West Side Story Social Tension and Doomed

West Side Story

Social Tension and Doomed Romances in West Side Story

Hundreds of years after Shakespeare's penning of Romeo and Juliet, the notion of warring families and star-crossed lovers has not waned in popularity. This is evident in the Academy Award-winning 1961 film West Side Story, which, stripped of its musical interludes and numerous dance numbers, becomes the adaptation of Shakespeare's romantic tragedy in its barest bones. Of course, West Side Story gives a more contemporary edge to the social tensions between two "families," this time branching out to two racial families as opposed to two rival Italian groups in Verona. Through Robert Wise's direction, the film adaptation of the popular musical manages to exude serious racial concerns of the time period through light-hearted song and an epic love story.

The movie opens up with overhead shots of New York City and its busy activities in the city. From the highways to the buildings to the parks and to the various notable establishments and known structures, the purpose of this broad montage was to show the vastness of the life lived in the city. When the scene finally pans in to zoom on the first set of gang members, it is evident that this conflict is just the working microcosm of an evidently large world. Still, the focus is apparent: two gang members -- filled with teens from two different racial families, the whites and the Puerto Rican immigrants -- are fighting over the control of the neighborhood. Racism and prejudice run abound, with the white Americans -- the Jets -- periodically referring to the Puerto Ricans as "chicos," and the Puerto Ricans -- the Sharks -- responding in turn.

Inevitably, this tension escalates in the form of two teenagers from the opposite spectrums falling in love with each other. Like Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, Tony Wycek and Maria Nunez become infatuated with each other, to a point where their racial backgrounds do not matter. Their first meeting is indicative of this ignorance of race: the cameras fade every other dancer to the background as Maria and Tony only have eyes for each other. A love-struck Maria gazes intently at Tony, and says, "My hands are cold. Yours too." This one statement symbolizes the blurring of the racial lines; Maria, in her love, did not care who Tony is. In the same vein, Tony is also uncaring of the happenings of the world and only sees Maria.

The direction of the musical dance numbers also heightens the culmination of violence that would undoubtedly end the film. This can be seen through various songs, chief in "America," a song that exposes the argument that the Puerto Rican women and the Puerto Rican men have at the roof of a building. In this number, the women look on the brighter side of things, indicating that America was the symbol of prospects and success; the men, on the other hand, argue that it's only a land of opportunity for the white Americans, not the immigrants. This concept heightened the mood of what can be conceived as a light-hearted depiction of racism and gang violence.