COM 246
West Side Story Study Guide
West Side Story (1961)
Director: Jerome Robbins
Screenwriter: Ernest Lehman
Music: Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Choreography: Jerome Robbins
Released by United Artists
Historical Context
In
order to appreciate the film version of West Side Story it is important to understand a little about the
medium from which the film was adapted, the Broadway musical. The Broadway
musical is considered by some to be one of the great contributions of American
culture to the arts. Its historical predecessor would be considered the European operetta. Although
the musical's original contributors resided in England, the form rapidly evolved
through the works of people like Irving
Berlin, Jerome Kern, Lorenz Hart and
the duo of George and Ira Gershwin.
Perhaps the most well known pair of musical producers and songwriters were Rodgers
and Hammerstein. Some of their works included Oklahoma!, The King and I,and The Sound of Music (the film version of which was also directed by Robert Wise).
As far as popularity and commercial success were
concerned, especially in shifting the musical from the stage to film, there was
no more prolific team than the Freed
Unit, whose leader was Arthur
Freed. The Freed unit helped elevate MGM and the musical film genre to new
heights in what might be considered the heyday of musical films. Singin' in the Rain and The
Wizard of Oz were just a few
films to their credit in a streak that spanned over a decade.
West
Side Story
was originally conceived of by Robbins and Bernstein as a story depicting the
conflicts between an Italian-American Roman Catholic family and a Jewish
family. This story was to be a
modern musical version of Shakespeare's Romeo
and Juliet. The story in this version was thus
called East Side Story. After reading about the emerging phenomenon of juvenile
delinquent gangs and turf wars, Arthur Laurents, the
playwright for the stage version of West Side Story, felt that the story would have more brevity if it
focused on this current phenomenon. This resulted in a story about the gang
phenomenon in the context of ethnic tensions in New York City.
Narrative
Context
What
are some examples of the ways West Side Story parallels Shakespeare's Romeo
and Juliet?
What are some significant differences in these two stories and why are they
important?
How
are the dances in the film choreographed to help tell the story?
Aesthetic
Context
In
what technical ways do you think the film and the stage version of West Side
Story differ?
Even if you've never seen a live musical you can probably imagine the
limitations of the stage in comparison to the conventions of film.
What
information do the settings and costuming choices in West Side Story give you?
How
is the opening scene of the film shot? What is the purpose of this shot?
How does Wise use the camera and editing to determine the pace of the film? Wise got his start as an editor (he edited Citizen Kane for Orson Welles, for example). Do you see any signs in his directorial style of his editing background?
How does the film make use of color to help tell the story?
Aural
Context
How
does Leonard Bernstein's score (the non lyrical aspects) provide additional
exposition in the film?
Sociopolitical
Context
Immigration
and discrimination are major themes in this film. How do you think these themes
might have been dealt with had the film been made today? Which ethnic groups
might be represented now? Where might this story take place?
Rhetorical Context
In class we've talked about
the idea of code shifting, meaning that certain texts require the audience to
be able to recognize and decipher different codes in order to garner meaning
from the text. Do you think that musicals as a genre require the audience to
code shift? In what ways?
What meaning can be conveyed
through song and dance that may not be able to be conveyed through dialog
alone?
What ideological argument do
you think West Side Story is
making?