet were essential to keep in an adaptation. I thought all adaptations had to include all characters, and the large majority of the plot line AND I definitely thought both the Romeo and Juliet had to die at the end.

 Their death seemed to be the only resolution possible for the feuding families, or in this case feuding gangs. When eliminating Maria’s death, the ending was much more open ended. Whether you like this or not, it deviated a good bit from the overall take away. This was one of my two issues with West Side Story.

My second issue was there was a clear “side” to be on. As we discussed in class, the feud between the families was essentially over nothing (or Shakespeare decided to leave the reason out on purpose), and because of this, the focus was on the love story. When you make the adaptation a conflict of race, there has to be a right side… aka the ones who are not racist, but I hope I did not have to spell that out. Shakespeare did not include this for a reason, not that I know this reason, but it seems pretty significant. If anyone would like to comment and maybe give me a suggestion as to why he did 

not and why West Side Story did, I would be very interested in reading someone else’s point of view.

As I just typed my two “issues” with West Side Story I realized I don’t have a real issue with these. Romeo and Juliet can be changed in so many ways that’s the whole point of adapting it; I am not nearly well read and pretentious enough to suggest West Side Story is anything but a great rendition. 

By not killing the Juliet the audience has more room for discussion, and by including the racial component the original love story turns into something far more relevant and profound. So, what I am trying to say, is take my opinions with the smallest grain of salt you can find.

Thanks for reading guys!

Dancing Adaptation?

I have never seen the movie West Side Story before (but surely I’ve heard of it…?). Honestly, it was actually a pretty interesting movie, a good experience to have for Romeo and Juliet adaptations. I wouldn’t say it’s a favorite movie of mine, though, but knowing the film was released in 1961 lowered my expectations of it (compared to movies nowadays, I mean). This idea of forming new adaptations from original content (whether it be for movies, TV shows, music, or books) have always interested me; liking that new adaptation is another story. For example, large deviations from the original content’s prime basis and meaning are the main red flags for me.

            West Side Story revolved a lot around singing and choreography. And while I won’t focus my blog post around these two points, I will make one comment about it. The choreography, specifically during the dance segment, really showed how music and dancing can bring people together. Yes, there were still times where one could feel the tension between the two gangs (like having two separate dance circles), but it was limited. This is a great reflection of real life. Beyond the inevitable language barriers and culture differences, music provides a gateway between people, per se… basically another form of shared interest that in addition can be sung and grooved to. The point I’m trying to make is that this portion of the adaptation effectively acts as a breather, or comedic value, amongst the hatred. And in addition to knowing what the two sides were fighting about, it makes them more “human”.

            Going back to the idea of adaptations, I felt like something was missing. Yes, it did follow a basic outline of the plot of Romeo and Juliet, and yes, if the dialogue kept the original Shakespearian language, it probably wouldn’t have turned out as popular. But I kind of felt the movie getting lost in its music and choreography. The abundance of songs to portray what was going on or what characters were thinking rivaled that of Disney movies (not exactly to that extent, but you get the gist). At times, though, it did start reminiscing of The Phantom of the Opera. I’m not sure if it was the songs sharing similar chords or, as I thought more about it, similar plots via a love interest and plot songs… I can’t pinpoint it, nor should I compare the two else I might get raged for doing so…

I forgot a title when I first posted, so have this instead

I have a love/hate relationship with West Side Story. Or, at least, I have a love/hate relationship with the movie version of West Side Story. I saw a stage performance of it years ago and enjoyed it immensely. I know that it’s always hard to convert a musical into a film (the two media are very different and don’t always sync up), but I can’t help but be unsatisfied with the movie after enjoying the live one so much.

Admittedly, everything and everybody are exhaustingly overdramatic in both the movie and play versions. Then again, the same can be said of Romeo and Juliet, so I guess that there isn’t much difference between the reboot and the source material in that respect at least. Musicals are always ridiculous anyways, so I guess it’s part of the genre too. I know musicals aren’t for everyone, but I’m gay. Every gay person I know likes musicals. I think liking musicals is just a part of being gay.

In fact, I (a lesbian) sing “I Feel Pretty” with my gay friends (gay gang?) all the time. It always starts after one of us compliments another, and the rest just flows from there. Maybe I should write my paper on a queerer version of West Side Story. It could be about the forbidden lesbian lovers, Toni and Maria. Anybodys could be trans too! It could be grand.

Side note: The muppet version of “I Feel Pretty” is amazing, and you all should watch it.

Back to the point! I have always liked the idea of the Montagues and Capulets being portrayed as rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. The fact that the origin of the blood feud between the families is never explained in the original play has always bothered me. Putting them in this context explains the conflict without needing to take time to delve into its history. The singing and ballet-dancing gang members are just a bonus. A very funny and easily heckle-able bonus.

