Fechner and Experimental Aesthetics

One of the oldest research areas of psychology is experimental aesthetics (Fechner, 1998). Experimental aesthetics is an approach to researching artistic phenomena developed by Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801-1887) in Leipzig. He was a physicist, philosopher and physiologist who along with others psychologists like Hermann von Helmholtz and William Wundt gave birth to the field of psychophysics (Debru, 2001). In 1860 Fechner publishes the book Elements of Psychophysics (1998) in which he talks about the relationship between the properties correspondent to the physical world and the conscious experience of individuals. To measure sensations, the use of a reliable and quantifiable variable such as differential thresholds allowed to establish a minimum amount of energy to add or subtract from an already active stimulus so that the change is perceived subjectively. This threshold became a value that can only be approximated, given that it varies between subjects due to different psychological indications based in probability (Scheerer, 1987). This threshold value is considered as the intersection between the physical intensity, which is linear, and that experienced by the observer which is non-linear and heterogenous.

For example, if you were to light an extra candle when 10 are already lit the difference in light can be perceived, but when one candle is added to 100 we can hardly discern such difference. Weber (1795-1878) concluded that the difference between these two signals is proportional to their value. The formula that can be derived is the integral of the ratio known to this day as Weber-Fechner’s law shown below (Chukova, 2012). With the discovery of number neurons, neurons that are assumed to be the basis of mental number scales, an experiment found that the brain is able to discriminate between linear and logarithmic scales. When numbers increased, monkeys adopted an “approximated compressed scale” which confirms the approximation model through the use of logarithms rather than linearity, affirming Fechner’s law from 150 years ago (Dehaene, 2003).

𝜓 = 𝜒 log ( 𝐼 ) , 𝐼0

where 𝜓 is sensation, 𝜒 is a constant and 𝐼0 is the intensity of the stimulus in conditions of absolute threshold of sensation.

In the years following the release of his book, Fechner begins to study art from a psychophysical perspective. His studies surround mostly the inquiry around reactions of grandeur and preferences for aesthetic materials. He is one of the first to apply an experimental approach to art, controlling for different variables. To do this he strips art down to basic elements, such as lines or geometric figures (Phillips, Norman & Beers, 2011). His most successful studies surround the golden ratio, where participants had to express their preferences regarding a series of rectangles of different shapes. Observers tended to prefer rectangles which sides where related to each other with specific proportions, similarly in what is observed with the golden ratio (Hoge, 1995). This phenomenon has been known as the “golden rectangle”: where the sides are in proportion. There have been many findings since then regarding this specific proportion, “the golden section”, where a side a must be approximately .62 of side b. Recently the role of conditions in different types of presentation have been questioned, finding that rectangles that are smaller are more preferred than larger rectangles (Benjafield, 1976). An interesting facet of understanding why people prefer certain rectangles is still unknown. It has been found that using different measures such as the Big Five, Need for Cognition, Tolerance of Ambiguity, Schizotypy, Vocational Types and Aesthetic Activities have no correlation with rectangle preferences (McManus, Cook & Hunt, 2010).

Thanks to experimental aesthetics we return to the line of thought that from Plato to this day has reigned in aestheticism. Beauty and grandeur of the visible world is measurable and therefore can be rationally applied. There are implications for guaranteeing a certain level of aestheticism that can be measurable in both works of art and of functional purpose. Fechner proposes a bottom-up procedure founded on elementary perceptions received by the observer such as preference. This seems to be in contrast with art philosophy which uses as top-down approach, speculating on what might be beautiful.

To analyze aesthetic phenomena empirically, Fechner proposed that there must be different avenues and methods of research. Namely the methods of choice, production and use. The method of choice is showing subjects aesthetic stimuli to evoke preference. The method of production is submitting a subject to a stimulus conformed to their preference (stimulus doubling). Finally, the method of use (or application) is a formal, controlled statistical analysis of elements of a work of art and their relationships (Fechner, 1876; Hoge, 1995). To this day the method of choice is used widely, but the other two are widely neglected (Westphal-Fitch, 2019).

