West Side Story is a play conceived, directed by Robert Wise, choreographed by Jerome Robbins, with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and based on a book by Arthur Laurents. The original Broadway production debut was in 1957, followed by the release of the movie by the same name in 1961 (West Side Story, 2020). This paper will try to paint a picture of the movie, by providing psychological and sociological explanations for it’s success, popularity and appreciation by the American public to this day. It will focus on the identities of the characters, their relationships and the use of color to exemplify them.
Opera or Musical?
West Side Story, by definition, is not an opera, but a musical. However, it has been received by opera houses all over the world, including the Scala of Milano, where Jamie Bernstein, Leonard Bernstein’s daughter, remembers the antithesis between the golden balconettes and the scaffolding on stage (Bernstein, 2020). For Bernstein, West Side Story was supposed to not only respect the conventions of a Broadway musical, but it was also an ambitious attempt to give a higher artistic element to the more popular genre of American Theater. Bernstein had always been convinced that through jazz, American music would have enriched the world with a new form of communication, and only from there a new, autonomous form of American theater could have been born (Bernstein, 2020). In many of popular TV interviews, Bernstein had already traced a parallel between the situation of theaters in America theaters to the ones of Germany prior to the arrival of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (1791; Bernstein, 2006). After this much time we could
consider Bernstein’s statement to be true, he was arguably the American Mozart of the 20th century, even if he may have not been able to create the great American theater he had dreamed of. Nonetheless, he produced a new equilibrium between theatrical action and musical media which he had tried to achieve in previous works such as “Peter Pan” and “Wonderful Town” (Simeone, 2017). It is erroneous to attribute the entire success to only Bernstein’s music, even if profoundly innovative and original, many other components, such as the modernity of Robbin’s choreography, the agile distribution of dynamic dramatic material by Laurents and the explicit and current lyrics of Sondheim.
West Side Story represented a new facet of style within Broadway, it was not usual for musical comedies to represent vulgar or degrading ambiences or even scenes of violence or tragic endings. Furthermore, Bernstein’s music was more complex and difficult than the lighter show audiences expected at that time. Lots of producers denied to provide investments to this musical which seemed doomed to failure. As mentioned, West Side Story turned out to be nothing but a theatrical, cinematic and musical success for Bernstein, possibly due to the reasons above.
There are some aspects that recall to opera music. For example the music is not only there to suggest ornamental expressions to the various situations, but it offers a web of thematic references, connecting each scene to the other and each character to the other. The script and vocals are thought for non-operatic singers, as there are other abilities (such as acting and dancing) that are requested within musicals (Coghlan, 2018). This is the exception for Tony and Maria, who’s songs such as “Maria” or “Somewhere”, require for a the specific tones of a Tenor and a Soprano.
The Zeitgeist
The movie is set in Manhattan during the mid 1950s, depicting the love story between two
ethnically different teenagers who fall in love in the midst of their own gang rivalry. It is inspired
by Romeo and Juliet, a tragedy that transcends time, revealing the eternal tale of the perils of
hatred. While the Shakespearian play is set in palazzo’s, West Side Story brings us to the streets
and gutters of a turbulent New York. It is important to note that while the story was inspire by
Shakespeare, he himself was inspired by many other works such as Arthur Brooke’s poem The
Tragical Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562, Brooke & Bandello, 1908).
It is important to understand the events surrounding the era of the creation of West Side Story to
understand it over fifty years later. The 1960’s saw the presidency of John F. Kennedy, who is
remembered for his attenuated international politics favoring American cooperation with other
nations of the world. Despite this, there were rising tensions with the Soviets in Cuba and Berlin.
The year of 1961 is the same year the first stones were aligned to form the Berlin wall and later
the iron curtain. This decade also begins seeing a greater dismantlement of the patriarchy, with
women gaining more independence each year. This independence can be seen from the pictures of
concerts filled with women infatuated with the new concepts of pop star icons such as Elvis
Presley. Overall, Americans had just enjoyed a moment of economic prosperity, as seen by the
increasing rise of child birth, now known as the “baby boom”.
