Backing up a Couple Weeks

I wanted to go back a couple of weeks and write about West Side Story because I was I was disappointed that I missed that class. When we watched Romeo and Juliet I had pretty strong feelings about my dislike for the movie, and how I felt like taking the play and moving it to a modern setting distorted the story too much for my liking.

West Side Story however, has always been one of my favorite musicals, and I really like the story. I think it has to do with the fact that the movie took the story of Romeo and Juliet and adapted it to fit a modern setting, not just by reciting the play over. I actually felt that I got more from the story watching the musical than I did from watching the movie.

There were certain parts of West Side Story that stuck out to me this time because it reflected ideas of the play more then I had noticed before.

The moment that stuck out to me was the song Officer Krupke. I think this scene shows the mockery that the young men have for authority, and the disrespect they have for the law even if they are a little foolish about it.

The second moment is the war meeting between the Sharks and the Jets at Docs. This is similar to the idea that they are making a mockery out of the law system shown by them pretending to get along, but what really is striking to me about this scene is how easy it looks for them all to get along. They are in this battle with each other, but in a strange way protective of each other against the law.

Lastly is the image after Bernardo kills Riff. The shock that he actually has taken his life is upsetting. He reminds me of Tybalt killing Mercutio. It looks like he never believes that their action would have gone that far, and everything before was just talk.

All the images were from West Side Story

Teen Love, Romeo+Juliet and the King Killer Chronicles

This is just a small random post. I am posting it here instead of in the Fandom journal, because it relates to our class discussion, and is more my thoughts than actions of the Fandom.

One aspect in our talk about Romeo and Juliet that I found interesting was the talk about them being teens. Many seemed to agree their love felt rushed, but that was somewhat acceptable because they were teenagers. Whether you agreed with whether their love was true, or would have faded away with time, The story itself doesn't seem to be hurt by it. You don't hear a lot of complaints that it is unrealistic, and it ruins the story because of it. In short, the rushed love affair seemed to be accepted because the individuals (Romeo and Juliet) were teenagers.

I find this interesting because in my fandom, the exact opposite is true. The main male and female characters  (Kvothe and Denna respectively) are obviously very interested in each other. For Kvothe, it is obvious because we have his perspective and  Denna has hinted, flirted, and in one case (while drugged admittedly) flat out said she liked Kvothe. And yet neither character has had the nerve to make a serious move. This has lead to some hatred or annoyance at  one or both of the characters but a lot of people seem to accept and even empathize with their relationship, because they are teenagers. You will hear comments like, well they're teenagers of course they're going to be shy.

I find it really interesting that both being really impulsive and being extremely cautious in a relationship can be related with the same, oh well they're teenagers. To be honest it sounds accurate to me, it was just something I found funny, and while seemingly paradoxical, accurate.

West Side Story and Warm Bodies

I had seen West Side Story a long time ago so I had almost no memory of it so I went in mostly fresh. I had heard it was good and after watching it I have to agree. It was a really good movie. It was also amusing hearing songs that I had heard before and finding out they're from this movie. But it left me with two big thoughts. Firstly Baz Lurhmann's felt a bit inspired by West Side Story, especially the opening sequence of his movie.

The Other interesting aspect for me was the changes that were made. One specific change seemed so small, but on reflection, has such a large impact on the meaning of the story. And that change, was the removal of parents. In West Side Story (WSS) the only real parental figures we see are Doc, and the police. And none of them are treated with any respect by the gangs.. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, much of the blame lies on the adults who did nothing to actually prevent the violence between their households from taking place. There was a lot of responsibility placed on them to uphold the peace and their failure to do so, caused the deaths to occur. But by removing those authority figures the blame for the deaths shifts from them to the gangs. They made the choice to pick fights and while death was never actually intended, they are the only ones are responsible for it. They lose any opportunity to hide behind the fact that it was their house's or families feud and have to accept that they were responsible for the deaths. It creates a very different dynamic because in Romeo and Juliet, the blame was on their parents for not ending the feud, and much of the tragedy lies in the fact that if the parents had ended their feud the violence could have been avoided. But in WSS the blame lies, if on any outside force, society itself. It creates a dynamic where those responsible (the gangs) seemed to have no power over what actually occurred. This makes the violence seem more inevitable, and in that light, makes the deaths more tragic.




Now on to Warm Bodies. Honestly, went in to it extremely skeptical. It did not seem like the sort of movie I would like. By the end I... I.... I didn't hate it. For the most part, while finding corny I enjoyed it. The main character was interesting as his zombie friend had some hilarious lines. However the main female lead, while attractive, I hated. Alright to be honest, I had been listening to the unabridged audio recording of World War Z (which is completely amazing and I highly recommend) and that work is a lot more serious and more recognizes hard choices have to be made sometimes. Which is why I absolutely despised the girl. She whines about her dad killing zombies, things that had been willing to kill everyone. She whines about getting medicine and worrying about the safety of the community. She whines about having to be checked for infection after she was out in zombie infested territory. She comes off as an obnoxious bratty character and considering this is supposed to be based off Romeo and Juliet the fact she didn't die is extremely disappointing.

