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Denny Gabriel

Dr. Robb/ Professor Meg Wise-Lawrence

American Musical Theater

1 May 2018

“One Look at Us and They Charge Twice”

West Side Story ​was first performed on Broadway in 1957 and the film was released in

1961.​ ​A reinterpretation of William Shakespeare’s ​Romeo and Juliet​, refit to New York’s

modern Upper West Side. During the release of ​West Side Story​, there was a rise in racial issues

and discrimination in the country. ​West Side Story ​joined these controversies by the use of

Brownface and failing to accurately portray the Hispanic culture. The extreme inaccuracies of

the portrayal of Puerto Ricans and others further reinforces the racist ideals during the time.

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.

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 ​was performed. The racial opinions

on people of color during this time affected the making of musicals. Discrimination being

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

themselves.
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Understanding and observing the characters in ​West Side Story,​ reinforces the

racist,ignorant ideals this musical has in place. In particular, the “minority” group(The Sharks) in

the musical are coated in brown powder to differentiate from the “American” Jets. Stereotypical

to portray the Puerto Ricans in a darker shade then the Jets even though, Puerto ricans

themselves are American and can also have a light skin tone. In addition, the film and musical

both possess Brownface. “George Chakiris, who played Barnardo… was “brownfaced”

”(“Feeling Pretty”, Negr​ón-Muntaner, pg 91)​. He was given unnecessary stereotypes to serve

“the function of underscoring Barnardo's Ethnicity”(“Feeling Pretty”, Negr​ón-Muntaner, pg 91)​.

Things such as a flawed accent and eccentric spanish pronunciation were designed to make him

“More authentically Puerto Rican”(“Feeling Pretty”, Negr​ón-Muntaner, pg 91) in ​West Side

Story​.​ Officer Krupke demonstrates the racial prejudice within ​West Side Story ​by his actions

towards the different ethnic groups in place. He is shown to patrol the neighborhood to keep the

“gangs” in check. However, we can clearly see he treats the gangs differently. To the more

familiar gang, the Jets, Officer Krupke seems to let them get away with more foolishness then

the Sharks. He has a much more subtle and friendly behaviour towards the Jets opposed to the

Sharks. This is clearly shown when Officer Krupke catches the Jets hanging out late at night in

the neighborhood. The Jets are quick to make up pathetic excuses as to why they are out so late,

In the end, Officer Krupke leaves them with a warning and says: “And don’t let me catch none

of youse around here later”(Robbins,Jerome). This reveals how Officer Krupke is more lenient to

the Jets opposed to the Sharks because he constantly lets them get away with foolishness.

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
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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 ​West Side Story ​has generalized the Puerto

Rican culture. 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 touch on this subject. 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”(Leonard Bernstein). This reveals how Anita is not

proud of her Puerto Rican identity. In fact, she emphasizes to “Let it sink back in the ocean”,

meaning, forget all about it. In context of the film, after moving from Puerto Rico, Anita suggest

to strafe away from their origin and adapt to the new American life. In addition, the lyrics add a

remark of stereotype and exaggeration. Failing to mention all the wonders of Puerto Rico, they

instead emphasize the fact that hurricanes are always occuring in the island. ​West Side Story ​only

mentions the negative things about Puerto Rico, which in fact aren't all accurate to begin with.

The original lyrics of the song “America” 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”). Lastly, in the song America they sing: “Buying on credit is so nice/ One look at us and

they charge twice”(Leonard Bernstein). This lyric symbolically addresses the discrimination a
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minority will face here in the United States. They refer to getting charged twice just because of

the way they look oppose to getting charged once if you were a white individual in the United

States.

Whitewashing is a common cast practice in the film industry were white actors are hired

to play non-white character roles such as Latinos and Asian roles. It is no surprise that ​West Side

Story​ was evidently using this common practice to make their film more appealing to a white

audience. ​West Side Story​ is centered in the idea of race, so there should be no surprise that the

musical and film made an effort at accurately appealing to the audience. However, during this

time, Musicals and Film’s were geared towards a white audience. “One way to alleviate this

anxiety and allow white audiences to enjoy the interracial seduction without its consequences

was to cast an actress whom everyone knew to be white”(“Feeling Pretty, ​Negr​ón-Muntaner, pg

92) . This demonstrates how the film industry condones and accepts the use of Whitewashing,

even if it means compensating for the accuracy and authenticity of a character in the film.

