Romeo and Juliet Script

Becky: William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet was written between the years 1591 and 1595. The idea of the play was based on a 13^th century poem.

Through the years there has been many different adaptions of Romeo and Juliet including, Ballets, Operas, Film and Animation.

Franco

Jaz: Franco Zeffirelli's directed a Film Version - Romeo and Juliet, which was released on October 8th, 1968. The film itself is set in the time that Shakespeare had made it into a play (1591-95) and it includes 35 per cent of Shakespeare's script. The costume is traditional to that of its period and the language is of Shakespeare's time also.

Zeferelli chose not to make use of long speeches. He adapted the script to enhance the focus on Romeo and Juliet. He also wanted to make them more sympathetic which he did by showing Romeo's good relationships with The Friar, Mercutio and Balthazar. The duel scene between Romeo and Paris was also cut so that he would seem more sympathetic. He also made the characters a lot simpler, so that a young audience could fully understand what was happening.

The Cinematography of the film was very unique to it's time. In another decade the colour and clarity of the picture would of been very different to that of The Film. It was also a Colour Film. This meant that Shakespeare's play was available for a wider variety of people to view on a cinema screen. Also, the fact that it wasn't a live play changed the way in which the actors performed and how the viewers watch it. Cinamatography such as camera angles are used broadly throughout the film, Moreover, The cinematography had made a massive change since previous years, the film was in color which was seen as a massive new development in time and contributed to the movement of films and improving them to a higher quality. The film was also sharper and this made it more appealing for audiences to watch and was more likely to become such a popular film of this time with all the new developments. However, there was no special effects because in the 1960's it was something that was unheard of or if they were conducted it would not be using technology they would just be made by hand Eg: Something flying across the screen would be attached to some string not made to look this way through different computer enhancements and effects. Also, you can see that a lot of the camera movements and angles and medium close up of long shot, there are not many massively different or clever camera tricks.

Becky: The film was credited with introducing homosexual overtones into the public perception of Mercutio and Romeo's relationship, due to the way in which Mercutio collapsed onto Romeo after The Queen Mab speech and again, when he is wounded. Homosexuality was seen as a mental illness, instead of a legitimate sexual orientation. Though doctors were supposed to act as objective scientists their conclusions undoubtedly reflected the biases of their cultural settings, which resulted in prejudices against homosexual behavior being cloaked in the language of medical authority and unproven claims being accepted by the majority of society as fact. Essentially, labeling homosexuality as a psychological condition prevented this group from being able to make demands for social and legal rights as well as cultural representation

The Vietnam War was between 1956 and 1975. Therefore at the time the film was released, in 1968, the war was still going on and The U.S.A were involved. The film earned 14.5 million dollars in domestic film rentals in North America alone (1969). The film was intended to attract young audiences and so you could compare the way in which Romeo and Juliet felt with the way in which teenagers of that time felt. For instance, they may have been torn between the military tradition of their elders and satisfying their own desires (love, passion, having fun). In addition, some may have felt like Romeo and might have not taken much interest in The Vietnam War. They were probably were more interested in simply getting on with life.

The film was released during the time of 'The British Invasion'. 'The British Invasion' is the name given to the time (mid 1960s) where pop and rock artists from The United Kingdom (as well as other aspects of British Culture) became popular in The U.S.A (e.g. The Beatles). Zeferelli even stated in his autobiography that he wanted to cast Paul McCartney (from The Beatles) as Romeo, but he was not an actor. Therefore a British cast was used, to appeal to American audiences.

I noticed that all of The Actors were white. This is probably mainly because of when and where The Film is set. Non-Traditional Casting Project was founded in 1986. However, it may have also been to do with The Fact that there was segregation between white and black people during The 1960s. Martin Luther King (Civil Rights Movement Leader) was assassinated in April, 1968, which resulted in a five day race riot, in Washington D.C. There were 12 fatalities and Washington's Inner-City Economy was destroyed. It might have been that Zeferelli was aiming to avoid controversy when he didn't include any black actors in his film. However it wasn't very often that people would see non- white actors in films of that time.

