Natalies Life Comparison with Louise and Maria - Essay Example

Natalie’s Life Comparison with Louise and Maria Natalie’s Life Comparison with Louise and Maria Films are made from real life stories and anchored on characters of known personalities. In doing this, the film seems real, as the characters, behaviors are identifiable to the audience. In most cases, a certain character or characters with whom the audience can relate inspire films. In selecting the cast to star in a film, the ability of the actor to play the film character he or she has been assigned is key. This ensures that the actor plays out the film character best thereby serving the purpose of the film. In order to ensure that the role of a character is played out diligently, the directors of the film hold auditions to select the best-suited individuals to play out significant characters. Natalie Wood was a great actor who enjoyed popularity for her roles in major films in the mid eighties. The actor fame and publicity came early since she started acting quite early in her life owing to the pressure she received from her life. She lived a life that most people would term as glamorous and successful subsequent to her demise aboard a boat in 1981. However, the impact that Natalie Wood made in the film industry is enviable to many. Her films have been greatly acclaimed due to their sensationalism and the pretty aspect that the fact that she seemed vulnerable in all her acts as well as in real life. Natalie was a pretty woman, which led to her roles in great films. As an actor, Natalies real life characters have been deduced from the roles she played in some of her movies. In both Gypsy and the West Side story, the characters she plays, Louise Hovick and Maria Homez greatly mirror her real life story. Gypsy is a musical film that was produced in 1962 and based on the memoirs of a stripper Gypsy Louise Hovick. The film highlights the success story of Gypsy and the factors that shaped her life to turn out the way it did. In the film, Wood plays the role of Louise, a little girl who, together with her younger sister, is forced by their mother, Rose Hovick, to perform in the theatre. June Hovick, Louise’s sister is pretty and talented unlike Louise who is not talented at all. Rose Hovick drags the kids all over the country so as they could perform and in the process make her famous. Both Louise and June soon become older and cannot perform to their mother’s expectations but she still insists that they perform. June eventually becomes frustrated and intimidated by her mother’s domineering role and elopes with Jerry who is one of the back-up dancers. Her mother is frustrated and terms this as betrayal which subsequently increases her pressure on the older but untalented Louise. The two moves to Kansas and Louise gets a job at a third-rate burlesque house. While still at the place, a stripper is arrested and Louise fits into the shoes later on, Louise confronts her mother on her interference in her life and pleas to be left alone. In a moment of self-realization, Louise and her mother make up at the empty stage in a highly emotional act (Fandago, 2015) West Side Story is a musical film created in 1961 to mirror the events in Shakespeare’s book, Romeo and Juliet. It depicts two characters from different worlds and whose heart desires are marred with set social standards. In the film, Natalie Wood plays the role of Maria Homez, a Puerto Rican girl. She moves to New York City during her late teens to live with her brother Bernado. Bernado is the gang leader of The Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang. Bernado is overly protective of his sister and always insists to know her welfare. Bernado wants Maria to be married by his friend Chino. However, Maria is not interested in Chino and on the contrary falls in love with Tony, who founded the enemy gang, the jets. Everybody is opposed to this love between including Anita, who is Marias friend and Bernados girlfriend. The relationship is unfathomable for two people from rival groups can never be involved in a relationship. However, the two remain strong with Maria fighting for her love as well as retaining popularity among fellow Puerto Ricans. She is a victim torn between her heritage and love. She therefore lives a life of Rebellion. Maria and Jon plan to run away together, but a street duel between the two groups tragically halts their idea. Maria thinks that John can do something at the duel, foster peace between the two groups, and therefore sends him at the duel to do exactly that. While at the duel the two groups clash and the Bernado kills Riff, John’s friend, and Jets leader. In anger, John stabs Bernado to death, but feels remorseful about it, as he is brother to Maria. He goes to Maria and asks for forgiveness, which she gives him. However, Chino swears to revenge Bernado’s death. Anita is also angry that Maria still plans to elope with John even after he killed her brother. Anita propagates a rumor that Chino has killed Maria in order to lure John into a death trap. On hearing, the rumor John seeks out Chino wanting to be killed to but stumbles into Maria. Alive. The two are overjoyed, but the joy lasts only a bit as Chino comes over and shoots John. John tries to stay alive but eventually dies in the end and his body carried by both the Sharks and the jets (IDMb, 2015). The two films were produced when Natalie Woods career was starting to peak up. She was flawless in her acting skills partly because she was an actor and because some of her real life experiences had encompassed her role in the films. Playing out characters that she only knew too well