Representation of Shakespeare’s Plays on Films: West Side Story (2021) and The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

This chapter explores Shakespeare’s plays represented on the recent two films—West Side Story (2021) directed by Steven Spielberg and The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) directed by Joel Coen. Applying the theories of performance studies, film studies, Louis Pierre Althusser, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Laura Mulvey, and Psychoanalysis, the prominent issues of adaptation, race, comparison between the two musical films West Side Story (1961 and 2021), and the analysis of The Tragedy of Macbeth are discussed. The light vs. dark color contrast of the costumes and the environments between the Jets and the Sharks, the semiotic connotation is subconsciously hinted by the visual binary opposition in both the original Broadway musical stage (1957) and Hollywood (1961) film versions of West Side Story. In Steven Spielberg’s 2021 West Side Story, the Jets and the Sharks are distinguished by sharply contrasting color palettes: the Jets (European-Americans) wear cool tones (blue, green, gray) while the Sharks (Puerto Ricans) are dressed in warm hues (red, maroon, brown). This deliberate clash visually reinforces their cultural divide and rivalry. However, there are changes in Spielberg’s 2021 musical film. Spielberg’s colorful West Side Story is in contrast to the black-and-white film The Tragedy of Macbeth. The Tragedy of Macbeth with the style of Minimalism makes the Monarch’s Body serve as a Fetishized Subject. Several special characteristics of Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth set it apart from other film adaptations of Shakespeare’s play. Coen’s film uses the aging cast, stillness, and the deliberate pacing of the action that contribute to the sense of voyeurism and scopophilia, as the audience is invited to gaze upon the characters and their actions that are both intimate and dispassionate. Both Spielberg and Coen make their Shakespearean films go beyond local culture to attract the global audiences by artistic representation.