With the shift that occurred in psychology at the end of the 19th century Fechner along with Wilhelm Wundt started proposing more experimental approaches. Fechner’s interests in artistic phenomena highlight the importance of understanding behavior and experience of art in life. It is no coincidence that some of the first experiments involved aesthetics, underlining their power over our psyche, helping us understand who we are through aesthetic perception.

Works Cited

Fechner, G. T. (1998). Elemente der Psychophysik. Bristol: Thoemmes Press.
Debru, C. (2001). Helmholtz and the Psychophysiology of Time. Science in Context, 14(3), 471. Scheerer, E. (1987). The unknown Fechner. Psychological research, 49(4), 197-202.
Chukova, Y. P. (2012). New Phase in History of the Weber-Fechner Law. SCIENTIFIC COSMOPOLITANISM AND LOCAL CULTURES: RELIGIONS, IDEOLOGIES, SOCIETIES, 658.
Dehaene, S. (2003). The neural basis of the Weber–Fechner law: a logarithmic mental number line.Trends in cognitive sciences, 7(4), 145-147.
Phillips, F., Norman, J. F., & Beers, A. M. (2011). Fechner’s aesthetics revisited. In Fechner's Legacy in Psychology (pp. 183-191). Brill.
Benjafield, J. (1976). The 'Golden Rectangle': Some New Data. The American Journal of Psychology, 89(4), 737-743. doi:10.2307/1421471
McManus, I. C., Cook, R., & Hunt, A. (2010). Beyond the Golden Section and normative aesthetics: Why do individuals differ so much in their aesthetic preferences for rectangles? Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 4(2), 113–126. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017316 
Höge, H. (1995). Fechner's experimental aesthetics and the golden section hypothesis today. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 13(2), 131-148.
Fechner, G. T. (1876). Vorschule der aesthetik (Vol. 1). Breitkopf & Härtel.Westphal-Fitch, G. (2019). Revisiting Fechner’s Methods. In The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Aesthetics. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198824350.013.9

Sofia Wolfson
Emory University
University of Miami

A Brief Psychological Study of Horror

 In the spirit of the month of Halloween, I would like to investigate the psychological mechanisms that determine the existence of horror films. I want to firstly explore their history, how they work and finally why they are so popular in our society and why people expose themselves to this type of fear. This will be a small dive into the world of horror films, as there are so many nuances, not only between the movies themselves, but within the genre.

According to the Dictionary of Film Studies, horror films are a large group of films that via “the representation of disturbing and dark subject matter, seek to elicit responses of fear, terror, disgust, shock, suspense and horror from their viewers” (Kuhn & Westwell, 2012). There are many subgenres including but not limited to: comedic, folk, found footage, gothic, natural, slasher and teen. Etchinson (2011) has noted that horror movies are generally ignored in popular culture, comparably to horror literature, they are viewed with alarm when they irritate authority and are sometimes acknowledged with “bemused” tolerance. Freud defined horror as “unheimlich” or unhomely or uncanny, something that should have remained secret and hidden but has come to light (Freud, 1919).

A Brief History of Horror

Before movies, there were written or orally passed down stories of horror. It is not atypical to see gore and monsters in Greek Epics such as Homer’s Odyssey or Iliad, or tales of Evil during the middle ages, (see Dante’s Divine Comedy (1472)) (Dixon, 2010). The importance of horror literature goes without saying, but for the sake of example I would like to mention the popular success of Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Goethe’s Faust (1829). Faust, in theory, has been attributed to spearhead the transition from the German enlightenment into the Romantic Period (Orvieto, 2006). Other notable horror pieces from history are: the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe (The Murders in Rue Morgue (1841) and more), RL Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) and Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw (1898).

The first horror movies can be traced to the beginning of cinema, particularly to French illusionist and filmmaker Georges Méliès in the late 19th century (Rhodes, 2002). One of his best known works is the 2 minute long silent film Le Manoir du Diable (1896), also known as, “The Haunted Castle”, where a troubled devil haunts the guests of the estate. Another successful movie worth mentioning, is the German Expressionist’s very own Robert Wiene’s Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, 1920). This movie was an example of Expressionist film and influenced many horror movies to come, through it’s use of distorted images and unreliable narration (Jung & Schatzberg, 1999).