would enable her give her best in the scenes. The paper develops the shared characteristics between real life Natalie Wood and her role as Louise and Maria in both Gypsy and West Side Story. Change of Identity or location Maria Wood, Natalie’s mother was a Russian. Her husband was also a Russian and therefore their daughter was Russian too. On weighting the options she had, Maria changed her daughter’s name from Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko to Natalie Wood. She knew that changing her daughter’s birth name to Natalie Wood would increase her chances in acting. Natalie would be viewed as an American and she would get all the privileges that come with being American. Had she let her keep her Russian name, she would face rejection from directors due to discrimination against non-Americans. The Zacharenko family also strategically moved back to San Francisco to give Natalie the conducive environment she required to succeed in her career as an actor. Changing of Natalia’s name and location therefore contributed greatly her to her successful career in acting. In Gypsy, June and Louise’s mother had to move the kids all over the country’s theatres to ensure that their chances of succeeding was high. She wanted her children to be exposed to the numerous settings all over the country. She also hoped that directors all over the world were aware of her talented kids and would spot them for some performance. When June fled with her boyfriend, Rose Hovick is determined to make her daughter succeed despite her obvious inadequacy compared to June. She further moves her to Kansas City to look in search of greener pastures where she finds her a job in a third-rate burlesque house. Louise does not perform as per her mans expectations but she finds a stripping job which she looks perfect in. her moves and singing complement each other to give her a huge audience that acclaims her prowess. Her mother thereby has to take stripping as her daughter’s ideal success and therefore supports and pressurizes her with equal measure. It is therefore important to note that just as Natalie’s name is changed to increase her success probability so is Louise’s movement all over the country. Before her move to New York City, Maria in West Side Story does not seem to have an enviable story. Her story is just normal without anything interesting going on. This however changes when she moves to the city. Her brother recognizes her value and acts protectively towards her while advocating for his friend Chino to marry her. Maria’s is not interested with Chino but John, a member of the rival gang. This relationship sparks controversy as the two groups fight relentlessly to dismantle the unorthodox union. The relationship further makes Maria the talk of everyone in the town and hence the story line of the film. The rebellious relationship is the center of attraction in the entire neighborhood. As it progresses, the relationships become dangerous not only to the onlookers but to both John and Maria. Eventually the relationship ends tragically with the deaths Jiff, Bernado, and John. Similarly, to Louise’s moving and Natalie’s change of name Maria’s relocation is important in her life. It changes her way of life as well as gives her life more meaning in the form of a rebellious relationships. Childhood Natalie Wood had a busy childhood. This is because her mother wanted her to be successful and therefore did applied whatever means possible to ensure that her daughter was successful. Her mother enrolled her in ballet classes when she was very young. When Natalie was four years, she appeared in her first film, Santa Rosa, with the help of her mother. Her mother was so obsessed with the thought of her daughter’s success such that she told Natalie to ensure that the Director of the film loved her to increase her prospects of succeeding. Allegedly, her mother was an ambitious woman with zeal to succeed but her circumstances did not allow her. She therefore nurtured her daughter and made Natalie make forced decisions to her self-fulfillment. Important to note is that the Natalie Wood would probably have not been actor were it not for her mother’s early interference in her life (IDMb, 2015). Similarly in Gypsy, Junes and Louise’s mother is determined to make them successful. She takes them to the theatres all over the country insisting that they perform to be noticed. When June gives up, Louise is left to satisfy her mother’s success fetish solely. Louise therefore does everything her mother wants her to do including performing childish acts when she is older. Her mother moves her to Kansas City and gets her a job in a third rate burlesque theatre where she eventually becomes a stripper as a sign of rebellion to her mother. Towards the end of the film, Louise overcomes the fear she has towards her mother and tells her to leave her alone. She has finally decided that she will not tolerate her mother’s commands. Just like Natalie’s mother, Louise’s mother wants her child to succeed for her own recognition. She hopes that when her young daughters perform well, then their credit should definitely go to her as their mother. Consequently, her interference in her daughter’s lives is fuelled by her failed ambitions, which she has in turn imposed on her daughters hence frustrating them (Filmsite, 2015). In the West Side story however, much is not said about Maria’s childhood and leaves the audience to speculate. The film comes to life when the flamboyant Maria moves from her home to New York City in anticipation of a better life than her previous one. Talent The audience she entertained loved Natalie as child