New York saw the second wave of immigration after the second world war, starting with Puerto Ricans who began settling in Eastern cities. Between now and then more Puerto Ricans live in New York than on the island. We can see within these neighborhoods, especially the Bronx, communities that could have been seen in the most rural regions of Puerto Rico. This has important
consequences for these migrants as they tended to assimilate less than others due to the strong communities that continued cultural traditions, language and customs of their lands. We get a great picture of the Upper West Side during the Prologue, showing the dynamicity and tensions present on the streets. For the immigrants who had already established their roots in Manhattan the young Puerto Ricans brought fears that their jobs and homes were being taken.
Not only are the characters attached to their ethnicities and nationalities, they are also tithed to their gangs. The “Jet Song” clearly shows that for these kids their life on the streets is delineated by the world of gangs. For them, their gangs are everything, determining their whole identity. This comes at a time when American youth starts breaking from the traditional values and structures of family life. This may be due to the arrival of new migration, which in turn threatens their family values, forcing them to create their own families outside their homes. The rise of street gangs, was then a popular phenomena at that time. While native youth feels threated and decides to polarize their culture to create machoistic gangs, the immigrant youth already has stronger structure thanks to their will to maintain rooted in the customs of their native homes. Take a look at the case of Italian migrants and their roots in strong familiar ties, that give rise to gangsters, mafiosi and racketeers. The Sharks are full of hopes and dreams and seem more positive looking than the Jets, possibly because they have yet to come to the realization that not all their dreams can come true.
Powerful Love
Romeo and Juliet were only separated by their family names. For Tony and Maria it is different, they are born in different countries, have different colored skin and speak different languages. Even if the story had a less tragical ending, their lives in the America of the 1960’s would still have been hard. Maria does not have a family in New York, only her brother. When Tony kills him with blinded rage, he kills her whole family. This dramatic feature is not present in Shakespeare’s tale, proposing a more calamitous event for Maria. While this choice seems to be calculated, it is almost paradoxical for Maria to still love Tony. A study done by Driscoll, Davis & Lipetz (1972) takes from classical literature and group dynamics to support their hypothesis that parental interference in relationships intensifies feelings of romantic love. Maria’s parents are not around to create trust within the new couple. However, an explanation for this discordant behavior could be that while they are not there physically together, they transcend all across Maria’s identity as a Puerto Rican woman. The differences between themselves may very well be the ones fueling this mindless love. The hypothesis that parental interference increases love and commitment is coined by psychologists as the Romeo and Juliet effect. More research has shown that in Western cultures friend opinions are more salient than parental interference (Etcheverry & Agnew, 2004). This is where Anita comes in.
A character figure like Anita is not present in Romeo and Juliet, but her invention is the one to create all the motion of the second act. Anita is the oldest girl, who has always protected Maria. After the killing of Bernardo Anita becomes firm towards Maria, she distorts her anger towards her. In the song “A Boy Like That” Anita reveals her anger and distrust towards the other kind. However, Maria sings the words “I have a love, and it’s all that I have, right or wrong, what else can I do?”. They are simple, but perfect in combatting Anita. Anita learns from Maria,
changing her views to fit the overarching good. As she accepts her love by the end of the song, the story shifts from the likes of Jets versus Sharks and America versus Puerto Rico. This superficial dichotomy is not the true essence of the play, the dichotomy is that between those who accept love and those who do not. It took these two powerful women to understand the true force of this sentiment, despite the men who are trying to control them. West Side Story is indeed a tale about the strength of women and the power of friendship.
The majority of West Side Story is homosocial, meaning that the majority of the scenes involve relationships, including non-romantic ones, between two people of the same gender. It seems that the majority of heterosocial relationships (such as Tony and Maria) exacerbate the homosocial ones. Stacy Wolf, in her book Changed for Good: A Feminist History of the Broadway Musical (2011) argues for a overlooked queer narrative to the story. She asserts that while in most musicals second acts tie up the heterosexual narratives of couples, West Side Story instead proposes the pedagogical duet of Anita and Maria previously mentioned. Wolf argues that this duet itself makes the heterosexual romance weak and unconvincing. This is true even regards to the end of the narrative where both Maria and Anita become widows, supporting a more racially harmonious environment. It is only through death that they seem to be at peace with those of the other kind. Heterosexual love becomes death, and gang life compared to marriage, is seen as more desirable.
