#a lot of this is just me wanting bernardo and chino to be done well and respectfully

[svankmajerbaby]

ok i absolutely adored west side story, as i knew i would, but as much as i loved it (and its truly a net positive i think, like its mostly just really damn great) i do have a few tiny complaints i want to air because im annoying like that

good ole US perceptions of what latine is came back. now i dont know the ethnic makeup of puerto rico, but as far as i know, like most latinamerican countries, its probably pretty varied in skin colors. and i guess the movie did a pretty good job at that, with a generally good assortment of types in the crowd scenes, and with the casting of magnificent ariana debose as anita (who is almost invariably a darker-skinned woman than whoever is cast as maria, though this is basically a shitty detail that comes all the way from the beginning of the musical's roots. just to keep that in mind). it did become sort of amusing in a way when theres a good amount of background shark members who are pretty white, or at least "white-passing"... and of course rita moreno herself whos pretty white. theres this little moment in which anybody taunts a jet member for being italian, which like. he doesnt look at all different from either the jets Or the sharks. so its clearly not so much an issue of "race" (until it is, of course, when considering that the jets have nobody "less white" than an italian in their ranks while the sharks are a lot more varied) as a cultural one. not to say that the jets arent motivated by xenophobia and discrimination, because they obviously are. but its more like its once again an example of hollywood and US people in general not really getting that latine doesnt mean "brown", like officer krupke says at one point. then again, hes an asshole and an idiot (even if it was toned down a lot from the original 1961 movie), so it figures he wouldnt know the difference.

its obvious to me that spielberg loved this riff actor, mike faist. apparently everyone does and yknow??? i get it. shit, he was amazing and a delight to watch. his physicality, the way he carried himself, even his rather nasal voice somehow made up this character in such a realistic and interesting way. he was great in this, the best male actor in the movie by far. so my issue is... why oh why wasnt bernardo, my beloved, given as much care? i thought david alvarez, bernardos actor, was pretty good too -even though he was given a lot less of a chance to shine. alvarez is kind of the gene kelly to faists fred astaire, being this heavier, shorter guy who still has this massive energy and lightness to him, and especially at the gym dance scene it really showed how amazing he was. america was really ariana deboses number, and i sort of wish it was a bit more split between her and alvarez. apart from that, while alvarez was definitely better in all senses than the other bernardo actor from the 1961 movie, i feel like he was made all the more... unlikable? what with him being a lot more outwardly sexist and having these expectations for anita and maria to what they must do with their lives -anita to be a housewife and give him six kids, for maria to marry a nice puertorrican boy. and i knooow, theres this belief of a certain amount of traditional/conservative mindset expected of latino men, and the jets get a few moments in which they are shown as sexist pricks as well, especially in regards to anybody (my beloved), but its different with bernardo, in a way?? since hes supposed to be madly in love with anita (also boy these two had amazing chemistry) and i sort of hoped they would show how much they respected the other and felt comfortable with the other. i get that its for the end goal of making maria and anita more defiant and proactive by arguing with him and showing they dont take his shit, but like... i dont know. i always loved bernardo and thought he was the most interesting male character in the musical, as someone who both wanted to succeed and move upwards in society while also being homesick for puerto rico, in a way that maybe chino and anita dont quite get. if only there had been a scene between bernardo (also why did nobody call him nardo??? wheres the cute nickname??????????) and chino, talking about their relationship with being immigrants and their expectations of their lives in the US... i dont know, there ws so much untapped potential, and the fact that riff got the chance to be a deeper character and bernardo not, even being given the role of controlling patriarch in the anita-maria-bernardo household... feels not great. i wish kushner would have given my dude some more scenes to truly shine. the moment in which he taunts tony and claims he only wants to date "a brown girl" felt somehow both very in character and also extremely sexist for some reason. i mean, we dont know if hes wrong, but theres still something icky about it all. maybe im just exaggerating but i think its a shame, especially with how in the original 1961 movie bernardo is portrayed as much more level-headed and a more responsable leader to his community. i wanted more of him, generally, and i feel that especially when comparing his screentime to that of riff he really got the short end of the stick.

i love chino!!! so much!!!! and i adore how he was given this little moment in which he told bernardo that he wanted to join the sharks, that he wanted to defend his barrio from the jets. there was something really interesting in how he helped tony push up the gate to enter the rumble place, showing how he has... Had a certain code of ethics, knows the importance of mutual help, and that he wouldnt just fuck him up for being a jet, not at least until they all get in the rumble. and then theres the super cute moment in which he really wants to dance at the gym dance and does this silly little dance thats not half as showy as the one the other sharks are doing... its super sweet and how he actually does want maria to like him even if it seems like he doesnt actually "love" her and its doing it mostly out to please bernardo.... i loved that so much. and his actor (cant remember his name) was great. i love chino so so much and the first half of the movie was just. chefs kiss. each time he showed up i grinned. but then... when bernardo is killed, he kind of does a one-eighty?? like I Get it. they were best friends. chino wants to join the sharks and protect his community. he has a very rigid code of ethics and that probably means he believes in eye for an eye, so it makes sense for him to think, hey, this dude tony should totally get killed and pay for what he did to bernardo. but still... it felt weird?? like there was so little to suggest chino could really be able to go ahead and kill someone. i dont know if there was meant to be a scene in which this was meant to be tackled but was cut, but i really felt that his murderous side came kind of out of nowhere -or, if not nowhere, at least could have been given more room to develop.

lastly, i think this may make me seem crazy since its the accepted take by almost all critics it seems, but i thought *nsel *lgort was pretty damn spot on casting for tony. this comes from someone who finds tony bland at best, and annoying at most, and who Loathes that actor. but, like in baby driver, *lgort made him at Least understandable. its still a goddamn mystery what maria sees in him, but i guess thats one for the ages. the adding of that tiny tiny scene of maria and tony actually having!! a Date!!!! made wonders for me to actually grow to like him. hes still pretty entitled and more than a little bit of an ass, but actually taking maria out to a date, making an effort to learn spanish, having a conversation with her that isnt only declarations of endless love... it just helped me a lot to see them as actual kids in love instead of just romeo and juliet expys who are going through the motions. his development was pretty good, i think, and the adding of both him almost having killed someone else/going to juvie/that being the reason he split from the jets, and of him having valentina as this sort of maternal figure, and of the Cool scene being rewritten to be about him trying to get riff to "cool down" from engaging in the rumble... it was all just excellent, a reminder of how good tony kushner can be as a writer. it just made me a bit more bitter to compare all of this excellent development when compared to my favorites, bernardo and chino :(