The 1930’s produced movies filled with monsters such as Frankenstein, Dracula and Mummies. The 1960’s had Hitchcock pioneering the psychological horror thriller film, through his mastery of suspense (McDevitt & Juan, 2009). The 1970’s saw a shift into what we now know as modern horror, where artistic facets are intertwined with societal themes (Waller, 2005). Notable filmmakers of this period are Dario Argento with Deep Red (1975) and Suspiria (1977), Stanley Kubrick with The Shining (1980), Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) and David Cronenberg with Videodrome (1983). The introduction of CGI in the 90’s gave life to movies such as Mimic (1997, Guillermo Del Toro) and Sleepy Hollow (1999, Tim Burton). Comedy horror, with self- irony and parody of the genre, became prevalent in the 2000’s. Found footage horror is a new addendum to the genre in the last decade, with the notable Paranormal Activity Series (2007- present). These movies usually have extremely low budgets and high box office profits.

How Horror Movies Work

According to Dr. Riggio some of the main themes that scare us in horror movies are the fear of death, darkness, dangerous animals (such as insects, snakes etc), scary settings, disfigurement, dismemberment, suspense, music, and abnormal objects, people or places (Riggio, 2014). Through fMRI, researchers found that suspense, where fear slowly increases, regions in the brain involved with visual & auditory perception become more activated, and after there is a sudden threat, there is more activation in regions involved with emotion processing, threat evaluation and decision making. Horror movies therefore exploit this excitatory fight or flight system increasing certain rousing neurotransmitters (Hudson et al., 2020).

Why We Like Horror Movies

There is undoubtedly an aesthetic paradox of pleasurable fear (Hanich, 2011). The foundation of this representational art is that (1) fear involves being in danger, and (2) normal moviegoers do not believe that they are in danger (Walton, 1990). Even Aristotle has addressed this question: “Why do we enjoy still lifes with ugly things in them? Why do we enjoy tragedy?” (Holland, 2009). Panksepp’s theory of “invigorated feeling of anticipation” explains that when we feel unpleasurable emotions in passive situations we must not do anything about it. Through Kant’s “disinterestedness” we can explain the liking akin to this subjective behavior, to the unpleasant situations receding in the fantasy world, unlike the ones in real life (TenHouten, 2018). According to Holland, there is also an evolutionary explanation, where people are attracted to gruesome events as cautionary tales for future use to maximize survival. This is the same mechanism at play when people slow down to view an accident on the side of the road. A Jungian approach may be used to explain this attraction to horror movies. Jung believed that material and technological benefits that come from the scientific rationality of the last 500 years come to a great cost for the psyche itself (Hauke, 2015). The horror movie then acts as a vessel for the need of entertainment and disinterest in rationality, paralleling a “postmodern Jungian distrust in the achievements and place of human consciousness in nature”.

Popularity

Some individual differences have been found in response to horror by Neil (2019). For example men, tend to seek out horror movies more than women, this may be due to women being more prone to disgust sensitivity and anxiety. Low empathy, fearfulness and sensation seeking are more related to horror seeking and enjoyment. Through-out life there is a shift in children of being more afraid of symbolic stimuli to later being afraid of concrete or realistic stimuli.

There have been cases of cinematic-related psychiatric cases, namely the case of a woman with intrusive thoughts and flashbacks of the demonic possession from the film The Exorcist. This case shows how an individuals personality structure combined with the stressors they are experiencing from films can intertwine and create what is known as “cinematic neurosis”. It is important to note that movies may also act as cautionary tales (Ballon & Leszcz, 2007; Kline, 2018).

Conclusions

The interest that humanity has with horror is fascinating, but it goes beyond our understanding in psychology and film cognition (Hauke, 2015). It is possible that through the comforts of modern life, our subconscious needs an escape into the darkness of society. Maybe, when and if our lives become filled with horror, there will be no need for this imagination and escapism will only be filled by romantic, comedic or inspirational movies.