Gender
The character of Anybodys is importantly placed in the beginning of the movie, when they try to be a part of the Jets. Anybodys is a woman without a real name and therefore has little
recognition as a subject, they are probably called Anybody because they are on the fringe of binary sexuality. While their persona is less feminine than the other female characters, they are still unable to be a part of the “boys”. They are cleverly placed in the introduction to show the audience that there are clear gender distinctions, that females are excluded from doing business on the streets and that no matter how masculine they are they will never be accepted. Even if Anybodys seems to be able to redeem themselves at the end by helping Tony evade the police, they are still unable to find that love that they are seeking. Anybody uses their racial privilege to cover the gender oppression that they experienced. Instead of accepting or diverting their anger towards the men who are stopping her from being with them, they decide to divert it onto the Puerto Ricans, to which they rank themselves above. Anybody’s, along with the other women in the story, finds hostility and violence outside threatening them to go home. This is due to the aforementioned disruption to the nuclear family, where private conflicts become public on the street.
Negròn-Muntaner (2000) proposes another character that disrupts the heteronormic figures of men, Baby John. Baby John is the “weakest” Jet, as he is always mocked by not only by his gang members but by Lieutenant Schrank for reading books and comics. Negròn-Muntaner claims this character to be the site of white Jewish gay subjectivity. This is due to the superhero identification, which is seen in the literature to be distinctly Jewish since the creation of Superman was by Jewish artists. When comparing to Anybodys, this character shows a man who is willing to escape their male narrative rather than embrace it like Anybodys. The juxtaposition of the two provides an explicit argument for the differences between men and women, providing the melting of the two in these two characters.
Identities and Color
Having read Shakespeare, one may expect the ending to be with Maria’s death. The fact that Tony is not able to conquer Maria, and she does not take her life, the authors propose a new non-traditional narrative. The norm is for the white man to conquer the minority, but in this case Maria gains agency by losing the two men who controlled her life: her brother and her lover. Sondheim, the author, had other plans as well. As he tried to explore feminism through this musical he decided that “Maria was too strong to die. She’s not an ingénue. She is a passionate woman girl − and death is maker of a young woman ... ” (Wells, 2011). These views of Sondheim explain a clever use of color through out the film. Specifically, I would like to talk about the color red. There is a fervent use of it implicitly through out, but the most explicit moment is when Maria complains about her newly acquired white dress, she asks “Could we not dye it red, at least?”, after Anita’s denial, Maria rebottles “White is for babies, I will be the only one (at the dance) in a white dress”. The night she meets Tony she is wearing the white dress and on the night of his death she is wearing a red one. The obvious symbolism is that with tragedy she is no longer a baby, she has received Anita’s approval, survived tragedy and is now a grown woman.
It is important to understand the fashion at the time of West Side Story to truly appreciate the choices by the authors. Fashion had mainly used muted colors following the war time efforts of the earlier half of the century. As the world entered a new era of fashion, Americans started wearing different colors from lilac to dark blues, which were much brighter than their European rivals and in line with the costume design of the movie. The attire is historically accurate with the costume designer, Irene Sharaff, taking notes on gang members attire in the Bronx during the 50s
(Secade, 2018). Sharaff herself admitted to being biased when it came to choosing colors that symbolized aggression and strength for the Sharks.
Regarding Maria’s red dress, there is again more contradiction of the use of the color red. Not only does Maria want to be more grown-up, she is also trying to be more American. The scenes between the Bridal Shop and the dance are filled with red, further symbolizing that she is not only transitioning into womanhood but into an American. The symbolism tied to her white dress also expresses naivety and innocence on her part, further complemented by the cross around her neck and her words to Tony “I have not learned to joke that way”. It is contradicting then for her pureness to be related to a white dress when she is in reality not pure in the eyes of the Jets because of her skin color. It is in these details that lies the beauty of the miscegenation narrative.
