West Side Story
West Side Story
West side story is a musical drama film adapted from the 1957 Broadway Musical with the same name. The films show the story of two young lovers that belonged to opposite gangs. Tony, a former member of the Jets (the American gang), fell in love for Maria, Bernardo’s sister. Bernardo led the Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks. Both gangs were in continuous conflict, but everything got worse after Tony met Maria. Both gangs were against the union of Maria and Tony, therefore they had a rumble to try to “fix” the problem. Tony was not going to take part of the rumble, but he showed up to try to stop the conflict. Tony was not successful since Riff, the Jets leader, pulled out a knife. As a response, Bernardo also took out a knife …show more content…
Therefore people always sought for some distraction, and West Side Story gave people what they wanted. Besides the entertainment that a movie could provide, west side story was one of a kind. The soundtrack of the movie was produced by Leonard Bernstein. He was displeased with the original orchestrations for the movie. The music was orchestrated to be played by 30 musicians, but for the movie this number was tripled. Bernstein found this adaptation of the music as “overbearing and lacking in texture and subtlety”. Besides the several changes done by Bernstein, the music was a huge part of this movie’s success. Throughout the entire musical we can listen to several styles of music of the decade. In addition to that, several songs show nationalism or proudness for their homeland. Added to the wonderful music, the choreography was re-done from the musical just to match the film format. I could personally say that the dances portrayed the movie plot, even if we did not listened to the actors …show more content…
This musical shows Anita praising for America and Bernardo replies by criticizing America and their anti-immigration policy. The song starts with Anita talking about Puerto Rico with a Caribbean style of Music. As Bernardo and the Sharks join in, the sound turns into a more patriotic melody. We start hearing trumpets simulating the greatness of living in America. The texture of the piece is Homophonic since the main melody is accompanied by lyrics with the same pitches. Throughout the piece we can hear repeating note patterns, they normally go from six to eight notes. We can listen a fast tempo as well as constant change of dynamics accompanied by the choreography.
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, the film depicts a love story between Tony and Maria. In fact, it is an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet’s story, a classic story written by Shakespeare that will never grow old. I think this is one of the main reasons why this story is used so often. No matter what time this story is set up, it will always be contemporary. Therefore the audience or viewers are able to identify themselves with the characters of the movie. And those who do not relate to the story, they can always feel that something like this could happen to them
West side story is a musical drama film adapted from the 1957 Broadway Musical with the same name. The films show the story of two young lovers that belonged to opposite gangs. Tony, a former member of the Jets (the American gang), fell in love for Maria, Bernardo’s sister. Bernardo led the Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks. Both gangs were in continuous conflict, but everything got worse after Tony met Maria. Both gangs were against the union of Maria and Tony, therefore they had a rumble to try to “fix” the problem. Tony was not going to take part of the rumble, but he showed up to try to stop the conflict. Tony was not successful since Riff, the Jets leader, pulled out a knife. As a response, Bernardo also took out a knife …show more content…
Therefore people always sought for some distraction, and West Side Story gave people what they wanted. Besides the entertainment that a movie could provide, west side story was one of a kind. The soundtrack of the movie was produced by Leonard Bernstein. He was displeased with the original orchestrations for the movie. The music was orchestrated to be played by 30 musicians, but for the movie this number was tripled. Bernstein found this adaptation of the music as “overbearing and lacking in texture and subtlety”. Besides the several changes done by Bernstein, the music was a huge part of this movie’s success. Throughout the entire musical we can listen to several styles of music of the decade. In addition to that, several songs show nationalism or proudness for their homeland. Added to the wonderful music, the choreography was re-done from the musical just to match the film format. I could personally say that the dances portrayed the movie plot, even if we did not listened to the actors …show more content…
This musical shows Anita praising for America and Bernardo replies by criticizing America and their anti-immigration policy. The song starts with Anita talking about Puerto Rico with a Caribbean style of Music. As Bernardo and the Sharks join in, the sound turns into a more patriotic melody. We start hearing trumpets simulating the greatness of living in America. The texture of the piece is Homophonic since the main melody is accompanied by lyrics with the same pitches. Throughout the piece we can hear repeating note patterns, they normally go from six to eight notes. We can listen a fast tempo as well as constant change of dynamics accompanied by the choreography.
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, the film depicts a love story between Tony and Maria. In fact, it is an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet’s story, a classic story written by Shakespeare that will never grow old. I think this is one of the main reasons why this story is used so often. No matter what time this story is set up, it will always be contemporary. Therefore the audience or viewers are able to identify themselves with the characters of the movie. And those who do not relate to the story, they can always feel that something like this could happen to them