Works Cited

Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). A dictionary of film studies (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Etchison, D. (2011). “Foreword” in Nightmare movies: Horror on screen since the 1960s. ed. K. Newman (London: Bloomsbury Publishing).

Freud, S. (1919/2003). The uncanny. London: Penguin.

Dixon, W. W. (2010). A history of horror. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Orvieto, P. (2006). Il mito di Faust: L'uomo, Dio, il diavolo. Roma, Italia: Salerno. doi:10.1400/102085

Rhodes, G. D. (n.d.). Mockumentaries and the Production of Realist Horror. Questia, 21(3), 2002nd ser. Retrieved October 9, 2020, from https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1- 95501717/mockumentaries-and-the-production-of-realist-horror

Jung, U., & Schatzberg, W. (1999). Beyond Caligari: The films of Robert Wiene. New York: Berghahn Books.

McDevitt, J., & Juan, E. S. (2011). A year of Hitchcock: 52 weeks with the master of suspense. Lanham (Md.): The Scarecrow Press.

Waller, G. A. (2005). American horrors: Essays on the modern American horror film. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Riggio, R. (2014, October 21). The Top Ten Things That Make Horror Movies Scary. Retrieved October 9, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com

Hudson et al. (2020) Dissociable neural systems for unconditioned acute and sustained fear. NeuroImage. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116522

Tenhouten, W. D. (2018). Anticipation and Exploration of Nature and the Social World: Natural- History versus Social-Cognition Theories of the Evolution of Human Intelligence. Sociology Mind, 08(04), 320-344. doi:10.4236/sm.2018.84021

Hauke, C. (2015). Horror films and the attack on rationality. The Journal of Analytical Psychology, 60(5), 736–740. https://doi-org.proxy.library.emory.edu/10.1111/1468- 5922.12181

Hanich, J. (2011). Cinematic emotion in horror films and thrillers: The aesthetic paradox of pleasurable fear. New York: Routledge.

Walton, K. L. (1978). Fearing Fictions. The Journal of Philosophy, 75(1), 5. doi:10.2307/2025831

Sofia Wolfson October 11th 2020

Holland, N. N. (2009). Literature and the brain. Gainesville, FL: PsyArt Foundation. Holland, N. N. (2010, January 4). Why Are There Horror Movies? Retrieved October 9, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com

Martin, G. N. (2019). (Why) do you like scary movies? A review of the empirical research on psychological responses to horror films. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. https://doi- org.proxy.library.emory.edu/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02298

Ballon, B., & Leszcz, M. (2007). Horror films: Tales to master terror or shapers of trauma? American Journal of Psychotherapy, 61(2), 211–230.

Kline, J. (2018). Fleeing from and fighting with the exorcist. Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche, 12(2), 10–25. https://doi-org.proxy.library.emory.edu/10.1080/19342039.2018.1442103

Sofia Wolfson
Emory University
University of Miami

The Curse of the Creative

 And as the Corybantian revellers when they dance are not in their right mind, so the lyric poets are not in their right mind when they are composing their beautiful strains: but when falling under the power of music and metre they are inspired and possessed; like Bacchic maidens who draw milk and honey from the rivers when they are under the influence of Dionysus but not when they are in their right mind.

(Plato, 533-535d). It is no new question that of the connection between arts and the insane. First attributed to Plato, divine madness, many have ventured to try to understand the connection between creativity and madness. The usual belief is that madness is followed by art, rather than art being followed by madness. I decided against this very ample topic to be the focus of this essay, but to try explore one specific route: are societies inept at cultivating artists of sound mind?

