Film Adaptations: Romeo and Juliet (1968) and West Side Story (1961)
Many films have been created based on novels and play scripts. Plays have transitioned from performances on stage to the big cinema screens. Since many legendary play scripts were created before our century, American film directors had to ask themselves, “How can an older piece of work interest the audience of today?”. Directors found it challenging to express an original piece of work while attempting to interest the minds of today. The characters in many older works lived in a different time and in a different country. Therefore, American film directors had to adapt the details of older works in order to make it relevant to the life of today’s general American population. …show more content…
However, the film West Side Story brings forth the shameful American culture of rape and shows the issue with one scene. In America, it is shameful that most “...female victims of completed rape experienced their first rape before the age of 25 (Black).” It is more shocking that “one in five women” are victims of “...completed rape” at least once in their lifetime (Black). In West Side Story, the scene of Anita walking into the bar without the company of a man raises the eyes of the Jets who are all gathered at the same bar. The Jets see Anita vulnerable and sexually harass her as they pass her around within the gang. The gang of animals are seen attempting to undress Anita as she pleads for them to stop. The entire gang of Jets somehow end up on top of Anita until a man walks into the scene and stops the Jets from continuing to torment Anita. This scene implies that the Jets would have attempted to complete a gang rape if they would not have been interrupted. This specific disturbing scene brings forward the issue of rape within the American culture. Women being raped in America is found common and the judicial system does not fight to the extent of the law to put every criminal involved in the crime behind bars. While the film does bring forward the issue of rape in the American culture, the film does fail to show Anita do anything about the incident. Anita does not tell anyone about her encounter with the Jets. Anita is choosing to cover-up the incident when she chooses to not speak up for herself. Others may argue that not speaking of a violent sexual encounter basically says that the incident never occurred. Therefore, Anita’s decision to stay silent fits the argument others may make. However, unwanted sexual encounters still happened
Many films have been created based on novels and play scripts. Plays have transitioned from performances on stage to the big cinema screens. Since many legendary play scripts were created before our century, American film directors had to ask themselves, “How can an older piece of work interest the audience of today?”. Directors found it challenging to express an original piece of work while attempting to interest the minds of today. The characters in many older works lived in a different time and in a different country. Therefore, American film directors had to adapt the details of older works in order to make it relevant to the life of today’s general American population. …show more content…
However, the film West Side Story brings forth the shameful American culture of rape and shows the issue with one scene. In America, it is shameful that most “...female victims of completed rape experienced their first rape before the age of 25 (Black).” It is more shocking that “one in five women” are victims of “...completed rape” at least once in their lifetime (Black). In West Side Story, the scene of Anita walking into the bar without the company of a man raises the eyes of the Jets who are all gathered at the same bar. The Jets see Anita vulnerable and sexually harass her as they pass her around within the gang. The gang of animals are seen attempting to undress Anita as she pleads for them to stop. The entire gang of Jets somehow end up on top of Anita until a man walks into the scene and stops the Jets from continuing to torment Anita. This scene implies that the Jets would have attempted to complete a gang rape if they would not have been interrupted. This specific disturbing scene brings forward the issue of rape within the American culture. Women being raped in America is found common and the judicial system does not fight to the extent of the law to put every criminal involved in the crime behind bars. While the film does bring forward the issue of rape in the American culture, the film does fail to show Anita do anything about the incident. Anita does not tell anyone about her encounter with the Jets. Anita is choosing to cover-up the incident when she chooses to not speak up for herself. Others may argue that not speaking of a violent sexual encounter basically says that the incident never occurred. Therefore, Anita’s decision to stay silent fits the argument others may make. However, unwanted sexual encounters still happened