Turn on the news and you’ll see it. News of gun violence, a child being kidnapped, gangs committing crimes. It’s all around us, and there’s no way to escape it. Crimes really haven’t changed, only the faces attached to them have, and a lot of the social issues presented in West Side Story are definitely still relevant to today’s society.
A main theme in "West Side Story" is racism. The Jets' sole reason for not liking the Sharks is simply based on the fact that they are Puerto Rican. Even as little kids, we have this natural instinct to fear things we don’t understand. The Jets were intimidated by the Sharks mostly because they didn’t act like them, look the same, or have the same beliefs as them. The same can be said for the Sharks, and it’s because of these differences that these two groups of people were willing to physically hurt each other, even to the point of death.
These types of things still happen all the time. People still don’t
know how to put aside their differences to find the things they have in common, even with people of the same cultural background.
A much smaller theme in this movie is rape. Most victims of rape are very innocent people who are easy prey. Anita fits that mold. At this particular point in the musical, she had just lost someone who she really loved and she was very easy for the Sharks to manipulate. It really doesn’t last very long, but no matter how many times I have seen West Side Story," I have to look away. It hits a nerve with me that I can’t really explain. It’s one of my least favorite scenes in the whole musical.
"West Side Story" was very innovative, especially for its time period. The musicals that were produced around that time period were meant to be strictly for entertainment, for the most part. It was a very brave move for the creative team of this musical to tackle themes like racism, violence, and death. The risk definitely paid off, because even today "West Side Story" still remains a very popular musical. The main message that this show is trying to convey to the audience is that it shouldn’t take a horrible tragedy to finally unite people. Just because someone may not look the same way you do, or act the same way, or share your same belief system, that doesn’t mean you have to be fearful of them. Instead, we should try our hardest to embrace the fact that this world would be a very boring place without a little diversity, and it’s ok to celebrate the things that make us unique.