There is undoubtedly heavy symbolism associated with the color red in the west: blood, flesh, fire, violence, menstruation and love, to name a few (Morton, 1997). The basic contrast between red and white is beknown to literature, three drops of blood on snow and Perceval remembers his lover in Troyes namesake Romance or more recently the brothers Grimm’s tale “Snow White” where the Queen wishes her daughter to be “as white as snow, as red as blood”. Author Vaz da Silva (2007) reminds us in his book about chromatic symbolism of womanhood, that for many centuries Europeans used red (one of the least expensive colors) to contrast the pale colors of wool and hemp, carrying the importance of it’s use throughout daily life. Red and white are part of a basic color trio, along with black, that has been proved by Kay and Berlin (1991), two linguists, to be part of a pan-human perceptual universal inventory of basic color categories. Black is also used in the play, Anita foreshadows the death at the rumble when she decides to bathe in Black Orchids.
Turner (1970) in his book about symbolism in rituals of the Ndembu people of northwestern Zambia finds cross-cultural meaning of color. He finds that the colors red and white are paired in action contexts, explicitly, black, on the other hand, is never “directly expressed”. Black seems to represent what is hidden, whereas white stands for life. This directly fits with the West Side Story narrative, these colors are semantic values that cross these cultural barriers both within the story and out.
Then there is the issue of “chromophobia” as discussed by Davine (2016) in the Western world. Their belief is that Western culture tends to “purge color from culture” leading to a common aversion towards color, as it is not only seen to be foreign but also superficial and not important enough to be considered by the mind. This purging of color also related to stripping and defaming immigrants who wear such strong colors. Americans and Europeans have a history appropriating colors and patterns as their own, without providing gratitude and appropriate credit to indigenous or native tribes. There is no doubt that West Side Story has a very strong color palette, as seen from the different hues of color of the city skyline. Since color is seen as exotic we can then make the association of its use to be surrounding scenes where the Puerto Ricans are present, for example, in the scene of America. When contextualizing the use of color, then we can clearly see that red does not only represent blood shedding through battle, but the color of blood and the protection of the blood line. The Jets then seem to be protecting their whiteness from the blood of the migrants. Not only this, but red stops being the color of passion, but under this analysis, that of Devil, in the eyes of the Christians. Red goes from showing “action” in the prologue, to being something of discomfort. For example, following the Jet Song sequence Red permeates the scene of Tony at the Candy Store, subconsciously predicting action both to be positive and negative.
Color also then represents Maria’s journey of assimilation, as shown by her increasingly more colored, but calculated, wardrobe. Acevedo-Munoz (2013) points out that before the scene of “I Feel Pretty” she uses a lilac scarf, typical of the clothing of white women at the time. As the scene unfolds we see her wearing a crown and raising a bouquet of flowers, reminiscent of the figure of the Statue of Liberty. While this similitude makes her become the symbol of freedom and hope of the American migrant, it furthers the extensive theme of assimilation that is present through out the movie.
Furthermore, we can see that in the scenes where Maria is present with the other Puerto Rican girls, she stands out. The other Sharks’ girls wear lots of frills and strong colors, she dresses more like a Jet’s girl, with more muted and conservative colors. This distinction shows that the girls, unlike her, are more loyal to their native lands and their men. Another implication is that only Maria, who dresses like an American woman and is therefore not as exotic as her friends is able to gain the attention of someone who is not of her own. This brings us back to the view that she is more pure than her friends who are associated to the color red of passion, sexuality and even, indecency.
Conclusions
There is great importance in analyzing color in film. As humans we are affected by our perceptions in ways that are outside of our consciousness and identifying these mechanisms can help stop perpetrating erroneous biases in our works of art. West Side Story is a tale of miscegenation, something that will permeate humanity as long as we have groups and differences within people. It is important for artists then to accurately portray cultures and people for who they
are, limiting the projection of one’s beliefs, especially if trying to tell a tale of kinship rather than contrast. When it is in regards to other cultures, artists must consult and learn their symbols before using them. As Rudolf Arnheim, a scholar in perceptual psychology, remarks that we must identify form not with the lines within an image but with the very declaration that something has imagistic status. It is important then to not simply look at color as we perceive it but looking at what is unseen. West Side Story has become the success that it is to this day because it has been able to saturate our perception, both explicitly and implicitly creating a dialogue and discussion of what has been an eternal conundrum.
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Sofia Wolfson
Emory University
University of Miami