There Film created some controversy, due to the fact that The Actress who played Juliet, Olivia Hussey, was seen topless in a nude scene of their wedding night. The problem being that she was only 15 and therefore she wasn't even legally allowed to watch the scene in The U.S.A. Also, although The Film was rated a PG, many teenagers who wanted to watch the film were simply not allowed to.

Baz

The film Romeo + Juliet is an American modernised version of William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. The film was released November 1st 1996. It was directed by Baz Luhrmann and starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. The film retains the original Shakespearean dialogue, but much else was changed to appeal to the target audience.

Cinematography

This film is accessible because it was available to watch in the cinema and was then released on DVD and VHS. The DVD was only invented in 1995, but by then people were replacing their old video players with DVD players. The cinema tickets were much cheaper than tickets for the play version at The Royal Shakespeare Company, for example. The specific cinematography of the film aimed to capture the modern idea of the film and it also aided the audience in understanding the language, especially younger audience members who may find a version of this film set in the Renaissance period difficult to follow.

The film made use of various camera angles and there were some extreme close-ups, especially when a character was giving a speech. At times the characters moves at super speed, as though someone had pressed the fast forward button on the remote control. This often happened in scenes with Tybalt and his friends, to make them seem almost like cartoon comical villains. It also happened when the mother was first introduced, to show the audience that she was quite a comical character at first. The use of exaggerated sounds, such as the tinkle of spurs for boots that do not have any spurs, and strange ‘whooshing’ sounds for abrupt camera movements is there to contribute to the flashiness of the opening scene and underlining the cowboy and cartoon elements.

A lot of the film was filmed in Mexico because the director wanted find a place in the modern world in which such factors could still credibly coexist. The film-makers also needed a location that was not immediately recognisable as they wanted to set it in a place that didn't actually exist but would be immediately recognised as an urban landscape.

Baz Luhrmann stated that he chose to film in Mexico because, ‘There are textual facts in Romeo and Juliet, having to do with Elizabethan England that exist in Mexico. The population was very involved in politics; there was a very small percentage of people with great wealth and a large population of poor: it was violent: and people were openly armed. We’ve interpreted all of these Elizabethan things in the context of the modern, created world. In fact, much of this occurs in modern day Mexico, in varying degrees. You could virtually set the piece in Mexico City itself and just play it. It has mysticism.’

Ethnic Minorities

The American Civil Rights Institute, led by founder Ward Connerly, has promoted and won a series of ballot initiatives that prohibit state government institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity in the areas of public employment, public contracting, and public education. Such initiatives have been passed in California (California Proposition 209 (1996)). Non-traditional/colour-blind casting was introduced in 1986 in order to to examine problems with discrimination of. The Non-Traditional Casting Project was founded in 1986 to examine problems of racial discrimination in theatre, film and television. Actors Equity is a co-founder. Lurhman probably aimed to relieve racial tension and also, he was determined to make his version of the film as modern as possible. The only way he could achieve this was by having representation of ethnic minoriteies in the film.

The nineties were a time of racial tension. One example of this was caused by the Rodney King beatings and riots in the early 1990s. King's friends had been drinking and were behaving erratically and after a high-speed chase four officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno and Stacey Koon, ordered King out of his car and beat him repeatedly with their batons. In Autumn 1991 a lenient sentence was given to a Korean-American convenience store assistant convicted of shooting dead a young black woman. In April 1992 all four officers in the Rodney King case were cleared of assault. a few hours later violence erupted across the city's black neighbourhoods. 55 people were killed in several days of rioting, looting and retaliatory attacks against whites and Asians. Around 2,000 people were injured, and about 12,000 were arrested. Over $1billion worth of property was damaged and the National Guard was deployed to help police restore order.