Brownface comes into play here, as Whites can easily inherit the skins of others without taking

into account their culture. Natalie Woods character can be seen as a mockery, from her voice

being dubbed to match and fit a latino who's been in the United States for less than “2 months”

according to the ​West Side Story​ narrative. This showed how the directors of the film were trying

so hard to fill in the gap of “authenticity” of Maria’s character with a false stereotype.

Many believe ​West Side Story​ to be an exceptional story. For its time, it was definitely

different then other musicals as musicals revolving around the latino population weren’t so

common.​ ​receiving great reviews in the 1957 for the realistic views of puerto rican gang activity.

“ Henry Hewes, in his review "​West Side Story​ Brilliantly Expresses the Character of Teenage
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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 by the year. Most of the gang activity that's left are because of drug wars. In addition,

the relationship between Puerto Rican and gang activity it's an exaggeration. Many believe if

Puerto Ricans were to stay in their own country, it will greatly decrease the rate of gang activity

in New York City. In addition, to this false accusation towards the Puerto Rican community

many believed Puerto Ricans brought crime and problems from their own country, despite Puerto

Ricans having the freedom to come to the United States because they are in fact a part of the

United States. Despite this, many people referred to them as immigrants. “I hope all who believe

that we can curb crime by restricting immigration from Puerto Rico will read Dan Wakefield’s

thoughtful article”(The New York Times, “New York’s Puerto Ricans”. This article gives us

relative evidence on the racial beliefs during the 1950’s. Puerto Ricans are often shamed for

being “drug lords” and gang affiliated individuals. The article shed light on the inaccuracies of

Puerto Rican behavior.

The ethnic groups in ​West Side Story​ also brought 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. Puerto Ricans are

portrayed as an infection to the American community. In general, the Sharks are portrayed as

inferior opposed to their rivals, The Jets. 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
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behaviour. This shows blatantly the discrimination of the Sharks oppose to the Jets in ​West Side

Story.​ The Book “The Great White Way: Race and the Broadway Musical” by Warren Hoffman

informs the readers about the criticism around ​West Side Story​. Critics themselves are confused

on how to label the Jets which shows how the writers of ​West Side Story​ did not effectively

portray race. “ 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 a

difficult time understanding the racial background of the Jets. Being that immigrants are seen as

a negative thing in the neighborhood, despite the Jets being immigrants themselves. One main

difference between the Jets and the Sharks is their physical appearance. The actors who are part

of the Jets in ​West Side Story ​are made to seem darker. They purposely made their skin darker to

distinguish from the “Polish” Jets.

Today's society is still accustomed to discriminate against people of color. From the

justice system to the educational system, racism and discrimination persist. For example, in

specialized high schools where you are required to take an exam in order to score high enough to

attend the school, students are also judged by their skin. Out of thousands of students who take

the test, Isn’t it quite odd that most of the students chosen are white? Something is definitely not

right. Another example is the Justice System. The rise of black movements have brought

awareness to all the racial prejudice around people of color. Police brutality has been a huge

issue affecting the black community. Many individuals have been unfairly killed by the police.
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Individuals such as Eric Garner in 2014, is a prime example. He was put on a chokehold despite

telling the cops that he couldn’t breath. The cops kept on choking him leading to his death. This

brought an uproar among many indviduals across United States: rioting ,protesting for the rights

of black people.

West Side Story ​was filled with many racist and ignorant ideals. Characters such as

Bernardo and Natalie Wood demonstrate how ​West Side Story​ chose to stereotype a community

for the sake of appealing to the White Audience. In the year of 1950s, racial tensions rose and

West Side Story ​added to these controversies around that time. Racial prejudice and

discrimination still can be observed in today's society very clearly. Analyzing ​West Side Story

gave us a clear understanding how racism and stereotyping is in the film/musical industry.
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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

https://search-proquest-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/docview/114322791?accountid=99

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“America” By Leonard Bernstein

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.

NEW YORK'S PUERTO RICANS. (1959, Oct 25). ​New York Times (1923-Current

File)​Retrieved from

https://search-proquest-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/docview/114820807?accoun

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