The well known West Side Story is thought to have many themes some of which we can see clearly from Romeo and Juliet.
One of theses themes could include the forbidden love between the two couples in both stories.In Romeo and Juliet the two young lovers are from rival families and so are not allowed to be together. Whereas in West Side Story the lovers are from rival gangs from different cultures. The sharks and the Jets the Americans and the Porto Ricans both have a lot of tension between all their members but we see much like romeo and Juliet ;Tony and Maria overcome their differences and learn to love one another despite all the feuding that surrounds them.
Another theme that is considered when watching the film is the gang rivalry between the jets and the sharks.we already know they are from two different cultures but aside from this there seems to be many battles between them over their area as if they are arguing over who gets which hang out spots. This obviously stems from the fact they do not like one another and their co existence in the same neighbour hood.
other themes we think of when watching the film include the love of two young people and making the right decisions. There are so many different view points you can take from watching the production and so many morals you can take from the tale. some of these could include the difficulties of peer pressure - this occurs where the gangs are about to do battle and some members do not wish to use weapons or even fight at all they almost seem to be forced to do so to stay in the well known gangs.
It also shows us an insight into loyalty to friends and family although this takes this to the extremes it does show us how much friendship and family can mean to people and how strong that bond can be. we do see this bond between Maria and her brother Bernardo who we may see as him being really overprotective but this is not without reason. We have no idea what has happened in the past other than the fact he feels the need to protect maria majorly. This is a great example of a strong bond between family members but he seems to almost push her away with all the smothering behaviour he surrounds her with.
This again can be viewed differently every time it is viewed and different people may have a different opinion on the themes or ideas i have raised however this is down to personal opinion and circumstances. all in all i feel that West side story covers more issues and themes than first meets the eye and definitely more than in romeo and Juliet. I think this comes as part of bringing the classic up to date as the more modern the production the more issues it seems to raise.
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