Religion

The film has a very strong Catholic influence. Statues, icons, and holy images are visible in virtually every scene. Elements of the film are similar to the religious aspects of the Mexican fiesta, which mingles the sacred and the profane. Although most of the film's characters seem unresponsive to the religious imagery around them, for Romeo and Juliet this symbolism denotes the spiritual dimension of their love. This suggests that Luhrmann payed close attention to the religious dimensions of Shakespeare's play, since the original version it was set in a very catholic country.

The iconic image in Romeo + Juliet is the cross, and the recurring presence of crosses establishes the motif of the lovers as both 'star-cross'd' and having to bear the cross of their love. Luhrmann filmed part of the movie in Veracruz, Mexico, a city whose full name is La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz ("the rich town of the true cross"). Some other examples of crosses in the film include:

• A cross on the wedding rings of the couple
• A cross on top of the back seat of the Montagues' limousine
• A cross etched into the windshield of Balthazar's car
• Small crosses on the rear wall of the elevator in which Romeo and Juliet steal their first kiss
• Crosses formed by the window panes of the Capulet mansion
• A large, ornate cross tattooed on Friar Laurence's back.
• A central aisle is lined with neon crosses of blue, the traditional colour associated with the Virgin Mary.

All the guns in the film are named after types of swords e.g the handguns belonging to Benvolio (SWORD 9mm Series S), Mercutio (DAGGER 9mm) and Tybalt (RAPIER 9mm). Some guns had Catholic symbols on them, such as an image of the Virgin Mary.

Culture

By suggesting the Hispanic ethos of both Miami Beach and Los Angeles, " Verona Beach” is a cinematic amalgam of Latino life and its Chicano subculture. By placing the film's Elizabethan stage motifs in a Hispanic context, Luhrmann calls up a variety of Latino elements for example; the overbearing Mediterranean father, Juliet's nurse as the stereotypical Latin American servant- all of which establish a multicultural context. Luhrmann's film involves the Latin folk context, the fiesta. The film's colour, music, emotional intensity, and unpredictable violence all recreate features of the fiesta, a social event central to the Mexican identity. The details combine to create a world of carnival that is both festive and threatening. Two of Tybalt's sidekicks even appear as skeletons at the costume ball, a gesture toward the Mexican festival of the Day of the Dead. The celebration of the dead, like those fiestas dedicated to various saints, recognises the flawed and passionate nature of human life, linking it to a dominant theme of Shakespearean tragedy.

Octavio Paz stated in 'The Labyrinth of Solitude', "all give [the Mexican] a chance to reveal himself and to converse with God, country, friends, or relations. During these days the silent Mexican whistles, shouts, sings, shoots off fireworks, discharges his pistol into the air. He discharges his soul. . . . This is the night when friends who have not exchanged more than the prescribed courtesies for months get drunk together, trade confidences, weep over the same troubles, discover that they are brothers, and sometimes, to prove it, kill each other. . . . Now and then, it is true, the happiness ends badly, in quarrels, insults, pistol shots, stabbings. But these too are part of the fiesta'.

One of the films key hair stylist Aldo Signoretti was kidnapped by gang members and held for ransom. The Bandidos rang up and stated that they would return him for $300. So a man called Maurizio left the money to outside the hotel, held it up, chucked them the bag and they threw him out of the car and broke his leg.

Hispanic street gang members often dress distinctively, use monikers, display colors, communicate through graffiti, and bear tattoos (frequently denoting monikers or gang affiliations). The gangs usually have a long tradition that inspires extreme loyalty by members, including a strict code of silence. This unwritten code emphasizes that members never cooperate with law enforcement or other authorities and never inform. For this reason, many agencies regard Hispanic gangs as more difficult to investigate than relatively newer gangs. As with many other gangs, membership may require commission of a crime.

Shakespeare described Tybalt swordsmanship as "showy". John Leguizamo wanted to transform this into flamboyant gun play, so he worked with choreographer John O'Connell to create a flamenco-inspired style. This is used to further enhance the Hispanic element of the film. Flamenco is a form of Spanish folk music and dance from the region of Andalusia in southern Spain.