actor. This was partially because of the roles she played, for example in Miracle in 34th street; she questioned the existence of Santa Claus. Even though the crowds loved her, she struggled with her career until the early 1960 when she clinched the roles of Maria in West Side Story and Louise in Gypsy. In her career, critics insist that Natalie was not talented as such. Her beauty and controversial life played a key role in her securing the contract to play specific roles in films. Even though she acted in numerous films, there was no common observable trend on the love the audience had on the actor herself. However, in the roles played in the two films, she gave it all her best and therefore loved by the people. The two films worn recognition and awards as a result to their reception.Natalie did not know how to control her vocals even though she landed musicals rehearsals. She still finds it hard to sing along the songs in the musicals. For instance, in 1961, when she shot the West Side Story, her role involved singing, which some other person to blend with her voice did. However, in Gypsy, she learns a coping strategy, which she employs to ensure that she sings all the songs in the film. In Gypsy, Louise depicted as an individual who lacks talent. Her sister June was a favorite to her mother due to her talent and she later became successful on her own even after eloping with her boyfriend. Louise had to be pushed to perform. She did not perform well enough to be noticed by the audience and therefore she does not become famous. Even when her mother moves her to Kansas and gets her a job, she still does not perform exemplarily. Frustration and failure leads her to take up the job of a stripper albeit reluctantly. While performing as a stripper, her audience acclaims her, which increases her morale. Odd enough, she is able to find comfort at the strip pole, teasing her men audience. On realizing, that she has Louise has capitalized on her potential, her mother plunges into the trade pissing off Louise in turn. Eventually, Louise fights her fear for her mother and confronts her to stop interfering with her life. While at the pole, even though Louise is able to move tentatively, her vocals pose a challenge, but she later copes with it (Constantino, 2015). The role of West Side Story involved dancing and musicals. Maria is seen as a dancer and a singer at the same time. She is seen singing the songs such as American with great vocal control. Her moves while dancing are also well choreographed and she moves well to the tunes, which enables her to blend well with the other members of the Sharks. Her talent and determination in her role in the shark eventually leads her to become a very influential person in the group. At some point in the movie, it seems that she is destined to take over the group from its current leader, Jiff. Her talent is however drowned by her illicit affair with John, and she therefore clouds her influence in the Sharks gang. There is no way that the Shark members would make her their leader if she were in a relationship with a member of the rival gang. Personality Director Sidney Pollack, upon Natalie Wood’s death describes her as beautiful, underrated and having an odd combination of Aura and vulnerability. From the pressure she had from her mother when she was a child, she developed a vulnerable character in which she would depend on other people to take care of her welfare. She does not seem to have limits and boundaries. This is clearly depicted in her reckless love life where she dates her directors, co-actors, artists, and musicians. For example, she dates her co-actor while shooting the film splendor in the grass. In the movie, she dates James Dean (Dennis Hopper), and their love further flows out of their professional duties. She also dated her director Nickey Hilton, who was many years older than her but felt no remorse. This limitless kind of life is seen as a contributor to her immature death at the age of 43 years (Natalie Wood, 2015). Similarly, Louise’s personality seems a bit unrestricted and unguided. She does not seem to have set goals as to what she wants to do. She develops this kind of personality majorly because of her mother’s controlling nature. Her unguided behavior is seen when she picks up the job as a stripper even when it contravenes her morality and religion. However, the stripping job does her more good than harm as she gets more insight into life and becomes more goals oriented. She strives to be the best at her trade in pleasing her clients. Pleasing the clients entails perfecting her moves, which she does in time leaving her customers begging for more as per her mother’s advice. Maria on the other hand has a flamboyant enterprising person’s personality. When she comes to New York City, she is intent on capitalizing on what the city has to offer her. This leads her to her relationship with an ‘enemy’, which in turn paves a way for her destruction. She is also seen as ignorant as she thinks that falling in love dissolves erected social barriers to her benefit. She is also strong-willed and does not give in to all the pressure thrown to her by her friends and family. Looking into her story, it is evident that she can fight to the end to achieve whatever she deems important for her. She is also a passionate woman as she is able to sustain a romantic relationship with a single man who she truly loves and adores. She loves him to the extent of eloping with him to avoid the hurdles raised against her love with John. Rebellion Rebellion is a major character that guides the life of Natalie Wood. Natalie’s mother has imposed herself on