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!