Socio- economic Group and Costume

Costume designer Karen Barrett wanted to make it clear that the gangs were from the same socio- economic group and also wanted to make sure that the audience could easily differentiate between the 2 groups. She stated "The Capulet's style is more decorative and the Montague kids are more Utilitarian. The Capulets wear more expensive and ornamental pieces of clothing and bullet proof vests have become required accessories. It's a place where guns are the norm, so life and clothing would have to change to adapt to that. The Capulets are more Manicured and preening and wear clothes that are extremely well-cut and body conscious."The Designers Dolce and Gabbana were the inspiration for the Capulet's clothing. The Montagues have a distinctive, colourful style, with short hair and Hawaiian shirts.

Romeo takes an ecstasy pill. Romeo smokes. There is a nude scene (though nothing is scene). This implies that the characters had sex.

Throughout the film modern music was played. The soundtrack included a combination modern rock acts like Garbage & Radiohead and contemporary soul like Des'ree, which were popular genres at the time. Quindon Tarver even covered Prince's song 'When Doves Cry' for the film.

West Side Story

Introduction

'West Side Stoy' (1961), was a film adaption of a 1957 Broadway musical, also called 'West Side Story'. The film is set in The Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York, during the 1950s. It was directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins.

Cinematography and Style

The film's cinematography was unique to it's time. The colour and clarity of the film was unique to the early 1960s. The film included some special effects to show the dreamy state of Tony and Maria, upon meeting each other and for the transitions of scenes. These effects were minor compared to those of today. It was a colour film, making it more accessible to a vast range of audiences, as opposed to just the average audiences of The Royal Shakespeare Company. Not only that, but the language wasn't Shakespearean, and so more easily understood. It also tackled issues that were current at the time- racism and gang violence.





While the opening scene of the film amongst other scenes (the playground etc.) were filmed on The Upper West Side of Manhattan where Lincoln Centre stands today, most of it was filmed in Samuel Goodwyn Studios, California. The following image is of the number 'America', which was filmed in the film studio. In Manhattan, particularly in the area that was then being cleared to build Lincoln Centre, rocks were thrown at the cast and crew from the roofs of the abandoned buildings in the neighbourhood. Due to The Polices help being insufficient for resolving the problem the production manager hired a real street gang to help keep order.

Although the story itself was quite unique, musical films of the 1950s had a similar style. Some examples are 'Singing In The Rain' (1952), 'South Pacific' (1958), 'Seven Brides For Seven Brothers' (1954), 'Calamity Jane' (1953). These were released during the time that was considered to be the golden era of musical film (1930s, through to 1960s). Though, in the 1960s, musical films began to lose there popularity as a new genre of music was introduces- 'Rock 'N Roll' and a lot of the actors singing voices were dubbed in the 1960s. However, there was voice dubbing in South Pacific (1958). The songs were usually added to move the plot forward, to add to the characterisation of certain characters, or simply to fill a gap within the film.





Racism

America was founded by The American Indians and so technically they are the only true Americans, not white Americans (as it is often wrongly thought, causing much debate as to what it is to be 'American').

Soon after World War 2, poverty, cheap airfare, and promotion by the island government caused many Puerto Ricans to move to the United States, particularly to New York City, Massachusetts, and Florida. Despite Puerto Ricans being made U.S. Citizens in 1917 as a result of the Jones-Shafroth, Puerto Ricans faced economic exploitation, discrimination and racism. In New York there were signs in restaurants which read "No dogs or Puerto Ricans allowed". Puerto Rican women fared better on the job market than the men. The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party established an office in New York in the 1950s, which attracted many Puerto Rican migrants. Leaders of the party planned to attack the Blair House, assassinate The U.S. President, Harry S. Truman and attack the House of Representatives. These events had a negative impact on the Puerto Rican migrants. Americans saw Puerto Ricans as anti-Americans and the discrimination against them became even more widespread.

