#west side story remake

[muckety-mucks-i-s-goin-delux]

Hi! I can try and break "Gee, Officer Krupke" down for you.

So basically, that song is the Jets' way of mocking and taking their anger out on the systems that are supposedly in place to help people like them, but don't ultimately do anything for them.

They're arrested by the police for doing something bad, then told by the court system that the reason they act this way is because of their upbringing, so they're sent to a therapist ("shrink"). The shrink tells them that they have a social disease (an outdated term used to describe anything from syphilis to hysteria) and sends them to a social worker, who tells them that they are just no good and should be back in jail, causing the cycle to repeat itself.

All of these systems and institutions are in place to help people like them but in the Jets' experience, all they've ever done is pass them along and make them someone else's problem.

Going back to the Jets' neglectful (and in some cases, abusive) home lives, a lot of the awful things they do aren't a result of them being evil, but because they weren't raised to know that these things are bad. They genuinely don't know right from wrong because no one ever told them.

i hope this helps, if even a little. There's so much more I could say. I think "Gee, Officer Krupke" is a brilliant piece of social commentary and personally, as a former "juvenile delinquent", I find it incredibly relatable.

Thank you lovely anon! I'm halfway there in terms of understanding!

[artist-issues]

When you remake something and make changes, you’re basically saying that you either want to say something different than what the original said because what it had to say was stupid—

—or what the original said wasn’t already said perfectly, and you could say it better.

I’ll give you an example. Donald Glover, who voiced Simba in the remake of the Lion King, openly said that the message of the new Lion King was different than the old one. And that’s easy to see. The old message was something like “Remember who you are: Don’t run from your responsibility.” The new message is “Don’t be ashamed of who you are.” They communicated that change with subtle smaller changes, because although most of that movie was a less appealing shot-for-shot remake, Simba said little things like “I’m not like you,” instead of saying, “I’m not who I used to be,” to Mufasa’s ghost. Or he replied to Scar’s bullying, “I’m nothing,” rather than the emphasis being placed on him insisting that he’s “not a murderer.”

That’s saying, “yeah the old message was great but we’re going to take the award-winning songs and characters and story and make it say something else.”

Which is like trying to use a recipe for brownies to describe your chicken salad. You might as well just make an original movie, so the characters and pacing and music all fit that message more appealingly.

Here’s a different example.

The new Live Action Little Mermaid has lots of thematic references to understanding and finding one’s own voice, which, on the surface, sound like they’re exactly what the original animated classic was saying.

But they make little changes, like having Ariel make the decision to go to the surface for the first time just before she meets Eric, or big changes, like having her be the one to kill Ursula. The problem is, both of those story elements in the first film were used to drive the main message home: “True love is understanding and sacrifice.” So when you change those elements, but claim you’re still saying the same thing, all you mean is “What you said was good, but watch me say it better.”

That would be fine, if it actually worked. But it doesn’t. The Lion King (2019) is worse than the original because it’s characters are bland and lean more toward annoying or weak than they did in the original, thanks to small changes. Now Simba doesn’t look like the irresponsible runaway who needs to remember that he’s the son of a king and has responsibility. Now he just looks like a sad boi with trauma. Now Ariel doesn’t look like a real, relatable teenager who recklessly goes for the things she’s passionate about. Now she just looks like every other near-perfect heroine who’s circumstances determine her struggles instead of her own character flaws determining her struggles.

I’m tired, but I’m appreciating the originals.

