As we prepare for our field trip to NYC, I've been hunting down my personal film archives for films set in NYC to watch in the afternoons (or on our creative Fridays) and today we watched West Side Story. Well.....almost all of it....**(see below)
Aside from incredible choreography and theatrics, there is a lot to be learned in this classic musical.....it's about cultural barriers/racial issues, the time period/history, sociology...you get it. We discussed these things throughout the film. Racial lines that society draws are thankfully less severe (at least in our corner of the world) but it's still there and we discuss it when a learning experience comes along......I saw this as a great opportunity, the issues between the white "Jets" and the Puerto Rican "Sharks"......
Tony and Maria's love story is tragic....and short lived. Boy, I love Natalie Wood. I believe I might need to find some non fiction books about her. What a gorgeous life ended too soon.....**(Gracie started crying a little during the rumble when Riff and Bernardo were stabbed and killed.....then she straightened up. But when Chino killed Tony, she started bawling, picked up the remote and swiftly turned the movie off! Such a tender heart.....maybe just a *tad* too tender.........) I wanted to sing to her....."Play it cool, Gracie-O".....but bit my tongue.
We shall try it again....when she is a little older.....
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