Exploration Document Leimaris Cruz Rosa HUM200 Cultural Artifacts For my artifact project, I have chosen to analyze the 1961 film West Side Story and compare it to William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. The reason behind this is the cultural connection I have with the film and its obvious ties and draws to the former. West Side Story is a film adaptation of a 1957 Broadway musical with the same name. It was directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. This musical was inspired, as I said before, by William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” using the familial differences in Shakespeare’s Verona and adapting it to a New York City of the 1950s and exploring race relations and stereotypes of the time. Common Theme One very clear very common …show more content…
There is usually nothing positive from feuds or trying to keep two people apart. Thus, I like to advocate unity as much as I can and as often as I can. From west side story, I learned about the Puerto Rican experience during the early part of our “mass migration” to the continental US. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet being that they both died and no one was happy as a result is important because this was a catalyst to uniting the families, at least in grief over their loved ones. It also made them understand how strong their love was that they would take it to that extreme because the kids did not believe their respective families would support them. The same can be said for West Side Story. María and Tony loved each other enough to want to elope together, however Tony’s untimely death prevented that. And his death can be directly attributed to animosity between Maria’s family and her people and Tony’s. I repeat, divisions are never a positive …show more content…
Given the two artifacts I chose I looked at 6 sources: three for each artifact. For Romeo and Juliet, the first one being an article written by Chris Jeffery called “What Kinds of Play Is Romeo and Juliet?” for the source “Shakespeare in Southern Africa”. The second of my sources is a literary criticism by Peter C. Herman called “Tragedy and the Crisis of Authority in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.” Written for Intertexts for San Diego State University and the third source for Romeo and Juliet is “Tragic Form in Romeo and Juliet” by Ruth Nevo written for “Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900” for Rice University in 1969. For West Side Story I’m using “Star Cross’d Lovers in Song and Verse: An Interdisciplinary Engagement with Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story” by Ryan J. Merrill of San Francisco State University, “Shakespearean Matters Reread in the Dramatic Musical Adaptations of Romeo and Juliet” by Alina Bottez an article written for East-West Cultural Passage in 2016. Finally, I will also use “"Romeo and Juliet" and "West Side Story": An Experimental Unit” by Gary J.
Should a historical musical be historically accurate? Is theatre the right medium to share history? Both Professor Tara Helfman and historian Nancy Isenberg have weighed in on the subject and here we will consider their perspectives on the importance of historical accuracy and the use of art to share history. The authors agree on the significance of Hamilton;
This musical tells a universal love story that will forever be applicable to audiences as it deals with highly sensitive topics such as racism, gender norms
Feuds can be very deadly, in the play ¨Romeo and Juliet¨ by William Shakespeare. The feud is to blame for the many deaths in the play and why Romeo and Juliet had to secretly get married. The feud is to blame for the many deaths because if there wasn´t a feud the lovers wouldn´t have to get married in secret. A second reason is if there wasn´t a feud Romeo´s best friend didn´t have to die, Tybalt didn´t have to die, Romeo and Juliet didn´t have to die.
Works Cited JEFFERY, CHRIS. "What Kinds of Play Is Romeo and Juliet?. " Shakespeare in Southern Africa, vol. 28, Jan. 2016, pp. 51-72. EBSCOhost, doi:10.4314/sisa.v28i1.5.
In West Side Story Maria’s family are sharks and Toni’s family are Jet”s, and despite the feud between the Jet’s and the Shark’s Maria and Tony get together. When Maria’s brother found out about her being with a Jet it makes him upset which makes the feud worst between the Sharks and Jets. This also puts a target on Toni which could be one thing that influenced the tragedy of death and relationship. In Romeo and Juilet both Romeo and Juilet are in different families that hate each other. Juilet says, “Tis but thy name that is my enemy.
If these families didn't have this feud then maybe Romeo and Juliet could still be together. Perhaps if the families wasn't feuding then Tybalt wouldn't of fought Romeo which lead to Romeo killing Tybalt. Which then lead to the banishing Romeo. " And for that immediately we do exile him" the prince says. If it were not for the feud then Romeo and Juliet wouldn't have to hide and be secret about there love .
Another plot parallel between Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story is how Romeo and Juliet both die and how Tony dies. In Shakespeare's play both Romeo and Juliet die but in West Side Story only Tony dies because Chino shot him. This is a big difference because only one dies in West Side Story but in Romeo and Juliet both the main characters
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare between 1591 and 1596. It features two young, star-crossed lovers who are forbidden to be together due to a long-lasting family feud. Romeo and Juliet is written in Early Modern English and because of this, it is often hard for readers to understand what is truly happening. Since the play is difficult for many to interpret, things such as remixes are made. A remix is defined as an alternative version of a text that includes some of the same elements from the original story.
Musicals also depicted familiar sites audiences could identify with, such as homes filled with hardship and Depression-stricken cities. However, with this being said, these settings grasped audience’s emotions while manipulating them with a positive ending. This is best exemplified in the 1933 musical Gold Diggers. In this film, we are first presented with an extravagant and dazzling musical number.
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Arthur Laurent’s West Side Story were both tragic, romantic, works. West Side Story was a close variation of the play Romeo and Juliet, but the author of West Side Story changed characteristics of Tony to differ from his Romeo and Juliet equivalent, Romeo. Tony became more of an introverted, optimistic, and innocent character. On the other hand, Romeo was outgoing, seemingly bipolar, and violent. These changes in character between Tony and Romeo altered the themes from societal expectations, fate over free will, and complicated families to societal expectations in the 1950’s, inevitability of fate, and gang rivalry due to racism.
Families hate toward one another can lead to serious consequences like death. Indeed this paradox is explored in William Shakespeare’s famous play, “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet,” as he introduces Juliet, a young beautiful teenage girl from the Capulet family who falls in love with Romeo, a handsome and attractive young boy from the Montague family. In the beginning of the play, both the Capulet and Montague family hate each other. In the following play Romeo gets to meet Juliet at a masquerade party held at Juliet’s home. This is where Romeo along with Juliet fall in love with one another and later on decide it’s
Sami Sayegh Dr. Alan F. Hickman ENGL 103 Sec D Paper III-Dram 11th April, 2017 William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet vs. Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story William Shakespeare can be considered as one of the greatest play writer in history. Out of the several plays he wrote, a timeless drama is that of Romeo and Juliet. Thereafter, play writers, authors and directors have enacted his play and even re-written it into their own style. Reviewers of literature say West side story by Leonard Bernstein, the musical, is an allegorical representation on Romeo and Juliet (Levine 630).
Romeo and Juliet The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet’s love story. The author of Romeo and Juliet is William Shakespeare, he wrote a play about two teens that had fallen in love. These teens’ family’s had a feud so they had to hide there love for each other. Even though Romeo and Juliet committed suicide, their untimely deaths are ultimately caused by the fate and family feud.
Romeo and Juliet, a famous play that is often perceived as a romantic love story but ultimately ends in strife and sorrow. Two “star-crossed lovers” longing for nothing more than to be together face several obstacles, the biggest of which being their families. The perennial rivals, the Capulets and the Montagues, have their long standing vendetta reconciled by the untimely deaths of their beloved children and the infatuation they felt for each other. On Tuesday, November 10, 2015, The UWG Theater Company put on their best rendition of this tragic tale.
West Side Story is a musical modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. This story was originally converted for use on stage by Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins and was first shown on stage in 1957. It is set in New York City's Upper West Side in the 1950s. The musical focuses on the rivalry between two gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. These two gangs are the Jets, consisting of only white American men and women, and the Sharks from Puerto Rico.