[grandesainz]

Rachel Zegler.

love her so much. she can sing anything and i’ll listen to it. and the acting i mean look at it

[faeriexqueen]

I don’t make a lot of opinion posts when it comes to Disney live-action remakes, but the hate Snow White is getting is really making me side-eye a lot of people. -____- I’m pretty sure I could do a whole dissertation on how Snow White (in the original 1930s animation) exhibits qualities of leadership, grace, kindness, perseverance, and a backbone despite what many try to say. But so many people seem to write her off as being uninteresting or not developed because she wanted true love and remained soft? Honestly, I feel like so many remakes (especially where princesses are involved) try to erase that softness where they can, working to give the princesses more developed personalities (but in turn erasing the grace that makes them princesses). I don’t know. If anything, it feels anti-feminist to me. There’s nothing wrong with being soft and pursuing love? That doesn’t negate strength, hardships faced, and even the more negative emotions they experience? The obsession with modernizing princesses to make them “palatable” to these weird, modernized takes that lack any nuance is...just really strange and feels like a major step back. (On a side note, this is probably why the only live-action remakes I’ve loved have been Cinderella and The Little Mermaid. I feel like those remakes thankfully kept the gentleness and romance while elevating it/expanding upon the story in a way that feels authentic to the original fairytales, and honestly, I really hope that’s what happens with Snow White. Mirror, Mirror and Snow White in the Huntsman back in 2012 were already attempts at a girlboss Snow White that frankly both entirely missed the mark for me, so I’m crossing my fingers that Disney tries something different.) Anyways, just some ramblings for the evening.

[stuckasmain]

Don’t know if I’ll ever watch the WSS remake, not just because I get a little worried over remakes but… why in every image are the Jets going around in grimy wife beaters? why are you in your undershirt?! Get dressed!!! Maria isn’t running around in her slip (or I hope not).

Idk I just… I’m a costuming and time period nitpicker. It really does not fit “1960s gang to me” like a white T-shirt(tucked in) yes- a tank top? No.

[revengedenial]

I need Spielberg to do a Sweeney Todd remake, cause that musical deserves a good adaptation - we know he can do horror and we know he can do musicals after West Side Story...

So where do we start a petition

[ffrannyglass]

Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert in the original Broadway production of West Side Story, 1957.

[maggiethecatchatterley]

❤️

[youngerfrankenstein]

I know it’s likely a minority of people but fuck. People acting like we should just, box up anything with unfortunate implications, or outdated stereotypes, or even things that were progressive for their time but look bad nowadays and just never speak of them again. Like what the hell is wrong with you?

Part of it is that it seems like people want progress to look completely linear and that we never had backslides or did really stupid shit. Part of it is the lack of acknowledging that yeah, actually times were different, and we can acknowledge stuff was bad while also seeing what it was like by the standards of its time. Part of it is just that those who forget the mistakes of the past tend to repeat them.

Hell we can also acknowledge that something may have been revolutionary in an artistic medium (like film) while also having awful stereotypes or messages in it. That’s still valuable.

There is still value in classic lit even as we (rightfully) attempt to expand the “classics” to include more diverse voices.

[pitch-and-moan]

West Side Story-ish

An AI-penned remake of the musical adaptation, but it's just tourist footage from a bus that makes a wrong turn and drives through the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

[muckety-mucks-i-s-goin-delux]

Ok Ben Cook terrorising other people with a song, gotcha

I don't know enough about west side story to understand all the references in regards to newsies and at this point I'm afraid to ask

[professionallydeadinside]

lava cherry steel lemon <3

The answer to the steel question is no btw I'm simply vibing <3

[jypsyvloggin]

Rachel Zegler: The New Face of Snow White

Rachel Zegler: The New Face of Snow White Rachel Zegler is making waves in the entertainment industry as she prepares to take on the iconic role of Snow White in the upcoming Disney live-action remake. Her casting has sparked both excitement and controversy, but there’s no denying that Zegler is a rising star with a bright future ahead. Who is Rachel Zegler? Zegler is a Colombian-American…

[lilnasxvevo]

I think I literally just found out for the first time that Mike Faist originated the role of Connor Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen. I don’t think I knew this before because I have aggressively avoided learning anything about DEH. But that would explain how he became famous enough to play Zendaya’s love interest(?) in a major movie in 2024.

