815 Discussion discussion

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Write a MINIMUM of one paragraph for each of the following questions:

1.) Despite all of the singing and dancing, is there any realism (it could really happen?) in this film? Explain using answers from the film.

2.) Can you relate to any of the conflicts in this film?
-growing apart from friends
-defending honor
-racism
-unfair judgments
-acting out of fear and/or arrogance

I didn't miss Goodreads. Anyway, West Side Story was all about singing, dancing, and about two gangs fighting each other. There are parts in the story that can really happen. The gangs will fight until somebody gives up. For example, "The Outsiders" was about two gangs, Socs and Greasers. If a Soc ever find a greaser they'll go and start a fight with them. Remember when Johnny killed Bob because Bob was trying to kill Ponyboy. The Socs got really mad at them which caused the rumble. In West Side Story, the rumble started because the Puerto Ricans were trying to take over the Jets territory. Another example, is that people who are different from others doesn't receive the same respect as them. Before, black people would be treated differently because of there color skin. The sharks who were Puerto Rican were treated differently by the Sharks who were white.

In the movie West Side Story there was a lot of singing and dancing but there was also realism in the movie. One example of realism that was shown was resistism. The Shark and the Jets are both resist towards each other. The white Jets did not like the puerto rican Sharks. And also the other way around. A situation like in the movie can really happen in real life. It happens a lot when 2 people from different races fall in love and their parents don't approve it. Just like Tony and Maria.

I can defiantly relate to unfair judgments. A lot of old people hate teenagers. Sometimes while me and my friends are outside random people would come up to us and try to offend us by saying we are stupid and annoying. Also racism the old people think that all teenagers are bad kids who rob stores and carry around guns but a lot of teenagers do not.

I think there could be realism in West Side Story, despite all the singing and dancing. For example, the Jets and the Sharks were both gangs. There are gangs in real life, just like in the movie. The relationships are also realistic. Tony and Maria fell in love, but their love wasn't accepted by the others in both of their gangs because they weren't the same "kind." That happens in real life all the time. People 's family and friend don't accept the person they love because of all kinds of things, like they are different religions or have different nationalities or are even in different gangs. That's what makes West Side Story realistic.

I can relate to some conflicts in this film. I can relate to growing apart from friends. I mean, can't everyone relate to that? Sometimes, I kind of just watch my friendship with someone fade away. It hurts, but I can relate. I can also relate to unfair judgements. Not me specifically, but people judge people a lot because of appearance or religion. Everyone is equal. Racism is completely redicious, people purely judge people's character on the colour of their skin.

In the movie "West Side Story" i think that there is realism in it. I think that everything in this movie could happen in reality because nothing is impossible. For instance Chino had gotten mad because he had found out the relationship between Maria and Tony and so he shot Tony. In reality things like that could happen as well, for instance in 2008 Jennifer Hudson's ex-brother in law had shot Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew because he was upset with the fact that his ex was dating a new guy.

I can relate to the growing apart from friends. I can relate to this topic because i myself have grew apart from friends over the years. Whether it's because of the changing of classes, change in schools and or the fact that people change over time. I can also relate to unfair judgments or racism because people are judged by their race, color, and their status in clothes or money. I find that it's unfair to be judged like that because you aren't being judged by who you are yourself but by what you are born as and that is definitely unfair way to judge people.

I can relate to the conflict of growing apart from my friends in the film West Side Story. When Tony and Riff grew apart from each other because they both moved to a different part of their lives, I thought about a certain friendship I had with one of my best friends (who I won't mention the name of). This person was particularly important to me when I was younger because this person understood me and supported me throughout everything I went through. We grew apart because we were destined to go forward with both of our lives, just like Tony and Riff. I regret growing apart form this person because this person meant so much to me, just like Tony and Riff meant so much to each other when they were younger. Hence, I can relate to the conflict of growing apart from my friends in the film West Side Story.