Firstly, I want to explore what it means to be an artist. It has been found that openness to experience, one of the big five personality traits is correlated to art experience, and is highly correlated within personalities of not only artists, but people with artistic interests and knowledge (Furnham & Chamorro-Pemuzic, 2004). The concept of psychopathology in artists is divisive, as there are many studies that show no evidence that artists are more likely to suffer than other groups. A study comparing exceptionally creative scientists and artists found no differences in psychopathology but rather schizotypal and socially divergent characteristics in the artists group (Knudsen, Bookheimer & Bilder, 2019). Artists also tend to have higher satisfaction in life than other professionals (Bille, Fjællegaard, Frey, & Steiner, 2013). When creating clusters with people with vulnerabilities such as anxiety, depression and stress and people with resources like psychological well-being, ego-resilience and hope, the group with people who are both high on vulnerabilities and resources has been found to contain the most artists (Ivcevic, Grossman & Ranjan, 2020). This seems paradoxical, but it may very well be the rarity of the interconnection of maladjustment and prosperity to create successful artists. My use of the word success is systematic, because it is traditionally the most successful artists who are able to pursue their craft in its entirety and to dedicate their lives to it, making their work the most proficient.

Artistry is a high risk low reward endeavor from an economic perspective. It brings very few physical gains when comparing the probability of becoming a successful artist and the probability of it having high monetary value to modern society. To attempt to undertake art professionally one must therefore act irrationally, unless they are certain that they will have the basic resources they need to survive to continue their work. Being an artist in itself is making the unthinkable possible, and therefore it is not too far removed for artists to live unconventional lives within our society. This brings me to the second part of my essay. What if it is the faults within our societies that push artists to the edge and therefore to “dysfunctional” patterns of behavior?

It may be insightful to look at the life of Francisco Goya (1746-1828). He was possibly one of the most important portraitist during the rule of the House of Bourbon, using his closeness to the Spanish Royal family as means to critique the aristocracy. Considered to be one of the last old masters and one of the first modernists his style of painting changed dramatically through-out his long life. He went from being a court painter to creating images and etchings of social commentary on the life of Spaniards and the Peninsular War. While his political stance is still unclear to this day, the failure of the establishment of a more liberal government led him to exile himself, first to the outskirts of Madrid and later to Bordeaux (Hughes, 2004). His disappointment of Spanish society for failing to reform their country religiously and politically led him to become fearful of his death and madness. His living in isolation, along with his newly acquired deafness, produced some of his most powerful paintings yet, the Black Paintings (1819-1823). These were all painted on the walls of his villa, and showed his ever growing resentment against mankind portraying scenes of witchery, solitude and death. It was the combination of the political upheaval, sickness and distrust towards society that probably led to the creation of such dark works. Had there not been these inputs in the later part of his life, his works may have remained works of the court only to be hung on palace walls. This is not to say that portraiture is less of an art than pure modernist painting, but these paintings have undoubtedly impacted more people than his hundreds of commissioned portraits.

While anecdotal evidence is not a fortitude of scientific thinking, it can definitely inspire hypotheses to test later on. Goya shows how his inability to fit within a society, even as a well- established court painter, brought on his mental struggles. It is difficult to imagine how many artists who cannot integrate themselves into society, are pushed to the edges because of financial instability, leading them to poor mental health outcomes. It therefore seems that artists are cursed from the beginning, their hyper curious personality brings them to become creative individuals, but the majority of the time, this creative instinct cannot be translated into something traditionally productive, pushing them to live lives on the fringes of communities, non-conforming to psychological standards others have. It may seem like a vicious cycle, as it was definitely the case for Goya, who ventured deeper into the realm of his mind and further away from producing works traditionally for commercial markets. It should be recognized that there is a trade-off when producing art for a living, as it is hard for the artist to not abide by the rules of commerce when they become fruitful, subsequently making art fit with the demand rather than their internal wishes.

Art is a valuable opening into the collective conscious, and very few artists remain uninfluenced by their society. It is then the curse of the creative to be pushed to discover alternative views to life, only to be shunned by society’s comfort in tradition. This is of course unless they are selected to be one of the few allowed to seep through the cracks, and still, their financial advantage may not lead to optimal outcomes.

