What ever happened to West Side Story? Gene Kelly, jazz dance, and not so real men in Jacques Demy's The Young Girls of Rochefort

摘要

Examining the role of the American 'guest stars' in Jacques Demy's 1967 film The Young Girls of Rochefort, this paper foregrounds the problematized notion of masculinity that emerges from the film's 'celebrity intertexts'. While the presence of Gene Kelly reinforces both conventional notions of masculinity and the heterosexual discourse of the Hollywood movie musical, the case of West Side Story stars George Chakiris and Grover Dale is considerably more ambivalent. Demy's film essentially recontextualizes movements and postures from West Side Story, both film and play, yet lacks the dynamic tension of the earlier work. This partial citation of the musical combines with Demy's narrative and directorial choices, as well as with the celebrity intertext of recognized gay/bisexual actors Chakiris and Dale, create a strong sense of sexual ambiguity. The Young Girls of Rochefort thus allows for the exploration of the representation of the male body in the film musical in all its complexity.