Updating a Classic: Progressive Hollywood’s Take on West Side Story
Updating a Classic: Progressive Hollywood’s Take on West Side Story
Author(s): Veronica Tatiana PopescuSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Studies of Literature, Film / Cinema / Cinematography, American Literature
Published by: Editura Universităţii de Vest din Timişoara / Diacritic Timisoara
Keywords: authenticity; Latinx; representation; rewriting; Steven Spielberg; West Side Story;
Summary/Abstract: The paper addresses the paradoxes of Steven Spielberg’s and Tony Kushner’s West Side Story (2021), a film that reframes the story of the classic 1957 stage musical and, inevitably, its point of reference for the new film. After a brief discussion of the most problematic issues at the heart of the 1957 musical, the paper will analyse the 2021 West Side Story, challenging the rewriters’ claim that their intention was to provide the musical with a deeper significance and a more historically informed, ethnically sensitive, and progressive reimagining of the original.
Journal: B.A.S. British and American Studies
- Issue Year: 30/2024
- Issue No: 30
- Page Range: 125-134
- Page Count: 10
- Language: English