Works Cited

Plato: Statesman, Philebus, Ion. Greek with translation by Harold N. Fowler and W. R. M. Lamb. Loeb Classical Library 164. Harvard Univ. Press (originally published 1925). ISBN 978- 0674991828 HUP listing

Furnham, A., & Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2004). Personality, intelligence, and art. Personality and Individual Differences, 36(3), 705–715. https://doi- org.proxy.library.emory.edu/10.1016/S0191-8869(03)00128-4

Bille, T., Fjællegaard, C., Frey, B. S., & Steiner, L. (2013). Happiness in the arts— International evidence on artists’ job satisfaction. Economics Letters, 121, 15–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2013.06.016

Ivcevic, Z., Grossman, E., & Ranjan, A. (2020). Patterns of psychological vulnerabilities and resources in artists and nonartists. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. https://doi-org.proxy.library.emory.edu/10.1037/aca0000309.supp (Supplemental)

Knudsen, K. S., Bookheimer, S. Y., & Bilder, R. M. (2019). Is psychopathology elevated in Big-C visual artists and scientists? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 128(4), 273–283. https://doi-org.proxy.library.emory.edu/10.1037/abn0000416.supp (Supplemental)

Hughes, R., Hodgkinson, G., & Malet, V. (2004). Goya. Barcelona: Galaxia Gutemberg.

Sofia Wolfson
Emory University
University of Miami

Sofia Wolfson
Emory University
University of Miami

An analysis of Color, Race & Gender in West Side Story

 

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.

Works Cited

West Side Story (2020). Official West Side Story Website. The Leonard Bernstein Office, INC, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.westsidestory.com/.

J. Bernstein (2020). Official West Side Story Website. The Leonard Bernstein Office, INC, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.westsidestory.com/articles-and-reviews

L. Bernstein Office (2020). Leonard Bernstein and Jazz. The Leonard Bernstein Office, INC, 2020. Retrieved from https://leonardbernstein.com/about/composer/bernstein-and-jazz

L. Bernstein (October 10th, 2006). Bernstein: Candide / Hadley, Anderson, Ludwig. ArkivMusic: The Source for Classical Music. Retrieved from http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=144807

Simeone, N. (2017). Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story. Routledge.
Coghlan, A. (2018, April 18th). Leonard Bernstein invented how we do modern classical music.

Prospect. Retrieved from https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/leonard-

bernstein-invented-how-we-do-modern-classical-music.
Brooke, A., & Bandello, M. (1908). Brooke's' Romeus and Juliet,': Being the Original of

Shakespeare's' Romeo and Juliet' (Vol. 3). Chatto and Windus.
Driscoll, R. , Davis, K. E. , Lipetz, M.E. (1972).Parental interference and romantic love: The

Romeo & Julieteffect. Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, 24,1–10. Etcheverry, P.E. , Agnew, C. R. (2004). Subjective norms and the prediction of romanticrelationship state and fate. PersonalRelationships, 11,409–428.

Wolf, S. (2011). Changed for good: a feminist history of the Broadway musical. Oxford University Press.

Negrón-Muntaner, F. (2000). Feeling Pretty: West Side Story and Puerto Rican Identity Discourses. Social Text, 18(2), 83-106.

Wells, E. A. (2011). West Side Story: Cultural Perspectives on an American Musical. Rowman & Littlefield.

Morton, J. (1997). A guide to color symbolism (Vol. 28). Colorcom.
Da Silva, F. V. (2007). Red as blood, white as snow, black as crow: chromatic symbolism of

womanhood in fairy tales. Marvels & Tales, 240-252.
Berlin, B., & Kay, P. (1991). Basic color terms: Their universality and evolution. Univ of

California Press.
Turner, V. W. (1970). The forest of symbols: Aspects of Ndembu ritual (Vol. 101). Cornell

University Press.
Davine, L. (2016). “Could We Not Dye It Red at Least?”: Color and Race in West Side Story.

Journal of Popular Film and Television, 44(3), 139-149.
Acevedo-Muñoz, Ernesto R. West Side Story as Cinema: The Making and Impact of an

American Masterpiece. Lawrence: U P of Kansas, 2013. Print.
Secades, M. C. (2018). Culture Through Color Perception in" West Side Story". UF Journal of Undergraduate Research, 20(1).

Sofia Wolfson
Emory University
University of Miami