Analysis of West Side Story West Side Story came out in 1961 as a melodramatic musical that took place in New York. It takes the same theme as Shakespeare's, Romeo and Juliet, in that it is about two lovers whose relationship is not accepted by others because of conflicting backgrounds. The artistic intensions of this film are implicitly stated everywhere throughout the film. All of the dancing, singing, acting and pretend fighting was done thoroughly and very well, although the miking and mixing during the pretend fighting did not seem realistic. Specific actors, dancers, and singers were trained and taught how to perform in order to get the message across to the audience that this West Side Story is not just a film, but a theatrical, musical, choreographed, work of art. Specific messages are portrayed in different art forms such as the way the Puerto Rican women dressed compared to the American women. The Puerto Ricans had fluffier, more brightly colored dresses than did the Americans and the Puerto Rican women made their own clothes. I lived in Mexico last summer and in my opinion, their authentic style of clothing still has those same characteristics. The exception was Maria, who was also not allowed to wear a brightly colored dress with a low cut neck because she was too young, and although she claimed to be an American girl now which would make her eligible for being more free and independent, or shall we say sexy, she still had to wear a conservatively cut white dress. A characterization was pointed out about American women being able do more and be less conservative than Puerto Rican women. The musical selections and songs that were sung told a story and narrated the almost the entire film, as is expected in... ... middle of paper ... ...remember hearing Bernardo telling Maria that when she is an old lady with five children then she could boss him around. That statement in itself also holds true to the stereotype these people usually have a lot of children and this was brought up again in the song, America, when Anita asks how she will get all of her cousins into a car. I would say the target audience for this film would be people who enjoy musicals, no matter their age. The time lag would only have much of an effect for younger generations who do not remember the 1960's and the discrimination and the political actions that were being taken during that time period. The film is still a classic I would say because of all of the wonderful costumes, dancing, singing, acting, and clever story telling through songs. I can definitely see why this film was a popular success then as it still is today.
The film Good Will Hunting starts by giving us a glimpse into a rather bleak moment in the life of Will Hunting, a college-aged janitor at the prestigious university called MIT. He lives the typical college life in many respects, from regularly meeting his friends at the bar to getting into a relationship built upon lies – with the glaring exception that he is not a college student whatsoever. In fact, he is portrayed as an undiscovered genius…at least until getting into trouble with the law leads to a bail out that eventually turns around his life for the better.
music to analyse—in fact, the music runs almost constantly throughout the film without very little
“How could a kid so sweet be so nasty too?” (54). ‘Yummy The Last Days of a Southside Story’ by G.Neri shares the true story of an eleven-year-old boy named Robert “Yummy” Sandifer who fell victim to Chicago gangs due to the alleged shooting of Shavon Dean. Yummy, a child too young to understand, too young to not give in, and never had a stable adult to look up to, is a prime example of a victim at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The story The Outsiders By S.E Hinton is said to be “timeless” because kids can relate to the characters and themes of the story. In my opinion the story The Outsiders is not timeless because kids these days can’t relate to the characters in the story The Outsiders. Kids today aren’t riding in rodeos, roll drunks, jump smaller kids, walk to a stranger's house, or get in a stranger’s car, also they get arrested at the age of 10. Saying the statement “The Outsiders is a “timeless” book “ is an invalid statement. So, Kids today often don’t relate to The Outsiders anymore in many ways.
For a first example of stereotypes, In “The Myth of the Latin Woman,” Judith Ortiz Cofer writes about the many stereotypes that she, as a Puerto Rican woman, has endured. She opens with a tale of how she had been publicly serenaded—on a London bus, of all places—by, as Cofer puts it, “a young man, obviously fresh from a pub” (187). Later on, she mentions a second random serenade of sorts, this time from a older man in a classy metropolitan hotel. The young man sang “Maria” from West Side Story, the older man first chose a song from Evita, then encored with a crudely-worded song to the tune of “La Bamba.” In both situations, whether it was their intention or not, their actions resulted in alienation of the author, singling her out and thrusting the stereotypes of her lineage in her face. The men may have meant well; they may have felt that what they were doing was good-hearted fun. They may have even been trying to...