The first time I watched this movie (before I saw it live), I was dangerously close to becoming an obnoxious Shakespeare purist, and Maria surviving Tony bothered me. It’s NOT how it’s supposed to go!!! I seem to have avoided the unfortunate fate of a Shakespeare purist because this time through I liked that touch. The fact that Maria lives forces the audience to confront the lasting effects of the rivalry and everything that it caused, whereas the original ending in Romeo and Juliet just seems to be a way to wrap everything up as quickly as possible.

I’m anticipating being among the very few that liked this movie (even if it can't live up to a live version), and I understand why so many people don’t. Hopefully, we can all still have a good discussion about it.

West Side Story

           I honestly found West Side Story to be annoying and not enjoyable. At first all the characters weren’t speaking and I cannot stand when I’m watching something and words aren’t coming out of anyone’s mouth. I really couldn’t get into the movie at all. I didn’t mind the singing, but the dancing does get old after awhile. The music was obnoxious too. Why must the trumpets be so loud? The music distracted me from actually paying attention to what was going on. There were just so many unnecessary instruments and music. I thought it was funny that when they fought they expressed it through danced, so it looked like everyone was flying all over the place.

            My favorite character would have to be Tony. He’s my favorite because he actually tried to stop the fight between the Jets and the Sharks. By the way, those are the worst names for a gang. In the movie, “Bring It On: In It to Win It” those were the names of the cheer teams. I hate how Anita is so against Maria and Tony being together! I actually like them together. Anita should accept the fact that Maria and Tony are “in love”. I put that in quotations because they fell in love within the first few seconds of only meeting each other, which is ridiculous. Aka Romeo and Juliet.  I feel as if Anita blames Maria for the death of Bernardo because she was messing around Tony.

            Everything is so overdramatic and extra for no reason. The plot was okay overall, but I didn’t see the part coming where Bernardo was stabbed. I knew that Maria was going to be heartbroken. Especially since she had sent Tony to try and convince the Jets and Sharks not to fight.  I thought it was funny where the male Jets where singing (arguing) with the females because they liked America so much. It’s also kind of funny because Puerto Rico is apart of the Unites States now.

            I understand that Bernardo was just trying to protect Maria, but he was being annoying at times. Maria obviously didn’t care what he had to say because she ended up hooking up with a Jet anyway. Overall, I enjoyed the love story part of the musical, but I felt as if there were unnecessary parts that could have easily been removed. Like the part where they didn’t speak for ten-fifteen minutes in the beginning of the musical.

West Side Story

I’ve never seen West Side Story before. I’d heard of it before, of course, and I kind of knew the plot, but, to bet honest, I didn’t even know it was supposed to be an adaption of Romeo and Juliet. I expected to like it more than I liked Romeo and Juliet, but I didn’t. The only musical I’m a fan of is Avenue Q. I generally find them long and boring, and I usually find the musical numbers unnecessary. West Side Story was OK. I’ll probably never watch it again, but I didn’t hate it.

 I appreciate the adaption as a more modern take on Romeo and Juliet. Last week, when we talked about what needs to be kept from Romeo and Juliet to make it a Romeo and Juliet adaption, I thought that we only needed forbidden love, and the Romeo character to die to make the wheel still the wheel. One thing I liked more about West Side Story than Romeo and Juliet is that we actually know what the Jets and the Sharks are fighting over, and that makes me like the characters a little more, because at least they know the reason they’re fighting.

A lot of the characters are still in the story. Obviously, Tony was Romeo- they both were in love with Maria/Juliet and then they both died, except Tony wasn’t in love with someone else in the beginning of the story, like Romeo was. Riff was like Mercutio, Maria was obviously Juliet, except she got to live. Tybalt was Bernardo, except Tybalt was Juliet’s cousin, and Bernardo is Maria’s brother. Tony killed Bernardo, while Romeo killed Tybalt. I think the Lieutenant is like the Prince. The Prince warned the two families that if there was another riot the leaders of each family would be killed, and the Lieutenant said that if the two gangs got into another fight they would all go to jail. I think the Lieutenant is not nearly as neutral as the Prince, since he’s a racist and favors the Americans.

Both stories begin with a fight between the two opposing groups, both stories have two teenagers who meet and aren’t supposed to fall in love, but they do. Both Juliet and Maria are engaged, except in West Side Story, it isn’t as important as it is in Romeo and Juliet. I think West Side Story was a good adaption of Romeo and Juliet that captured the basics, and I can see why it’s so popular.