[artist-issues]

I Hate How She Talks About Snow White

"People are making these jokes about ours being the PC Snow White, where it's like, yeah, it is − because it needed that. It's an 85-year-old cartoon, and our version is a refreshing story about a young woman who has a function beyond 'Someday My Prince Will Come. "

Let me tell you a little something's about that "85-year-old cartoon," miss Zegler.

It was the first-ever cel-animated feature-length full-color film. Ever. Ever. EVER. I'm worried that you're not hearing me. This movie was Disney inventing the modern animated film. Spirited Away, Into the Spider-Verse, Tangled, you don't get to have any of these without Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937.)

Speaking of what you wouldn't get without this movie, it includes anime as a genre. Not just in technique (because again, nobody animated more than shorts before this movie) but in style and story. Anime, as it is now, wouldn't exist without Osamu Tezuka, "The God of Manga," who wouldn't have pioneered anime storytelling in the 1940s without having watched and learned from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the 1930s. No "weeb" culture, no Princess Mononoke, no DragonBall Z, no My Hero Academia, no Demonslayer, and no Naruto without this "85-year-old cartoon."

It was praised, not just for its technical marvels, not just for its synchronized craft of sound and action, but primarily and enduringly because people felt like the characters were real. They felt more like they were watching something true to life than they did watching silent, live-action films with real actors and actresses. They couldn't believe that an animated character could make kids wet their pants as she flees, frightened, through the forest, or grown adults cry with grieving Dwarves. Consistently.

Walt Disney Studios was built on this movie. No no; you're not understanding me. Literally, the studio in Burbank, out of which has come legends of this craft of animated filmmaking, was literally built on the incredible, odds-defying, record-breaking profits of just Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, specifically.

Speaking of record-breaking profits, this movie is the highest-grossing animated film in history. Still. TO THIS DAY. And it was made during the Great Depression.

In fact, it made four times as much money than any other film, in any other genre, released during that time period. It was actually THE highest-grossing film of all time, in any genre, until nothing less than Gone With the Wind, herself, came along to take the throne.

It was the first-ever animated movie to be selected for the National Film Registry. Actually, it was one of the first movies, period, to ever go into the registry at all. You know what else is in the NFR? The original West Side Story, the remake of which is responsible for Rachel Ziegler's widespread fame.

Walt Disney sacrificed for this movie to be invented. Literally, he took out a mortgage on his house and screened the movie to banks for loans to finish paying for it, because everyone from the media to his own wife and brother told him he was crazy to make this movie. And you want to tell me it's just an 85-year-old cartoon that needs the most meaningless of updates, with your tender 8 years in the business?

Speaking of sacrifice, this movie employed over 750 people, and they worked immeasurable hours of overtime, and invented--literally invented--so many new techniques that are still used in filmmaking today, that Walt Disney, in a move that NO OTHER STUDIO IN HOLLYWOOD was doing in the 30's, put this in the opening credits: "My sincere appreciation to the members of my staff whose loyalty and creative endeavor made possible this production." Not the end credits, like movies love to do today as a virtue-signal. The opening credits.

It's legacy endures. Your little "85-year-old cartoon" sold more than 1 million DVD copies upon re-release. Just on its first day. The Beatles quoted Snow White in one of their songs. Legacy directors call it "the greatest film ever made." Everything from Rolling Stones to the American Film Institute call this move one of the most influential masterpieces of our culture. This movie doesn't need anything from anybody. This movie is a cultural juggernaut for America. It's a staple in the art of filmmaking--and art, in general. It is the foundation of the Walt Disney Company, of modern children's media in the West, and of modern adaptations of classical fairy tales in the West. When you think only in the base, low, mean terms of "race" and "progressivism" you start taking things that are actually worlds-away from being in your league to judge, and you relegate them to silly ignorant phrases like "85-year-old cartoon" to explain why what you're doing is somehow better.

Sit down and be humble. Who the heck are you?