It could be argued that the creators of West Side Story played it safe by not making the play about a forbidden romance between White-American and African- American characters, but they probably thought that they would avoid the subject, due to The Civil Rights Act, that was going on at the time. In the 16th century Africans were enslaved and taken to Spanish and English colonies in North America. African-Americans had lived in The U.S.A for generations and were considered to be Americans. Despite this, in the late 1890s, Southern states enacted Jim Crow laws to enforce racial segregation and disenfranchisement. Most of the African-Americans followed the Jim Crow laws, so that they wouldn't be victims of racially motivated violence. African-Americans set up congregations, schools, community/civic associations, churches, banks and businesses for themselves, so that they would have some space away from white control and so that they could maintain their dignity. After the World War 2, African Americans were still economically disadvantaged and had a considerably smaller annual income compared to other Americans.

The Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968 was aimed at abolishing racial discrimination against African Americans and for equality in education, housing, and employment opportunities. Many Southern White-Americans withdrew their children from public schools, in order to enrolled them in all-white “segregation academies,” and were violent and intimidating towards African- Americans. In 1956, over 100 Southern congressmen signed a “Southern Manifesto”, declaring that they would do everything in their power to defend segregation. In December 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested because she wouldn't give her seat up on a city bus to a white person. As she was arrested, black citizens, stopped using city buses for 13 months, which only ended when the bus companies stopped discriminating against black passengers. Nonviolent acts of resistance helped to shape the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Stereotyping And Discrimination In Show Business

Most of the actors, who played Puerto Ricans in the movie, were actually white, but had to darken their hair and wear dark make- up of the same shade to make them look the same, including Rita Moreno (who was Puerto Rican). They also had to put on Puerto Rican Accents. This was because, at the time, in Hollywood the only known Puerto Rican Actors were José Ferrer and Rita Moreno. The the film was criticised for not casting more Latino Actors. Natalie wood (Maria) did not where dark make-up.

West Side Story's version of Puerto Ricans are simply the stereotypical image of Latin Americans in the 1950s. For example, the actors had to wear dark make-up to show that they were playing Puerto Rican characters. However, many Puerto Ricans are light-skinned and identify as white (despite the lines, in the song 'America', "Life is alright in America, If you're a white in America"). Some of Puerto Rican actors, in the stage musical have had to wear dark make-up. All Latin Americans in the southern hemisphere believe that they are also American as they reached the New World and settled the Antilles more than a century before the first English colony was established in North America, even though only 'The Jets' identify as American in The film (In the Broadway production, the Jets are described as working-class Polish-Americans). The film reinforces negative stereotypes for Puerto Ricans, such as the belief that they are criminals and are all poverty-stricken.

Rita Moreno stated "Ha, ha. I showed them. I didn't make another movie for seven years after winning the Oscar.... Before West Side Story, I was always offered the stereotypical Latina roles. The Conchitas and Lolitas in westerns. I was always barefoot. It was humiliating, embarrassing stuff. But I did it because there was nothing else. After West Side Story, it was pretty much the same thing. A lot of gang stories."

In the 1950s, African-Americans were mostly given stereotypical roles. However, Hollywood began to examine race issues, by making films about tension between black and white people, and self-identity. Sidney Poitier is an American-Born Bahamian, black actor. He was the first black, male actor to be nominated for an Academy Award and was the first black actor to win an Academy Award For Best Actor. In 1950 Sidney Poitier starred in 'No Way Out', a racial thriller about a black doctor, who operates on two white racists. He went on to have a successful and culturally significant acting career in the 1960s. In the film 'Island In The Sun', which includes interracial romances between black and white people, onscreen the actors were only allowed to make limited physical contact; hugging, dancing, rubbing cheeks. This was probably considered when they made The Broadway Musical of West Side story in the 1950s.

Youth Gang Culture In The 1950s

West Side Story was the first feature film that depicted street gang life, but it was criticised for glamorising gangs. A lack of working-class jobs, cramped living conditions and widespread racism, made many teens feel vulnerable, frustrated and angry. They proved their manhood by forming gangs to feel powerful and in control and fighting. Some of the gang members were quite deranged and most had some emotional problems. 1950s youth gangs fought over 'turf' (plots of land) and girls, as opposed to drugs (like today's gangs). Gang leaders were rarely over 20 years old. Their were members of gangs as young as .8 They all laid claim to a section of their neighbourhood and guarded it with military-style proficiency.

