ipl-logo

Racism In Arthur Laurent's 'West Side Story'

440 Words2 Pages

West Side Story is a tale of corrupt youth and a forbidden love. West Side Story was written by Arthur Laurents (Librettist), the music was composed by Leonard Bernstein, the lyrics were written by Stephen Sondheim, and its choreographer was Jerome Robbins. Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare was the source material for West Side Story. This story is ultimately about two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, and their battle over the neighborhood. Tony and Riff are the main individuals in the Jets Gang. Bernardo and Chino are the main individuals in the Sharks gang. Maria, Bernardo’s sister, and Anita, Bernardo’s girlfriend are also important characters associated with the Sharks. Tony and Maria’s love story begins at a dance social. …show more content…

The first instance this idea is introduced is in the opening scene of West Side Story. The opening scene includes a dance number that introduces the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks. There is a split between the two gangs and this is evident in their actions towards one another. Racism appears in the different music styles and the dance moves for the Jets and the Sharks. The Jets music was more upbeat, while the Shark’s music was harsher. Throughout the fight scene, multiple members of the Jets yelled out Spanish words, like “chico” to serve as an insult to the Puerto Ricans. In this scene, the largest instance of racism acting as a promoter of societal problems is when Lieutenant Schrank immediately assumes that the Puerto Ricans were the initial cause of the fight and blames the Sharks. Lieutenant Schrank states, “Get your boys out of here, Bernardo, and stay out! Boy, oh boy. If this neighborhood wasn’t crummy enough…” This quote is an example of racism being detrimental to the city because Lieutenant Schrank is favoring the Jets, possibly because they are the same race as him. Lieutenant Sckrank favors the Jets, and is a symbol of prejudice in law enforcement. When the law enforcement is racist, this city is ultimately

Show More
Related
329 Words | 2 Pages

The Zoot Suit Riots reveal that the American society in Los Angeles during the WWII Era was racially discriminated against Mexicans/Mexican Descents because Mexicans/Mexican Descents were known to wear Zoot Suits while zoot suitors were perceived as criminals. During this time, the Zoot Suit Riots occurred causing the “Spanish-speaking community” to be in a hard situation of being excluded from society and their surroundings. Mexicans/Mexican Descents wore Zoot Suits as a trend with the thought that this would help them “fit in” with the American style. Instead, Zoot Suitors end up being viewed as a “bad” image. The sailors would go into the Mexican neighborhoods and harm any Mexican (and Zoot Suit wearers) in sight.

Read More
105 Words | 1 Pages

Bad Boy is a book about a boy named Walter Dean Meyers, he was quick-tempered and physically strong, always ready for a fight. Walter also had an outstanding vocabulary and loved to read he would got to the library and check out books and put them in a brown paper bag to avoid being teased by the other boys. He grew up in a poor family in Harlem, and he was affected by racism that was going on in his town. With that being said he began to doubt himself and starting skipping high school, and turned to the streets and his books for

Read More
909 Words | 4 Pages

The American Journey was published by Glencoe and National Geographic in multiple cities (New York, New York was the first listed). The authors are Joyce Appleby, Alan Brinkley, and James McPherson, all of whom have PhDs. Appleby was a professor and historian at UCLA before she passed away. She was also involved with the American Historical Associated, and was also a writer. Brinkley attended Harvard and Princeton and later taught history at Columbia University.

Read More
846 Words | 4 Pages

Tatum uses the theoretical perspective of both symbolic interaction and conflict theory in this book. The symbolic interaction in this book looks at the social interaction between racial identities, how we see ourselves and how others see us. Furthermore, it manifests itself in the stereotypes and prejudices that are perpetuated in our society; stereotypes help to reinforce negative images and ideals that we have about different races. An example in her book Dr. Tatum explains that one of her white male student once responded in his journal “is not my fault that blacks do not write books” (1445).

