A modern look at Romeo and Juliet
It was well done, and we love the new inclusive flavor of people of color and women. Although, it’s still hugely a boys’ being boys stuff movie — but in dance moves. There is even a trans man.
But overall, the whole re-make feel was so much dirtier, and grittier. The whole West side of New York City seemed under siege by gentrification. This was marked by piles of dust and bricks. There were no trees to be found, and no green. Wrecking balls were always in motion, and all the ugliness is a metaphor for how we allow our short-term thinking and impulses to tragically overwhelm our better impulses.
After all, it is Romeo and Juliet. But, no where in the Bard’s version are we walloped up the side of the head with this gritty, city destruction.
Memory and grief
We noticed that the performance of “In America” no longer included “always the hurricanes blowing.” This was likely to be culturally sensitive, but isn’t there a point to be made more aware of concerning how our choices now affect living cultures during climate disruption — now more than ever?
In the quaint 1960’s, the police are not armed to the teeth. They do not perpetuate the violence-however ineffective they are at stopping it. There is definitely attention brought to their racism, and all of that is to be expected in this masterfully music-minded social critique.
When people think of social injustice these days, it is crucial to be reminded of climate injustice.
The weirdest thing of all is that when Rita Moreno sang “Somewhere.” Again, it was nice that she was included to replace the Doc role, but the only truly tear-jerking moment for me was when she sang “peace and quiet and open air…wait for us somewhere.”
This clutched at my heart like nothing else. Where on Earth can anyone, except the very rich, afford to live somewhere with clean, clear skies? Where is quiet? It’s not in any urban setting now. In the suburbs, and even rural areas, we have endless motor noise, traffic noise, lawn care noise, leaf blowers, generators, chain saws, construction, delivery trucks, even a shooting range where our former sanctuary was once.
These days quiet, and escape from foul air, is a tremendous luxury for the super-rich.
Of course, escape to peace and quiet in West Side Story was about escaping rash violence, impulsive passion, and finding belonging to the ultimate “in-group.” Nevertheless, it works very nicely as a metaphor to all of us, not just to escape the conflict and bustle of the big city, but to really contemplate what the whole world is losing: real quiet, real peace.
Reality bursts in and steals the scene
Recent IPCC reports warn us we have very little time to address the worst of what we have brought upon ourselves with fossil fuel emissions, and constant clearing and development of formerly balanced eco-systems.
Now, we face the possibility of turning a former cold war with Russia into a hot war that could easily envelop the globe. Like the last seventy years of cold war resource allocation, will we be better able to get off of oil for good, find international geo-political stability, collaboration, and green our Earth back to a beautiful “somewhere?”
It’s nostalgic to watch West Side Story in these circumstances, but also incredibly sad.
If there is a place for us, we have to find a “new way of living,” but we have to take as much time for us as we can get, and we are clearing running out.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
 White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism |
 Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box |
 The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer |
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Photo credit: Andre Benz on Unsplash