An invasion or attack on their territory by rival gangs was seen as an act of aggression and often lead to 'rumbles' (pitched battles, in which rival gangs fought each other with their bare knuckles, or weapons such as; studded belts,baseball bats, car aerials, machetes and/or guns. They could involve over 100 boys). 'Rumbles' were organised at war councils, where a representative from each gang would meet on neutral territory (Doc's Candy Store, in West Side Story) and they would decide on the time and location of 'the rumble', had to agree on the weapons that they would use. However these agreements were often broken. Gang members wanted to gain a reputation as a tough guy and thought that the best way to do that was by being vicious in a fight- drawing a gun/ knife, when everyone else had chains or clubs. Anyone who didn't show up for a rumble/backed out of a fight was seen as a coward. Repeat offenders were kicked out of the gangs and were left without any friends or protection.

Many of the fights were between youth gangs from different ethnic backgrounds. After World War 2, hundreds of thousands of young Puerto Ricans and African Americans, from Southern America, migrated to New York looking for a brighter future, but ended up competing with each other, and with the white working class, for jobs and homes. Some areas of the city became nearly exclusively black or 'Spanish'. However, in every case, the communities felt boxed in - by each other and by existing Italian, Irish or Jewish communities. African-Americans living in West Harlem, had Central Park to their south, Italian and 'Spanish' Harlem to the east, Washington Heights (which was mainly Irish) to the north and Manhattanville (where Puerto Ricans lived) to their west.

Most people saw juvenile delinquency as the greatest threat to society. Congress held hearings on the issue throughout the 1950s and in New York they tried to provide gang members with education and job training and mediated between the warring factions. Social workers, police officers and church representatives all tried to get rid of the problem.

World War 2

The Second World War was a global war that began on 1st September1939 and ended on 2nd September 1945. It began when Germany invaded Poland and The Germans declared war on France and The U.K.

For the civilians in America, Leisure activities became very rare. In 1942 a rationing system started, in order to guarantee minimum amounts of necessities to everyone (especially poor people) and to prevent inflation. By 1943, it was necessary to be in possession of government issued ration coupons to purchase tires, typewriters, coffee, sugar, gasoline, bicycles, clothing, fuel oil, silk, nylon, stoves, shoes, meat, cheese, butter, lard, margarine, canned foods, dried fruits, jam etc. The rationing system didn't apply to used goods. Every family member in the house had a rationing book to put rationing stamps in- even the children and babies.

Unemployment was no longer an issue and many women had to take on men's jobs as they were off fighting. This lead to significant changes to the role of women in society. Retired people and students also had to work, to replace the men who'd gone off to war. At the time, personal income had become very high and people chose to save their money. Money savers were encouraged to invest their dollars into war bonds (debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure during times of war).

After the world war, industries stopped selling War equipment and went back to selling the goods they had sold before The War. The U.S.A.'s economy was stronger than ever before. The Americans wanted better things from hairstyles and clothes to fridges and ovens and they were earning enough money to afford a better lifestyle. America became 'The Land Of Opportunity', where people lived richer and fuller lives and most other countries aspired be like America.

Youth Culture

In 1950s, the term 'teenager' was coined. Before The War, most young people graduated from high-school and went straight to work in their teens. After the war, the need for younger family members to get jobs to support the family was no longer as necessary as it previously was, and more young people were encouraged to stay in school. This meant that young men and women of 15, 16, 17, 18, etc, were no longer a part of the job market and had had more free time on their hands. Companies began marketing to young consumers. Clothing, Fads, Music, Films, etc were specifically aimed at young people, and the "Youth Culture" was born.

