{"id":1098240,"date":"2021-12-08T11:13:42","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T16:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1098240"},"modified":"2021-12-08T11:13:45","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T16:13:45","slug":"steven-spielberg-excluded-spanish-subtitles-in-west-side-story-to-avoid-giving-english-the-power-over-the-spanish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/steven-spielberg-excluded-spanish-subtitles-in-west-side-story-to-avoid-giving-english-the-power-over-the-spanish\/","title":{"rendered":"Steven Spielberg Excluded Spanish Subtitles in &#039;West Side Story&#039; to Avoid &#039;Giving English the Power over the Spanish&#039;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsteven-spielberg-excluded-spanish-subtitles-in-west-side-story-to-avoid-giving-english-the-power-over-the-spanish%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1098240&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">Director Steven Spielberg said he refused to use subtitles for the Spanish-speaking scenes in his epic&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/entertainment\/2021\/12\/07\/steven-spielbergs-west-side-story-banned-in-saudi-arabia-kuwait-over-lgbtq-character\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>West Side Story<\/em><\/a> remake for the purposes of \u201cinclusivity\u201d and to \u201crespect the language\u201d and to not give \u201cEnglish the power over the Spanish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking with IGN\u2019s Simon Cardy, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/west-side-story-director-steven-spielberg-on-his-decision-to-not-use-spanish-subtitles\">Spielberg said <\/a>that no subtitles will be presented over the Spanish dialogue \u201cout of respect for the inclusivity of our intentions to hire a totally Latinx cast to play the Sharks\u2019 boys and girls.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>According to Spielberg, who went <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-news\/steven-spielberg-met-puerto-rican-activists-west-side-story-concerns-1176285\/\">through great pains<\/a> to ensure the film\u2019s authenticity, the language stemmed from a mandate he gave to the casting director to hire performers with close connections to \u201cLatinx\u201d countries.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19049954\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" readability=\"34\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/90.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19049954\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/90.jpeg\" alt width=\"970\" height=\"546\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, and the cast of West Side Story. (20th Century Studios\/Amblin)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI wasn\u2019t going to entertain any auditions that aren\u2019t parents or grandparents or themselves from Latinx countries,\u201d Spielberg said. \u201cEspecially Puerto Rico, we looked a lot in Puerto Rico, we have 20 performers in our film from Puerto Rico or they\u2019re Nuyorican.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Spielberg believed that English subtitles would be giving the language \u201cpower over the Spanish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was very important and that goes hand-in-hand with my reasoning for not subtitling the Spanish,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I subtitled the Spanish I\u2019d simply be doubling down on the English and giving English the power over the Spanish. This was not going to happen in this film, I needed to respect the language enough not to subtitle it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Spielberg not including English subtitles could perhaps stem from an artistic decision to reflect the film\u2019s themes about an ethnic turf war between the Sharks and the Jets, rather than a political impulse.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Watch below:&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Steven Spielberg&#039;s &quot;West Side Story&quot; | Official Trailer | 20th Century Studios\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/A5GJLwWiYSg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Prior to making the film, Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner met with students and faculty at the University of Puerto Rico to hear their perspectives on how the film should treat the difficult subject matter about&nbsp;a Puerto Rican gang facing off against a white American gang on the streets of New York.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis will always be&nbsp;<em>Romeo and Juliet<\/em>,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-news\/steven-spielberg-met-puerto-rican-activists-west-side-story-concerns-1176285\/\">Spielberg said<\/a>. \u201cBut it also speaks a lot to what\u2019s happening today in terms of what\u2019s happening at the borders. It\u2019s very relevant today to essentially the rejection of anyone who isn\u2019t white. And that\u2019s a big part of our story.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>West Side Story&nbsp;<\/em>has come under attack in recent years, most specifically because the original 1961 Best Picture winner cast white actors (Natalie Wood) as Puerto Ricans and because the original musical did not portray a fair and balanced immigrant experience, critic claim.&nbsp;Isel Rodriguez, a theater history major, told Spielberg and Kushner that Puerto Ricans often leave the island out of necessity and are not always clamoring to be in America.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo one leaves this island without sobbing. 300,000 people left the island after Maria and the scene at the airport was like a funeral. No one wants to leave. This is paradise,\u201d said Rodriguez.<\/p>\n<p><em>West Side Story,<\/em>&nbsp;which stars&nbsp;Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler,&nbsp;opens in theaters on December 10th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Director Steven Spielberg said he refused to use subtitles for the Spanish-speaking scenes in his epic\u00a0West Side Story remake for the purposes of \u201cinclusivity\u201d and to \u201crespect the language\u201d and &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1098240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1098240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1098240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1098240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1098240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}