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Romeo And Juliet And West Side Story Comparison

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One of the many popular film Adaptations of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is West Side Story, directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. This modern day film adaptation, released in October 18th, 1961, takes place in a rundown neighborhood on the streets of New York City. A gang called the Jets, lead by Riff (Russ Tamblyn), find themselves in a turf war with the Sharks, a gang from Puerto Rico lead by Bernardo (George Chakiris) . Tony (Richard Beymer), a former member of the Jets, notices Maria (Natalie Wood), Bernardo’s little sister, at a neighborhood dance. They immediately fall in love, but are banned from seeing each other due to the differences between the two gangs. West Side Story is an intriguing, and compelling version of Romeo …show more content…
Unlike Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story shows the viewer that you do not need to be completely dependent on a man through the differences in the endings.
One of the Key differences between West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet is the modernization of the ending in West Side Story, compared to Romeo and Juliet. After Tony kills Bernardo out of anger and hatred towards him for murdering Riff, Maria and Tony make plans to run away that night. Maria confesses the plan to Anita (Rita Moreno), Bernardo’s girlfriend, and even though she disagrees with Maria’s decisions, she agrees to sneak out and tell Tony that Maria will meet him at Doc’s. Unfortunately, Anita is heckled by some of the members of the Jets, and furiously tells the gang that Chino (Jay Norman), a member of the Jets, killed Maria. Tony overhears the news of Maria’s death, screaming and crying. However, he ends up spotting Maria, and when he is running to her, Chino shoots him. Unlike the ending of Romeo and Juliet, where Juliet stabs herself …show more content…
The movie grasped the basic understanding of Romeo and Juliet, and added musical numbers that went hand in hand with some of the scenes in Romeo and Juliet, which made the movie more entertaining and amusing to watch. The movie did an outstanding job of staying true to the original version of Romeo and Juliet, while adding more modern topics to the production, such as the problem with racism towards the Puerto Rican Sharks after moving to America, and the portrayal of modern city life, and a more modernized version of gangs. West Side Story included many versions of the scenes from Romeo and Juliet, such as the infamous balcony scene, and a fight between the two gangs that lead to the death of Riff (a portrayal of Mercutio), and Bernardo (a portrayal of Tybalt). Overall, the movie West Side Story is a successful and amusing version of Romeo and Juliet that everyone should

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