Speaking of it being based off of Romeo and Juliet, I can kind of see it. Honestly if it was not for the balcony scene I probably would disagree. Right now, I honestly stuck with whether the balcony scene (and some of the other events) make this movie based partly of Romeo and Juliet or whether just the balcony scene was an homage to Romeo and Juliet and the rest was just a romance.

Romeo and Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss

Wow, I have never regretted anything more than my decision to watch this movie. It...It hurts us. THE SEAL THAT IS MERCUTIO ONLY SPEAKS IN FAMOUS SHAKESPEARE LINES. IT BUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNS

This is Mercutio riding on Benvolio and they speak the most lines in the beginning and it is a mixture of bastardized Shakespearean lines and current lingo. And there is DO-WOP SINGING
"PARTYING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW" THAT IS A SENTENCE IN THIS MOVIE.

So, strangely enough this movie keeps some of the actual dialogue from the play. It is really upsetting more than anything because it alters the line just enough to slip a seal pun.

So, I didn't watch the movie in its entirety, I skipped to the end where they seem to kill off Romeo and Juliet but then Mercutio surfs in and yells at them to wake up. And they do. And then I want to knife myself in the eyeball.

But I do think that it is interesting that it was made with the intention of entertaining children. Romeo and Juliet is not a story I would imagine children enjoying. I mean, I know that children are filled to the brim with blood lust but most people ignore this about children.

We did talk about this in class about how there is an appeal for that child like impulsiveness. The way teenagers and kids just do things without consequence is something adults wish they could still do in the real world.

Sooo, if you hated Romeo + Juliet then you should totally watch Romeo and Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss. It will change your whole perspective on what is bad about the varied versions of this story. This one isn't even good/bad. It is just the worst.

Romeo + Juliet: The Ultimate in Forbidden Romances

I, like many people, have always been of the mind that Romeo and Juliet were children who made a rash decision that ended in death based on hormones and that they really didn’t know what love is and couldn’t possible have loved each other. After reading last class, I’m not sure. Who is to say they didn’t really love each other and that they wouldn’t have been happy ever after? Maybe they didn’t. Maybe the really believed that they were in love. But, maybe they were. I think I’ve become a little bit cynical about this kind of stuff, especially in teenagers. I remember when I was 13 how I felt. I had crushes. I was totally enamored with a boy or two when I was in middle school. I wouldn’t have killed myself for any of them, but I remember how I felt. So, it’s entirely possible that Romeo and Juliet would have quickly moved on, as Romeo did with Rosaline. But, maybe not. Maybe we don’t give them enough credit. I mean, look at these faces: 

(I pulled these from Google. I take no credit for these sad gifs)

Maybe they were in love. And I think that’s why Romeo and Juliet has lasted so long and is such a common first exposure to Shakespeare. It has everything: romance, fighting, angst. Some people are totally on Romeo and Juliet’s side (even though it was, what? three days that they knew each other?), and others think they’re stupid children. And, I think, that because there is a chance to have different opinions on it, it’s successful. When I was 14 or 15, I met this guy on a missions trip. I knew him for three days. And I was totally head over heels. I cried when we left. We kept in touch. He was my “boyfriend” long distance for like two months —no need to expand on how that turned out — but I really liked him! I barely knew him. So, I’m not totally surprised that Romeo and Juliet would have felt in love and wanted to get married. I did not want to marry this boy that I had just met. Don’t worry. But, I guess I kind of see where they were coming from. Who is to say they weren’t in love? 

Romeo and Juliet is a forbidden romance, and that has appeal too. Keeping things like relationships a secret makes it that much more intense. It’s a fairly common occurrence in fiction, the more that I think about it. Experiencing Romeo and Juliet at 21 has definitely been different than when I was 13 or 14, and I am so glad that we did. It makes a lot more sense now. I wasn’t one of those girls who thought it was an epic love story that I wanted to play out in my own life. I see things online of people wanting to find their “Romeo” and there are always comments about how that’s not really a good thing. I thought they were really stupid for killing themselves, and I still do, but I didn’t think the entire thing was ridiculous either. 

Romeo and Juliet will probably continue to be one of the most famous love stories ever written.

"Please Hate the Players, Don't Hate the Game": Romeo and Juliet

Now, no one is more of a skeptic than me, especially in the case of a barely teenage girl and a boy of some indeterminate age but who's definitely not old, get together and think that the Sun, Moon and Stars were hung in honor of their undying love for one another

That is all that needs to be said about that.

One second read however, a lot of more of the subtlety and language comes through. You realize that yes, this may well be the origin of the "Love at first sight" cliche but that does not make what is being said less valid, only the figures themselves and their desire to be together without any thought toward long-term goals or the family feud that's been waging for however many years.

