unforgettable.
Although the scene where Carreras is trained like a primary school student is old, it is still a classic after all. Take a look at
"West Side Story" can be said to be directly born out of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", but if it is just loyal to the original, mechanically remake, and put it on the screen, this film is nothing more than countless "Romi A drop in the ocean in the remake of "Ou and Juliet". There will be no legend of the 11 statuettes created after it.
For the remake of Shakespeare's classic, West Side Story can be said to have achieved two innovations. 1. It is the first time to interpret this classic tragedy in the form of a musical. This is a breakthrough in the film's performance techniques. And its achievements in music are beyond doubt. Numerous large and small film and television music awards have proved this point. It also won the Oscar's best music award, best sound effect award, and best art direction award in one fell swoop. Among them, "Maria" and "Tonight" are even more classics among the classics.
Secondly, what is more precious to me is the excavation of the depth of thought in the film, which is far more impressive to me than its breakthrough in artistic expression. Comparing the story creation backgrounds of "West Side Story" and "Romeo and Juliet", it is not difficult to find that both are in a period of social transformation, social thoughts are turbulent, and people's thinking and attention to social issues have been unprecedentedly strengthened. When Shakespeare wrote Luo, that is, during the Renaissance, the feudal society in Europe gradually disintegrated and the capitalist mode of production gradually emerged. The emerging capital class began to challenge the feudal aristocracy. This challenge extended from real life to ideology. field. Romeo and Juliet's "rebellious" love challenged the family interests under the feudal system, so they were not allowed by the two big families, but received the sympathy and support of the majority of society. This invisibly promotes humanism. In contrast, in the United States in the 1960s, with the arrival of the third wave of immigrants dominated by Latino immigrants, the immigration problem in the United States once again became one of the focal points of social conflicts. This group of Latino immigrants is restricted by their own cultural level and unique cultural genes, and it is difficult to integrate smoothly into the native American society. The cultural cohesion that the United States has always been proud of has been challenged unprecedentedly, which has caused the mainstream of the United States. Dissatisfaction and political policy restrictions. In the 1960s, the population of the United States grew and the gap between the rich and the poor widened, and the lives of native Americans became increasingly difficult. The contradiction between immigrants and natives is becoming more and more intensified, and it will be triggered at any moment. The living conditions of these disadvantaged people living at the bottom of society have attracted the attention of Hollywood filmmakers who have always been left-leaning. Ever since, Hollywood people once again "should be moral and righteous, and write articles with great writing".
At the beginning of the film, there is no rush to tell the story, but a continuous aerial shot. The skyscrapers in New York City in the shot are like primitive jungles made of steel and concrete, as if they are accusing the audience. Modern humans, like beasts, obey the law of the jungle, which seems to imply the ruthlessness of this city. At the same time, it also echoes the fierce battle between the two big gangs after the film because of the battle for territory and various contradictions. In addition, under the large-scale industrial production, human nature is no longer being paid attention to. The humanistic care in the past is absent. People are as small as grass and invisible, and they are all the products of large-scale industrialization.
There is no justice in the cruel world constructed and reflected in the film. The state violent agency that was supposed to uphold justice always seems to be absent. The state apparatus represented by police officers always arrives late after conflicts or turns a deaf ear to the immediate conflicts that are happening in front of them. There is no difference between such a society and the clump, and people have returned to the natural state that Hobbes said. As a result, strength has become the only criterion for judging right and wrong, and violence has become the most effective way to solve problems. It is under these circumstances that the violent crime and gang culture on the streets of New York has intensified. After the heroines and heroines sang "tonight" affectionately, and people were still immersed in silent and tenderness, the director turned his pen, and the gangsters of the Rocket Gang gathered in the picture to mock doctors and lawyers. Representing the hypocrisy and moral integrity of the middle class, these people claim to pay attention to the disadvantaged and never take actual actions. It is they who despise these people living at the bottom of society as social cancer cells and dislike them. The film ruthlessly exposes this fact from the perspective of a small gangster, and sings the endless warmth of human love in the world while laughing and cursing. The audience couldn't help feeling a bit of bitterness and helplessness after a knowing smile.
The final duel between the Shark Gang and the Rocket Gang chose to take place under a bridge. The large red steel bridge above the head renders the film's dangerous and tense atmosphere. The duel between the two gangs is on the verge, and bloodshed seems inevitable. Sure enough, the leaders of the two gangs died one after another because of the hero, and blood was splashed on the spot. For a while, everyone was at a loss. At this time, the alarm sounded loudly, and the small gangsters climbed over the barbed wire fence, drilled into the underground pipe and scattered around, like cockroaches or mice that had seen the light. The film uses audiovisual language to vividly remind the audience of their social class, reminding the audience that in a society that looks beautiful and bright but cruel and dirty in their eyes, there are a large group of people similar to them in the dark corners of the city in order to survive. Ants generally struggle to survive.
At the same time, when people's normal social needs cannot be met in real life, humans will naturally seek religious comfort. The appearance of the heroine of the film is often accompanied by religious elements. She is obviously a devout Catholic. She enshrines the Virgin Mary in her bedroom. Whenever she encounters difficulties and doubts, she prays to the Virgin Mary and asks for help. When the sun shines into her bedroom through the colorful flower windows, and sprinkles on the heroine, she is like a fairy who can't eat fireworks, and has received divine protection and blessing. In the tailor's shop, the hero and heroine couldn't help but imitate their wedding when their love was strong. At this time, the skylight set with the cross above cast a golden beam of light, covering both of them. For a while, the two of them seemed to have received blessings from God, and all the disturbances in the world were far away from them, and the difficult differences between the two big gangs could not stop them.
As a musical, the smoothness of the film's lens is undoubtedly very important. At this point, "West Side Story" was very successful. This success is not only due to the profound skill of the film’s choreography, but also the organic integration of dance performance into real life, and the dance of the action in life. For example, at the beginning, the Rocket Gang and the Shark Gang moved from the basketball court to the street in a tense confrontation. The whole process was done in one go, without any pretentious or unnatural feeling. In addition, the sense of fluency also comes from the successful editing techniques and the ingenious editing point design. The film makes extensive use of dynamic editing of similar actions, smoothly forming a chapter, and does not give the audience a sense of abruptness in terms of psychology and physiology (visual). This is not only the minimum requirement for a musical, but also one of the highest standards for evaluating the success of a musical.
The last thing to mention is that the audiovisual language of the film is obviously out of date. The protagonist is highlighted through the obvious blurring of the supporting roles, and the two primary colors of red and blue are used with strong contrast (the color light source with high purity comes from the flower window, which is reasonable) To reflect the inner suffering of the heroes and heroines and to imply their yin and yang separation... These methods are no longer popular in the current Hollywood blockbusters or are directly eliminated, but in the film they appear simple and straightforward, in line with the Americans of that era. The style of the times conforms to the national character of Puerto Rico. In short, it is reasonable and uniquely "ingenious".
"West Side Story" is generally a classic work worth seeing. Shakespeare said in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that "the best drama is just a microcosm of life", and a good film should be a microcosm of an era, "West Side Story" is such a movie, in which I saw the 60s Of the United States.
Teacher Golden Bridge, this is my homework, don’t get me wrong~
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