Despite all the singing and dancing I think there was realism in West Side Story because there was a lot of racism. For example the Jets fought with the Sharks just because they did not like that they were puerto rican. If the Sharks were not puerto rican the two gangs never would have fought with each other to begin with. Another reason why I think the film had realism in it is because people do things without thinking in real life and then regret it. For example, when they shot Tony at the end they regretted it.

I can relate to growing apart from friends and unfair judgments. I have grown apart from many friends because they either made new friends, forgot about me, or we stopped talking. I can relate to unfair judgments because people all the time judge you unfairly.

In the movie west side story there was realism and then again there wasn't really realism. There was realism because there could be two different gangs of different races that are fighting over territories. There also could be a girl from one gang and a boy from another who fall in love and their relationship is shunned by the members of both gangs. Now the reason it wouldn't really be realism is because of the time frame. Two people can't say the are in love, want to run away with each other and thinking over marriage in a matter of a couple of days. It is not realistic for all of this to happen in a short period of time.

Then I can relate to the movie a little bit about making unfair judgements. My parents always got me what I wanted and bought me everything I asked for. People would say I was a spoiled brat because I have a lot of shoes and clothes and electronics but the people that was saying that stuff didn't even know me. I got everything I have because I earned it and deserved it. This is just like the situation with Tony. The sharks didn't like Tony just because he was a jet but the sharks didn't know him and made an unfair judgement about him. Just because he was a jet they feel he is a bad and terrible person.

With all of the singing and the dancing, I could find some realism in it(note:I found the singing and dancing annoying except the end when Maria sang to Tony's death, that was beautiful). Any way all of these gang wars and forbidden love happens all the time in the world. I mean in New York City there are definitively gang wars that are even taking place right now. Plus, some people like in other countries are forbidden to love someone else and must love or marry someone that the parents choose. Like in the movie, when Fernando(I think that was the Shark's gang leader's name) told Maria that when she grew older she was to marry Chino. Regarding how the gang members started saying that they where misunderstood, well many people are misunderstood. plus they where not raised properly, which is why they got themselves in that situation.

Well obviously there is racism in the world. I mean how many times do you see black people or Hispanics getting blamed for being criminals or like Mexicans being border hoppers or taco eaters I mean racism is still alive. Then another topic is fighting for honor. Well most people fight for dignity, they fight so that way people don't "step all over them" in a sense that people might think they are weak so they take advantage of them. Which is probably why most people fight, so that people don't call them weaklings. I mean everyone in the world experiences that, no matter who you are, you do things because you wanna prove to someone that your capable of something.

I believe that this situation that the sharks and jets find themselves in, is not only possible, but has happened many times. The unfortunate truth is, there are turf wars all the time. In the middle east, there are wars fought for decades all about who gets what turf and who wants more, etc.

I can connect to unfair judgements because I, as well as almost everyone in the universe makes judgements based on peoples physical characteristics and not on their personalities. In West Side Story, the P.R.'s are judged by not only the Jets but by the police officers too. The police officers even offered to help the Jets get the Sharks off the streets.

I think there is realism in West Side Story. Of course the first thing is obviously racism. Why would you hear a lot of people shooting another person because of their race? Of course there are different gangs around the states. The only thing I'm not so sure that is realistic if gangs have rumbles, it is either happening but it doesn't show up on the news or just added to the plot. I guess it could supposedly happen. Another thing realistic is Tony and Maria's love for each other. The only thing unreal is love at first sight when they see each other at the dance floor.

I can relate to unfair judgments as far as the way people view people with special needs. For me I have a brother with special needs and I understand why some kids could get impatient with them or get frustrated. However, just because they have special needs that doesn't mean that you can't be their friend. It is not fair how people can't view everyone else as a person just like them with feelings that they can get hurt and also somebody in a need of a friend. We all can use a real friend. I am happy to be anybody's friend and I'm happy to have friends that have special needs because it shows me that they are actually really nice once you get to know them. They also help me to develop more of my other qualities like patience, understanding, and kindness that I think that are very important for the rest of my life.