Read More
805 Words | 4 Pages

Racism continues to be an issue that causes a great deal of tension in the United States. While some believe that we are living in a post-racial society, others are aware that racism can take different forms in this day and age. In White Bound: Nationalists, Antiracists, and the Shared Meanings of Race, author Matthew Hughey tackles the topic of racism in a unique way. Hughey focuses on how the members of the two groups that he conducted the study on conceptualize their whiteness and how that relates to racism. Hughey spend a little over one year conducting his research for this project.

Read More
1115 Words | 5 Pages

Crash is a movie released in 2004. The movie deals with racial stereotyping and different incidents with different people. In the plot there is a black detective that is estranged from his mother and has a brother that is a criminal that also has a side kick that he works with. A white couple, the father is an attorney and the wife has a tendency to stereotype people. Two police officers and one of them is a racist and harassed an African American couple, that are in the show business.

Read More
978 Words | 4 Pages

Platoon The first sociological topic to discuss is multiculturalism. In the movie, the platoon is made up of a diverse group of men, they are from different places throughout the country and different races. When I speak of the culture of the blacks and whites within the movie, I am not referring to the culture of Africans embodied in the behaviors of the black men; rather, the black culture within America during the 1960’s. At the beginning of the movie, it shows the platoon marching.

Read More
1841 Words | 8 Pages

MAJOR ESSAY The West Side Story is popular for adapting the classic romantic tragedy, "Romeo and Juliet" (Anonymous). On the other hand, Porgy and Bess is an opera with regard black residents in South Carolina. Basically, this film is based on the history of race in America. Since these two films involve different plot, this paper will discuss how these stories differ or what they have in common.

Read More
446 Words | 2 Pages

The ethnic background is usually perceived by others and by self. In the Color of Fear, the group of men who conversed with each other explained how they were treated by certain areas of the community. The social structure of these men were all different since their classes were all different. A question addressed in the conversation was why whites deny the blacks the idea that racism exists, this

Read More
480 Words | 2 Pages

Romeo and Juliet The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet’s love story. The author of Romeo and Juliet is William Shakespeare, he wrote a play about two teens that had fallen in love. These teens’ family’s had a feud so they had to hide there love for each other. Even though Romeo and Juliet committed suicide, their untimely deaths are ultimately caused by the fate and family feud.

Read More
903 Words | 4 Pages

Painful stories that “force people to confront their most dangerous internalized philosophies” (Weakland). Without the production of West Side Story, other shows like Urinetown and Assassins probably wouldn’t have been produced. Because of Jerome Robbins and West Side Story, musicals could show the ugly side of human nature and plots could be

Read More
921 Words | 4 Pages

What if the world was still the same as it was back during the great depression. What if this was the truth. In To Kill a Mockingbird readers can see how prejudice affected people of color back then, and how it’s not so different from today. In the novel readers will find unfairness in court, hate crimes, and segregation. Today readers can still find these same issues, but in different forms.

Read More
794 Words | 4 Pages

After watching her father fight hard for a case he was bound to loose, hearing all the mean names her family and Tom was called and hearing the news of Tom’s death she began to understand the reality of racism. “Just what I said. Grandma says it's bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he's turned out a nigger-lover we'll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb agin. He's ruinin' the family, that's what he's doin'.” (Lee, 110)

Read More
3957 Words | 16 Pages

Racial Prejudice in WICKED: How is the theme of racial prejudice explored in Act One of the musical WICKED? The musical Wicked: The Untold Stories of the Witches of Oz was first performed on 10th June 2003 in New York City on Broadway. It was adapted, by Winnie Holzman and Steven Schwartz, from the 1995 book by Gregory Maguire (WICKED: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West), and follows the story of Elphaba a green-skinned girl who eventually becomes better known as the Wicked Witch of the West.

Read More
1350 Words | 6 Pages

In this society, many judgements are made about people from different backgrounds. This causes many problems between people of other races. Racism can be shown in multiple ways such as by using overt and covert racism. In the two stories “The Stolen Party” by Liliana Hecker and “So What Are You, Anyway?” by Lawrence Hill, there are many examples of racist stereotypes.

Read More

More about Racism In Arthur Laurent's 'West Side Story'

Related Topics

Open Document