A Comparison of Movie Screenplay - Essay Example

A Comparison of Movie Screenplay West Side Story with the Broadway Show West Side Story West Side Story (1961), directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, is a musical film, adapted from the Broadway show of the same title. The original has taken its inspiration from the famous play of William Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet.” The movie stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno and George Chakiris and the cinematography has been handled by Daniel L Fapp (Wise & Robbins 1961). The screenplay has been written by Ernest Lehman based on the Broadway musical by Jerome Robbins and Arthur Laurents. Besides being critically acclaimed, the movie has been a huge box office success and it has bagged the coveted Oscar for best picture (Smith 2011:2). In addition, the movie earned 9 other Oscars for best supporting actors (male and female), best director, best cinematography, best art direction, best sound, best musical score, best editing, best costumes as well as a special award for best choreography (3). The film has received further accolades such as New York Film Critics Award for best picture, Grammy Award for best sound tract, Writers’ Guild Award of America for best written musical, New York Film Critics Circle Award for best film and the Golden Globe Award for best motion picture (3). Thus, the film can be seen as a highly successful venture in terms of its appeal to the common masses as well as the strong impression it has left on both critics and evaluators of the art of cinema. The stage production of West Side Story has been premiered in Broadway during 1957, just four years before it has been adapted for the movie production in Hollywood in 1961. It is needless to mention that both forms of art differ drastically in many ways in their conventions as visual and performing arts. The most significant of such changes primarily reflect in the music composition of Bernstein, who has accurately considered different specific aspects to cater to movie format. The movie’s theme primarily encompasses the issues of immigration and gang conflicts in the US, which have been major social problems for the country for a long time. The movie has also been able to align Bernstein’s music and Robbins’ choreography so seamlessly into the plot as to enhance its intrigue and appeal rather than to distract from it. Another major consideration for the stage show has been orchestration of music scores for obvious reasons. It is needless to mention that stage shows limit the scope for using a wide range of instruments and often cannot permit on the spot corrections. On the other hand, movies offer broader scope for the incorporation of a variety of instruments in the composition of music as well as it affords the chances for medications and alterations in the soundtrack at later stages. This may perhaps be the reason why the music scores in the movie have been more effective than the stage show, which has been constrained by various limitations. On the other hand, both the Broadway production, as well as the movie, has become the centers of debate due to their presentation of race and ethnicity. One of the main characters, Anita, is a Latino and many believe that the movie conveys a “subtle message” that racial and ethnic differences can be a threat to the national identify of America, especially when Latinos are often stereotyped as “either madonnas or harlots” (Ruiz & Korrol 2006:807). It becomes relevant here that initially Laurents has desired the play to portray a Jewish girl and an Italian Catholic boy but later, the theme seemed to be outdated, and new issues such as “juvenile delinquency and gang activity” have become emerging social problems in the nation (807). Therefore, the movies focus has been shifted to the concept of Chicano gangs conflicting with the “ethnic Americans” and the fact that in the previous decade a large number of Puerto Ricans have immigrated to the US and settled in New York offered the film a highly relevant social background (807). Thus, the movie has focused on representation of the ethnic minority and projecting their problems and aspirations. On the other hand, the Broadway show has defied the conventional norms of stage productions by casting relatively unknown artists in the lead, which has later become its “historiographic legacy” (Oja 2009:18). The movie’s deviation from the original stage production becomes most pronounced in terms of the changes in dialog, music, lyrics as well as the dance sequences which are rendered to better suit the visual and aural definitions of the cinematic platform. Similarly, the movie also offers the leeway for better expression of emotions through close-ups, which is a feature that the stage productions are devoid of. Therefore, the movie makers have been able to use the potential of these features and accordingly they have changed the lyrics and music to present the intense emotions of the characters when they are shown in close up. On the other hand, the dialogs such as the exchange between Anita and Maria have been so modulated as to achieve timelessness in its appeal. When Maria wants Anita to cut her dress an inch lower, saying that she has to use it for dancing and not to kneel at an altar, Anita responds that with the boys around one can “start in dancing and end up kneeling” (Laurents & Sondheim 1959:29). Similarly, Bernardo’s dialog, “There’s only one thing they want from a Puerto Rican girl!” eloquently demonstrates the position of immigrants in society and how the mainstream population treats them (36). Thus, the movie, through adaptive changes incorporated into various aspects to fit into the convention and form of cinema, has become successful not only in reaching out to the public sentiment but also in evoking critical interest. The Broadway show of West Side Story has been considered as a remarkable piece of the producers’ craftsmanship but many, including the New York Times, have expressed a concern about its tragic ending. However, despite these misgivings, the show has run on Broadway for over 700 times, which can entitles it for the deduction as a major hit of the time. However, when adapted in the movie format, the entire perspective of the production has changed. For example, the movie begins with “aerial view of Manhattan” and cuts back to the Jets, who dance on the street, which is a visual richness that stage shows cannot aspire to attain (Green 1999: 223). The stage production of West Side Story as well as its movie version uses music and dance as a means to promote the awareness of ethnicity, culture and a host of other issues such as the anguish of the younger generations and their perplexity in a world of conflicts based on race and social class differences. However, as opposed to the Broadway show the movie has had the potential to reach out to audiences that are not able to view the stage show. The movie has further been able to reach out to the international community and send its message, which has been a limitation of the stage show. However, the most relevant aspect here is that the adaptation into the movie has so effectively been done that the film has been able to eschew the concept of relevance to time and space, by incorporating changes in various aspects. Movies, as opposed to stage shows have immense potential in dramatizing various events depicted in the work. Thus, when a stage show is adapted into a screenplay for a movie the film producers will have to apply relevant changes and technologies to make it appropriate for the movie platform and the immense possibilities it offers. The movie adaptation of the stage show, West Side Story, can be seen as a classic example of how effectively a stage show can be made into a movie with appropriate changes that will be suitable for the film conventions. However, one limitation in this context can be inferred from the fact that the film has attached too much significance on music scores and the lyrics. Thus, in the case of the movie, in its efforts to appeal to the mass through the music components, the film may have lost its validity as the conveyor of significant messages on the social problems in the context of immigration, juvenile delinquency and police brutality. This may be especially relevant in the context of the international audience that may not be too conscious of the problems within the American society, which the movie primarily strives to focus on. Overall, however, the movie version has been able to retain most of the significant features and allusions of the original stage show and, in addition, it has further been able to effectively incorporate various changes that have been able to enhance its appeal both to the lay audience as well as critical circles. References Green, S. 1999. Hollywood Musicals Year by Year. 2nd edn. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation. Laurents, A. & Sondheim, S. 1959. West Side Story. London: William Heinemann Limited. Oja, C. J. 2009. West Side Story and The Music Man: Whiteness, Immigration, and Race in the US during the Late 1950s. Studies in Musical Theatre, 3/1: 13-30. Ruiz, V. L. & Korrol, V. S (Eds). 2006. Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Smith, S. 2011. West Side Story Film – With Live Orchestra. Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs, Spring/ Summer. Retrieved March 17, 2014, from Wise, R. & Robbins, J. 1961. West Side Story. Perf. Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer. Hollywood: United Artists. Read More