Lehmann, Courtney. “Strictly Shakespeare? Dead Letters, Ghostly Fathers, and the Cultural Pathology of Authorship in Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet.” Shakespeare Quarterly 52.2 (2001): 189-221.Levenson, Jill L. "Romeo and Juliet before Shakespeare." Studies in Philology 81.3
(1984): 325-347.
Negron-Muntaner, Frances. “Feeling Pretty: West Side Story and Puerto Rican Identity Discourses.” Social Text 18.2 (2000): 83-107.
3 comments:
Filmmaker, writer, journalist, and cultural critic Frances Negron-Muntaner makes a strong argument for false representations of Puerto Rican-American life in her article titled “Feeling Pretty: West Side Story and Puerto Rican Identity Discourses.” Considering the fact that I am not yet familiar with West Side Story, and that I am not of Puerto Rican descent, I cannot decidedly agree or disagree with the criticisms which she presents in her work. However, a few close friends of mine have helped me to become accustomed to the Puerto Rican culture, so I will make my arguments according to their experiences and my personal beliefs.
In her article, Frances Negron-Muntaner claims that West Side Story contains “layers of deception, displacement, and uncertainty that constitute identity formation processes and cultural production” (par 10). An example of the delusion involved in the plot of West Side Story lies in the music. Negron-Muntaner writes, “the "Puerto Rican music" found in West Side Story is an American-made fusion of a wide range of rhythms with no discernible or specific national origin” (4). She also adds that Puerto Ricans in the play stereotypically sing and dance a lot, which cannot be representative of all Puerto Ricans. I agree with this argument because although as a whole culture, especially in Puerto Rico, Puerto Ricans do enjoy singing and dancing to music. But the point still holds true that not all Puerto Ricans do so, specifically Puerto Rican-Americans living in the United States. Another important argument which Negron-Muntaner makes concerns the multiple changes and revisions that the original West Side Story was submitted to in order to cater to typical Broadway and Hollywood audiences. Being enrolled in a media studies course at the moment, I am aware that innovative pieces often get modified before being presented to a particular audience, usually a white one. When taking into account the prices of seeing a Broadway musical or even watching a Hollywood film in a theater, it seems to me that the majority of the audience will usually be white people since they have the means to do so. A notable change occurred when the filmmakers decided that actual Puerto Ricans were not racially desirable enough to play the leading roles, and so cast white people to perform them instead. According to Negron-Muntaner, “The three most obvious signs of racialization efforts are the use of "brownface" for Bernardo, the always shifting, asinine accent deployed by most Puerto Rican characters, and the unnaturally blonde hair of the Jets. Without these three devices, most actors would simply look and sound like what they technically are: "Americans."” (19). As if physically altering the appearances of the white thespians was not enough, the actions and dialogue in the play support negative conceptions of Puerto Ricans, and minorities in general, in opposition to whites. To exemplify this, Negron-Muntaner claims, “…Maria only feels pretty when a white man, Tony, sees her. In other words, only the white man's attention allows Maria to become a subject, to be visible” (29). This situation, of minorities being invisible amongst the majority, can be seen everyday in real life. For example, consider blacks and middle easterners, who a significant amount of white people view mainly as criminals. The top stories on the news involving people of these races tend to be related to crime or terrorism. Most of the time, minorities only make the news when they have done wrong, and rarely when they have accomplished something positive and worth mentioning.
In “Feeling Pretty: West Side Story and Puerto Rican Identity Discourses,” Frances Negron-Muntaner argues that the film and musical versions of the original West Side Story have shifted to convey false realities regarding Puerto Rican-Americans. The Puerto Rican characters in the play reinforce stereotypical beliefs about Puerto Ricans, especially that they sing and dance all the time. West Side Story seems to create a misleading diversity due to the fact that although people of minority groups remain the main focus of the plot, the story appears to not really be about Puerto Ricans, especially because the lead characters get portrayed by white people. Negron-Muntaner sums up the deception involved in West Side Story well when she asserts that, “…it achieves a broad-based appeal by eluding authenticity, and instead making use of fantasy, make-up, and dance against the enduring conflictive sites of American identity formation: race, ethnicity, immigration, miscegenation, and desire” (58).
In the article Feeling Pretty: West Side Story and Puerto Rican Discourses by Frances Negron Muntaner, many sociological issues are discussed to make an argument. A reader can tell that the author is very knowledgeable and about this history and culture of the Puerto Rican people. Frances Negron Muntaner seeks different sources such as the highest paid Latina in show business, Jennifer Lopez to Variety magazine’s review of the play showing that West Side Story is not a story that is helping the Puerto Rican community but it actually undermines it.
In the article Feeling Pretty: West Side Story and Puerto Rican Discourses by Frances Negron Muntaner, many sociological issues are discussed to make an argument. A reader can tell that the author is very knowledgeable and about this history and culture of the Puerto Rican people. Frances Negron Muntaner seeks different sources such as the highest paid Latina in show business, Jennifer Lopez to Variety magazine’s review of the play showing that West Side Story is not a story that is helping the Puerto Rican community but it actually undermines it.
Frances Negron Muntaner argues the role the popular story and Broadway play West Side Story speaks volumes on what Hollywood, moreover America, think about the Puerto Rican people. He gripes about the common gang violence, poverty and police brutality that hinders the community being played out as something very casual. “Different from earlier films, West Side Story represented Puerto Ricans as part of the community and allowed them to be central in the narrative although dependent on the community of spectators the sharks are seen as antagonist victims or even heroes, hence it was not only a single Puerto Rican hailed as a single criminal, it was generalized “Puerto Rican youth.” At the same time, and perhaps, more important the Puerto Rican community is not hailed not only as criminal but also as racialized and colonized.” (4) Through this statement, it may become more apparent that this production has affected the identities of young Puerto Ricans in a negative way. This type of thought can lead to more segregation rather than reconciliation among neighboring communities. In short, the stereotypes that are used perpetuate negative feelings about this particular group.
Further, Muntaner looks into the history of productions that deal with race relations such as The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Gone With the Wind (1939). “… we can say that racial tropes not only fuel cinematic invention, but also synthesize national allegories of race relations. A superficial reading of West Side Story and The Birth of a Nation finds relevant commonalities in narrative strategies such as the use of “blackface/brownface”, as well as an antimiscongenation motif.” (6) Issues such as these are not taken lightly and it seems as if these themes that are real are being used to make money. Muntaner is also concerned with how this reflects the injustices of the Puerto Rican people living in Puerto Rico who are United States citizens but have no political representatives, citizens who have to abide by the law but have not rights of making the laws. The author makes a reader understand his argument of the disadvantages of using sociological themes to put a community down.
The author does a good job systematically attacking the main point of West Side Story. It does, however, make it difficult for a reader to fully be convinced if he or she is not familiar with the story. The author assumes that the reader is familiar with the story. Nevertheless, after reading this article, it will make an observer take a closer look of the references West Side Story makes.
Post a Comment