her daughter’s life. This does not please Natalie since it forces her to work on films she did not like for example The Searchers where she acted as a white girl who was abducted by Native Americans and railed. Her mother’s restrictions also led her to hate any form of rules such as contracts and professional ethics. She therefore rebelled against this form of rules by dating fellow actors, director’s singers, and every other person she deemed necessary. This acted as a coping strategy for her to endure all that she felt denying her freedom. When she married Robert Wargner in 1957, she felt that the relationship was inhibiting her freedom and she divorced him in 1962. After her divorce, she stayed on for four years dating Warren Beatty until she felt that life was too much for her and attempted suicide with a drug overdose. Suicide was a way of rebelling against all that life expected from her. In 1969, she married Richard Gregson ,who was a writer and a producer. The two had a daughter together but Natalie divorced him in 1972 and remarried Wargner. She stayed with her husband until her death in 1981 when she had an accident aboard the splendor. It is believed that her rebellion led to her reckless behavior, which consequently led to her premature death. Her husband had a fight with her aboard the Splendor claiming that she was having an affair with her co-actor Christopher Walken. After the fight, she disappeared only to be found floating on the water lifeless (IDMb, 2015). Louise is also a rebellious character. Her life is unbearable because of her mother imposing herself on her every time. She wants the daughter to shine and make her famous. Louise is weighed down by her mother’s expectations to the extent of rebelling against her. She does not know how to effectively rebel against her mother. The opportunity with the stripper job presents her with the ideal opportunity to rebel. By taking up the job, she wants to annoy her mother, as she does not term it ethical to work as a stripper. This plan does not work because her mother, after seeing how she is good at the stripping adopts the idea wholeheartedly. Louise therefore decides to rebel against her mother by confronting her. She tells her mother that she has interfered in her life for so long and she needs t stop. After the confrontation, Louise’s mother realizes her past mistakes and they make peace with her daughter (Filmsite, 2015). John and Maria’s relationship in West Side Story is a rebellion in itself. The individual rules of the gang state that there should be no relationship, romantic or otherwise, with a rival gang. The Sharks (Whites) look upon the Jets (Puerto Ricans) while the Jets despise the Sharks for looking down upon them and seeing them as inferior. Every interaction between members of the two groups always ends up in war. It is therefore not tenable to have a relationship with any member of an opposing gang. The blame however is put solely on Maria because she has the power to turn down John. However, Maria decides that the love she has for John is more important than any relationship she has and is willing to do everything to ensure that the love remains. In rebellion, she continues to see John against her brother Bernado, her Friend Anita, her preferred suitor Chino’s warnings not to see him. She even plans to run away with John to a safe haven where all they will be free to live as they wished. Maria also feels that it is her obligation to ensure that the two groups solved their differences and uses John to implement her plan. The plan fails terribly, resulting to the death of Jets leader, her brother and later on the love of her life, John. She is therefore left distraught, as she has lost everything she cared about because of the rebellion (Movie mistakes, 2015). The comparison of the characters of Louise in Gypsy and Maria to that of Natalie Wood’s real life strikes many similarities. It is evident that her real life characters are represented in her professional roles. This shows that there is a close link between the characters assigned by the actor to his or her own life. When she was acting the films, Natalie was in her early twenties and her career was taking off. It is possible that she inherited her behavior from the roles, but some of these behaviors were in her even before she played out the characters. However, it is difficult to determine the exact relationship between Natalie’s real life behaviors and the characters she played out in both Gypsy and the West Side Story even though the behaviors are common in the three personalities. References Natalie Wood. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 07:10, Mar 17, 2015, from http://www.biography.com/people/natalie-wood-9536320. Constantino, F. (2014, January 23). Gypsy Rose Lee: Madame Rose Hovick : and Baby June. Retrieved from http://hubpages.com/hub/Gypsy-Rose-Lee-Madame-Rose-and-Baby-June Fandago. (2015). Gypsy (1962) Synopsis - Plot Summary - Fandango. Retrieved from http://www.fandango.com/gypsy1962_105073/plotsummary Filmsite. (2015). West Side Story (1961). Retrieved from http://www.filmsite.org/wests.html IMDb. (2015). Natalie Wood - Biography - IMDb. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000081/bio IMDb. (2015). Gypsy Rose Lee - Biography - IMDb. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0497346/bio Movie Mistakes. (2015). West Side Story plot summary. Retrieved from http://www.moviemistakes.com/film1594/plot The Hairpin. (2012, January 11). Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Unspoken Tragedy of Natalie Wood | The Hairpin. 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