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Denny Gabriel

Dr. Robb/ Professor Meg Wise-Lawrence

American Musical Theater

13 April 2018

Culture Portrayal based on Loose Observation

Films and live performances were often a source to learn facts and information about a

subject when people didn’t have access to different back in 1957. Theoretically people believed

musicals and films to show concrete facts on a subject matter. They used musicals as a source to

learn about cultures. However, most of the time the musicals were inaccurate and had a skewed

portrayal on different ethnic groups. For example, attending a musical/live performance with a

story related to African-Americans often depicted a bias of the individuals. These musicals were

mostly meant for a white audience, which drastically affected the accuracy of the characters.

West Side Story ​is a story focused around Puerto Rican characters and their life in America.

Inspired by ​Romeo and Juliet​ by Williams Shakespeare, Maria and Tony face problems that

intervene between their love. In the surface ​West Side Story​ tries to give an authentic look into

Puerto Rican culture. However, dive deeper into the musical and you’ll be disturbed by the racist

ideals in place . Literature today gives further insight into the discrimination and false portrayal

in ​West Side Story.

In 1957, United States was in the process of outlawing forms of segregation. During this

time people of color struggled with segregation despite racism being outlawed. In 1957, 9

students were denied attendance and integration into a highschool because of their skin color.
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United States decided to intervene this issue and state: “ [Steps should be taken] as are necessary

and proper to admit [pupils] to public schools on a racially non-discriminatory basis with all

deliberate speed.”(The New York Times, “Little Rock, Ark.”). This demonstrates one of many

racial tensions that were present in the year ​West Side Story ​performed. The racial prejudices

around this time period affected the making of musical because the bias opinions on people of

color at that time were acceptable, even though it was inaccurate and unethical. Discrimination

being allowed meant the writers of ​West Side Story​ had a chance to discriminate against the

characters themselves.

West Side Story ​posed a extremely ignorant view on Puerto Rican identity. The musical

was based off poor research and stereotypes of the Puerto Rican community. The musical failed

to bring an authentic look into Puerto Rican culture. Leonard Bernstein himself stated “We went

to a gym in Brooklyn where there were different gangs that a social organization was trying to

bring together. I don't know if too much eventually got into ​West Side Story”​(“Feeling Pretty”,

Negr​ón-Muntaner, pg 84). This demonstrates how pieces of ​West Side Story​ were made of just

on the observation of gangs in a gym in brooklyn. Categorizing the behavior of the Puerto Rican

community just on this loose observation is disrespectful to the Puerto rican identity. To further

reinforce the idea of ​West Side Story ​being based of stereotypes which are insulting and a form

of discrimination to the Puerto Rican community, the songs in the musical further prove this. In

the song “America” Anita sings “Puerto Rico / My Heart's devotion / Let it sink back in the

ocean / Always the hurricanes blowing / Always the population growing”. This reveals how

Anita is not proud of her Puerto Rican identity. In fact, she emphasizes to “Let it sink back in the

ocean”. Which symbolizes her forgetting her roots. The lyrics also are stereotypical because
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there is more to Puerto Rico then just hurricanes. The original lyrics also referred to Puerto Rico

as “island of tropical breezes… island of tropic diseases”(New York Times, “ The Facts Don’t

Rhyme”). This shows the ignorance in the making of ​West Side Story​ because actually disease

rates have ever been decreasing and life expectancy increasing ever since 1940((New York

Times, “ The Facts Don’t Rhyme”).

The ethnic groups in ​West Side Story​ also bring an element of irony and confusion to the

audience. The Jets who are the main rivals to the Sharks are immigrants themselves. In the film,

the Puerto Rican characters are depicted in shadows during prologue. Portraying as if Puerto

Ricans are an infection to the American community. However, The Jets get a handful of

privileges over the Sharks just because of their Ethnic background. The officer in various scenes

lets the Jets slide with bad behaviour. This shows blatantly the discrimination of the Sharks

oppose to the Jets in ​West Side Story.​ The public and critics themselves being confused on how

to label the Jets just shows how the writers of ​West Side Story​ didn’t think this through. “ racial

complexity is based on the confusion around the Jets’ racial makeup. Are they Americans?

Whites? Anglos? Ethnic immigrants? Keith Garebian calls the Jets “white, urban- American

street youths,” while Walter Kerr in his New York Times review of the 1980 revival is clear to

put quotation marks around “white” to refer to the Jets.”(“The Great White Way”, Hoffman, pg

97). This piece of literature demonstrates how critics themselves have had a difficult time

understanding the racial background of the Jets. Being that immigrants are seen as negative thing

in that neighborhood, despite the Jets being immigrants themselves. One main difference

between the Jets and the Sharks is their physical appearance. The actors part of the Sharks in
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West Side Story ​are made to seem darker. They purposely made their skin darker to distinguish

from the “Polish” Jets.

Despite ​West Side Story ​receiving great reviews in the 1957 for the realistic views of

puerto rican gang activity. It's far from true, ​“ Henry Hewes, in his review "​West Side Story

Brilliantly Expresses the Character of Teenage Gangs," praises it for its realistic portrayal of

gangs and says it is "the best treatment of the juvenile-delinquency problem in our theatre to

date."”(​Drama for Students​, ​Sara Constantakis). This definitely not true because the portrayal in

West Side Story is far from realistic. All though gang activity is a major problem in New York

City, Statistically gang activity in youth is decreasing. Most of the gang activity that's left are

because of drug wars.

West Side Story ​was a disappointment to the Puerto Rican community. Having skewed

and loose perspective on the culture caused the film to have a major disagreement with critics.

Labeled as racist and based off stereotypes.

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Works Cited

Bern Keating from Black Star, The New,York Times. "Little Rock, Ark."​ New York Times

(1923-Current file)​, Sep 08, 1957, pp. 1​. ProQuest​,

https://search-proquest-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/docview/114180651?accoun

tid=9967.

Negron-Muntaner, F. "Feeling Pretty: West Side Story and Puerto Rican Identity Discourses."
Social Text​, vol. 18 no. 2, 2000, pp. 83-106. ​Project MUSE​, muse.jhu.edu/article/31870.

By, H. A. (1957, Sep 29). The facts don't rhyme.​ New York Times (1923-Current File)​ Retrieved

from
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https://search-proquest-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/docview/114322791?accountid=996

Hoffman, W.. The Great White Way: Race and the Broadway Musical. New Brunswick: Rutgers

University Press, 2014. Project MUSE., ​https://muse.jhu.edu/​.

"West Side Story." ​Drama for Students​, edited by Sara Constantakis, vol. 27, Gale, 2010, pp.

280-301. ​Gale Virtual Reference Library​,

http://link.galegroup.com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/apps/doc/CX2279400025/GV

RL?u=cuny_ccny&sid=GVRL&xid=5b628fc6. Accessed 15 Apr. 2018.