West Side Story vs. Romeo and Juliet

West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet are basically two movies about star-crossed lovers from two different “families”. In the case of West Side Story, Maria is a young woman from a Puerto Rican family and has a brother in a gang called the Sharks. Tony is an American who has separated himself from his former gang, the Jets. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet comes from a royal family, the Capulets. Romeo comes from another royal family, the Montagues. These two stories have a basic thing in common---in West Side Story, the Sharks and the Jets hate each other; in Romeo and Juliet, the Capulets and the Montagues hate each other.

Romeo and Juliet takes place during the Renaissance era in Verona, Italy. The story starts with Romeo’s cousin, Benvolio, and Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, facing off against each other in a civil brawl. The police chief stops them and warns them that if they ever fight again, they will all be put to death. After the brawl, Benvolio tries to reassure his cousin, Romeo that Rosaline isn’t the only girl in the whole world. Later that night, Mercutio, Romeo’s friend, takes them to a party The Capulets are having. Tybalt sees Romeo and wants to kill him but Capulet, Juliet

West Side Story is a bit different, although based on Romeo and Juliet. It begins in the streets on the west side where the Jets, a gang of Americans, and the Sharks, a gang of Puerto Ricans, fight each other. The police chief comes down and tells the boys to play nice. He’s really quite racist and tells the Puerto Ricans the get lost. Back at an apartment, Anita, Bernardo’s girlfriend, and Maria, Bernardo’s sister, are busy getting ready for a dance that Bernardo is taking them to. Meanwhile, the leader of the Jets goes to see his friend, Tony, and asks him to come to a dance with them so they can settle the score with the Sharks. Tony says that it’s quite childish but ends up going anyway. There, he meets Maria and they talk a little until Bernardo cuts in and makes Chino take Maria home. A war council is established a few nights later and the Jets and the Sharks agree to fight each other at midnight the next night. Tony breaks in telling them to fight fair, meaning only to use their fists. They agree and Bernardo says he wants to fight Tony. Riff cuts in and tells Bernardo that Tony isn’t fighting. Tony goes to tell Maria about the fight and Maria tells him to stop the brawl. He agrees and the next night he goes to stop the fight. He finds Riff and Bernardo fighting with knives and tries to stop them. Bernardo kills Riff and Tony gets so mad that he kills Bernardo. Word of Bernardo’s death reaches Maria and Anita and they are both torn by news. Tony vis

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