"Hate the player, not the game." This reversal of the adage makes sense in their context because Romeo and Juliet, along with Mercutio, Tybalt and all the other bastards are merely players on a stage, taking part in Shakespeare's epic game.

What is his game exactly? Why, to show the mercurial nature of teen hearts? To ultimately punish and therefore train the Montague's and Capulet's for their misdeed? To send a message to parents of the time: keep a close eye on your kids?

I have no idea what the central idea of this play is. It offers the reader a look at decision making and cause and effect outcomes in a visceral and poisonous way. It develops the idea of history and the importance of knowing where you came from but also that evolution of thoughts and ideas is necessary for survival. It's a satirical commentary on the state of relationships and arranged marriages of the era.

Whatever it is that is occurring behind the scenes in Shakespeare's mind, we all have to keep in mind that although we are sick of Romeo and Juliet and their thousands of reincarnations, someone somewhere made the unwise decision to keep these things in circulation so let's learn from them what we can so we can finally put them to rest.

I really loved Romeo + Juliet???

All my life I have absolutely hated Romeo and Juliet. I thought it was overrated and the characters irrational. (To be fair, they are irrational. They are teenagers who got married within a week of meeting and caused how many deaths?)

But as I reread it for this class, I decided to put aside my cynical side and try to enjoy it. I did find that this worked somewhat. I definitely had more of an appreciation for the writing, though I still found Romeo and Juliet to be irrational and silly.

But when it came to the movie? I’M ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE. It’s over the top, overdramatic, but it doesn’t make the scenes with Romeo and Juliet over the top, which I thought balanced out the drama and saved it from being cheesy. I LOVED Mercutio (perhaps with a little bias: Harold Perrineau was in Lost, which is my favorite show ever.) I thought he was just brilliant and by far the best part of the movie. I enjoyed seeing Paul Rudd (eye candy is always nice) and I thought Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes were amazing. Like I said, their scenes balanced out the overdramatic scenes with the family war. I thought that they brought youthfulness to the story that made it easier to enjoy. Instead of spending the whole time thinking about how irrational Romeo and Juliet were, I got drawn into the story and found myself responding emotionally to it (this is code for: I cried like a baby at the end.)

Luhrmanns’ decisions throughout the movie regarding the screenplay, the directing, and the staging of each scene were phenomenal. I felt like this story translated very well to a modern day setting. The only thing I had a hard time believing were the political aspects (if it was modern day, so many of these characters would have been arrested multiple times) but I was willing to let those things slide.

I’m feeling pressure to end this with a picture, so here’s a picture of my man, ultra-babe Mercutio.

Romeo and Juliet is Insane

My first reaction to watching Romeo and Juliet (the one with DiCaprio) was, holy @#$! this is crazy. There is no subtlety, no restraint. And... on thinking about it, that was really appropriate. I mean, yes this goes more crazy than Shakespeare certainly intended, cross dressing Mercutio being one obvious example, I feel that it worked. Not in a serious light in any way, but it seemed to have fun going completely crazy and I did enjoy a bit of it. At least I enjoyed the first half of it.
The second half was where it went downhill for me. The first half was so over the top, it seemed almost a parody, for it then to go more serious seemed dumb. To have a gun fight with a freaking gas station exploding and then for me to be worried about a character being wounded? A GAS STATION BLEW UP. YOU ARE HAVING GUN DANCES. YOU CANNOT EXPECT ME TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY.

And before you give the argument that the same happened in Shakespeare. NO. In Shakespeare it works because having a happier beginning only serves to more starkly contrast the tragedy that would follow, AND the beginning, while more jovial, was still tense and somewhat serious. Yes, there was good times had by Romeo and company, but that was intended to make us like and care for the characters in the play. So when they actually die, we care.
If you're going to go insane, go fully insane. Make it all a joke. But by having the giant contrast between the first and second half, and not doing it in a deliberate and skilled way, it weakens the movie, putting it somewhere between a parody and a serious take.
(An example of a hilarious parody of Romeo and Juliet[and Shakespeare in general] is this The Complete Works of Shakespeare(Abridged):Romeo and Juliet )

As for the update to modern times, or any other times that was not intended in Shakespeare, It can work. One amazing example of a change  that looked really cool was this interpretation of Julius Shakespeare that used African Americans for Romans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q7apiYunEU
I feel that what makes Shakespeare, Shakespeare is the language. If you can make his writing sound natural I feel that you can make any Shakespeare play work. The imagery, the characters, heck even the plot can be changed(as the Abridged Shakespeare proves), but the language is the most important for maintaining the identity. The language isn't everything though. While I feel it is important, and the most signifying part of a Shakespeare play, the play is still made up of the acting, props, costumes, the stage. While changes can be made, they need to be made in way that maintains some sort of internal consistency and logic, as well as working.

And finally, and on a slightly less relevant note, I love the beginning scene of Romeo and Juliet, Do you bite your thumb at me Sir?