During the 1950’s Rock and Roll music became popular. It is a combination of African-American genres such as blues, jump blues, jazz, and gospel music, together with western swing and country music. However, parents didn't like it because they thought that it was a bad influence on their children and it caused juvenile delinquency. The music contained sexual connotation, which made the teens want to listen to it more because their parents didn't approve. Parents didn't want their children to act or dress like their children's favourite rock and roll musicians.

Elvis Presley was an American singer, actor and musician. He was known as 'The King Of Rock And Roll'. He recorded songs such as 'Jail House Rock' and 'Hound Dog'. In 1956, he made his film debut in 'Love Me Tender' and also appeared in films such as Jailhouse Rock (1957) and Viva Las Vegas (1964). His energised and sexually provocative performance style, as well as his physical attractiveness, made him extremely popular amongst male and female fans and he influenced many teenagers. He died on August 16th, 1977 from drug intoxication and a heart attack.

Hollywood created movies, aimed at young people, who had become the cinemas largest audience (e.g. films like 'Rebel Without A Cause' and 'Blackboard Jungle'). These films helped to define the youth culture which was being associated with blue jeans, motorcycles, rock and roll, and rebelliousness.

James Dean Starred alongside Natalie Wood in The Film, 'Rebel Without A Cause' (1955). It was a drama film that took a sympathetic view on emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. It's the story of a rebellious teenager, who finds himself at a new high school, meets a girl, is disobedient to his parents and defies the local school bullies. The film made a groundbreaking attempt to portray the moral decay of American youth, critique parental style, and to look at differences and conflicts between generations. The main character was particularly aggressive, and the film was highly influential to teenagers.

1950s fashion is very different to today's fashion. You can tell that west side story is of it's time because of the clothes that they wore and their hairstyles, as well as their language and movement. Levi Strauss invented blue jeans/ Levi jeans, which were incredibly popular at the time.

The main looks for teenagers were Greasers and Preppies. They wore standard black leather and denim jeans. They raced about town on motorbikes and were seen to be outrageous.





Preppies were neat, tidy and well groomed. Girls wore full circular or neat pleated skirts.

Gangs reinforced their sense of identity with the clothes that they wore. Although they were rough, they liked to look good. Many had special sweaters which had their gang's insignia on it. Some gangs were known for their hats. Some gangs wore Levi jeans. Hair was meticulously brushed into a pompadour and gang culture was heavily influenced by bebop and rock 'n' roll. Fighting was known as 'bopping' or 'jitterbugging, and walking 'bop style' meant to walk with a swagger (swinging your shoulders and hips). A 'Jive stud' was a liar and 'Debs' meant girlfriends.

Choreography

The film, introduced never-before-seen contemporary dance to America's cinema screen. Jerome Robbins, the choreographer, rehearsed with the dancers for three months before shooting began. Once filming began on location, he revised the choreography numerous times. The dancers all claimed that they had never worked so hard on a dance piece, and most of them sustained injuries. Jerome Robbins wanted everything to be done exactly as it was on stage. Lehman's suggested repositioning of the songs and placing them in new settings, and so they were. The boys' jeans were dyed, re-dyed and "distressed," using special elastic thread to allow for the extreme physical demands of the choreography. Russ Tamblyn (Riff) reported that he and most of the other dancers in the film suffered from shin splints, due to their of extended dancing on pavement, as opposed to a wooden stage or sound stage floor.

This picture shows Jerome Robbins choreographing 'The Prologue' in West Side Story.

The most predominant style of dancing in West Side Story (e.g. during The Prologue at the very beginning of the film) is contemporary dance. Contemporary dance is a popular form of dance which developed in the mid 20th Century. It was originally influenced mainly by classical, modern, and jazz styles, but later other dance styles were incorporated into contemporary dance. The technique used in contemporary dance tends to utilise both the strong and controlled legwork of ballet and modern dance's stress on the torso, and it involves contact-release, floor work, fall and recovery, and improvisation characteristic of modern dance. It can also include unpredictable changes in rhythm, speed, and direction. It sometimes also has elements of non-western dance styles, such as African dance (bent knees) or movements from the Japanese contemporary dance 'Butoh'.