I think that there is realism in the film because of the racism. Tony and Maria were in different gangs/different race. The gangs hated each other and because of that, Maria and Tony's love wasn't accepted. Things like this also happens in real life. For example, people might hate other people because they are a different race or because they aren't rich. I can relate to some of the conflicts in this film. I have grown apart from some of my friends from my old school. I miss them because we shared some deep memories. I can also relate to unfair judgments and racism. Some people judge people by their skin color or how they dress and automatically think they are weird or crazy.

I think that though there is a lot of singing and dancing in the movie, there is a lot of realism too. One example is the gang violence. In today's society, there is a lot of gang violence that ends in sad, pointless death over territory, drugs, girls, etc. In West Side Story, the Jets and Sharks fight over territory and girls. That is one example of realism in the movie. I can also relate to one of the topics in the movie: growing apart from friends. In the story, Riff and Tony grow apart because Tony would rather be working than hanging with the Jets. In my life, I've grown apart from friends because they'd rather hang out with girls and "cool kids" over their real friends. Those are to examples of realism in the movie West Side Story.

I think that there is realism in West Side Story. I think that the realism in the movie comes from the racism in the movie and the events that took place. There was racism between the Jets and the Sharks. The Sharks were Puerto Ricans and the Jets were from families that had immigrated to America years before. The Jets' families had assimilated into American life and they considered themselves American. The Jets did not like the immigrants from Puerto Rico, forgetting that their families were immigrants once too. The Jets made fun of the Sharks for being Puerto Rican a lot. I think that the gangs are also realistic. Whether you want to believe it or not there are gangs in life and so the fights between the gangs are also realistic.

I can relate this to things in real life such as the gang fighting. There is a lot of that in the world and they get into fights and that is a conflict that exists in the world. Another one of the conflicts I can relate to in real life is the liking of someone from another side. Sometimes a person in one group become friends with somebody from another group. This can cause conflict as it did in the movie

Despite the singing and the dancing in the movie: West Side Story, there is indeed some realism in the movie. There is of course gang activity in poor areas of the world, and there are many real issues that were shown in the movie such as racism, which still occurs to this day. The way the kids were dressed was also an accurate depiction, as well as the New York City backdrop, which can still be used today.

Some of the issues in this movie have happened to me. For example, I have lost my connection with some friends over the years, and yearn for their friendship again. This is like Riff's yearning for connection from his old pal Tony, who has tried to conform to a more legal life style. I do have friends who are of different races, and different religions, so I do not feel as racist as many are in the world. I connect with the movie because I feel as if I am in a gang myself, with the equal shares of poor choices, but the unequal shares of singing songs and dancing.

I think there is realism in West Side Story, despite all the singing and dancing. For example, the Jets and the Sharks were both gangs, that did not get along? There are gangs in real life, just like in West Side Story. In West Side Story, as in life, there are many conflicts. With the Jets and the Sharks, their biggest conflict was that both gangs want to "rule" the neighborhood and only "one" gang could. This situation could definitively happen in real life.

I can kind of relate to unfair judgments. For me, in this day and age, it his difficult for a woman athlete to gain respect from men or in my my case other teenage boys. In West Side Story, the Jets were being very sterotypical towards the Puerto Ricans. For me, when I want to play a game of basketball with boys, it's hard for me because they look down apon me most of the time. Just like in West Side Story, when the Sharks moved to the Upper West Side, all they wanted to do was fit in, like me playing basketball, but the Jets had to give them an incredibly difficult time. If boys would let me play easily, then there would be no arguments. In West Side Story, if the Jets would have left the Sharks alone, Bernardo, Riff and Tony would all be alive.

I do believe there is realism in West Side Story. Take out the singing and dancing, it's a forbidden romance between a boy and a girl. They're also gangs that fight in this movie. In real life they're gangs that don't like each other and so they fight. There's also the discussion of racism. Racism is all around us. That's why I believe the movie has realism.

I can relate to defending honor. For example, my brother wasn't the best student. In fact he wasn't close. Sure he got good grades but he didn't know how to shut up. When he left the school there was some guys who worked up rumors of him. They kept saying how he was trash and dating every single girl. I finally found who they were and talked to them. At the end, they looked like stupid idiots just wanting attention.