West Side Story is a book about two gangs living in a large city. The Outsiders is a book with the same concept, two gangs that are archrivals. Even though two different authors wrote these books during two different time periods, they have the same story line. These books are realistic, because gang rivalry is still going on today. They are different, since they were written separately. Also, both these books have different problems between the main characters. Still, West Side Story and The Outsiders have many similarities.
The archetypal tragedy of two star-crossed lovers, separated by familial hate, is a recurring theme, which never fails to capture the minds of the audience. It is only at great cost, through the death of the central characters that these feuding families finally find peace. This is an intriguing idea, one antithetical. I have chosen to analyze both Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet and Laurent 's West Side Story. The purpose of this essay is showing how the spoken language is utilized in these different plays to meet differing objectives. The chosen scenes to further aid comparison and contrast are the balcony scenes.
The musical West Side Story is based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This musical was possible due to the efforts of four people, Leonard Bernstein, the composer, Jerome Robbins, the director and choreographer, Arthur Laurents, the playwright, and Stephen Sondheim, the lyricist. After Rodgers and Hammerstein II’s Oklahoma! , West Side Story is considered as the most significant musical.
The language used in these two scenes is quite different. In Romeo and Juliet the majority of the scene is of the two lovers confessing their undying love for each other using beautiful language and many metaphors. They also discuss marriage and serious commitments to each other. In Westside Story, this scene is spent singing to each other, which I find, makes it more romantic but has less tension. They also don’t seem as serious about commitment towards each other.
Judith Ortiz Cofer, a professor of english and creative writing, tackles gender roles as well as cultural stereotypes in “ The Myth of the Latin Woman” and challenges them by attempting to replace the stereotypes with the realities. In “The Myth of the Latin Woman” Cofer discusses her life in America as a Puerto Rican woman. She also shares her stories of when she was stereotyped and how gender roles play a role in how Latinos are viewed. Stereotypes will follow you around because of your appearance and how the media portrays Latinas.
Love is a beautiful thing, it always works out in the end. Everyone is always happy and no problems occur. West Side Story, a musical by Leonard Bornstein based on Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet parallels a love story of two star-crossed lovers. The play takes place in 1961 in New York City. This musical displays importance because it shows that nothing can overcome the power of love. This play is based on a love story between the main characters of Maria and Tony. Theses two are from different gangs that trouble to get along. They are from different gangs that do not get along at all. Roughly two hundred blocks make up Manhattan’s West Side, which stretches from Central Park West to the Hudson River. For the most part, the street youths
Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story share many similar themes. Romeo and Juliet both chronicle a story of overcoming prejudice and hatred, forbidden love, and defying stereotypes that nobody thought could be broken. The two stories are similar in a multitude of ways, even though their settings are centuries apart- Romeo and Juliet set in the 1500’s, and West Side Story set in the 1950’s. Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story both teach a lesson of how prejudice can teach you how to hate, and how one of your rivals may be the one who helps you remember how to love.
Realities of West Side Story Filmed in 1961, West Side Story is a modern-day telling of Romeo and Juliet. Two youths struggle with their forbidden love as two gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, duel. At the end of the film, Maria says, “You all killed him [.] with hate!” This is a universally acknowledged theme that hate can kill. West Side Story is said to be a “morality play about “our” everyday problems: racism, poverty, and the destructiveness of violence”.
1. My first impression of the story was the setting reminds me of a fall day in Michigan. It was dark and cool so it reminds me of my childhood in the mornings getting ready for school. At first I thought it was something like a family trip for the guys before the characters where describe. The thought of a young boy on a trip into manhood with his father and Uncle. As the story goes along my impression changes over time to its a story about life circle and the development of a young man 's understanding about life at the hands of his father.
This movie starts off as Jordan Belfort, the main character in the movie, losing his job as a stockbroker in Wall Street. After losing his job, he goes and gets a job in a Long Island brokerage room. In the brokerage room, he sells penny stocks. Thanks to him being aggressive in his selling skills, he was able to make a profit. With the new income, he gives his wife a bracelet and she asked him why doesn’t he go after the people that can afford to lose money, not the middle-class people or lower income people. That is when he gets the idea to get a lot of young people and train them to become the best stock brokers.