MovieChat Forums > West Side Story (1961) Discussion > West Side Story--NOT Just a Teen Movie:

West Side Story--NOT Just a Teen Movie:

posted 8 years ago by friendoffilm
3 replies | jump to latest

This is a post that had been percolating in my mind for awhile, and, having experienced a certain amount of derision on some other boards for talking about West Side Story, because many people consider this movie mainly for adolescents. This could be because most people, when they pick a favorite film or films, tend to pick films that they directly identify with in some way or other, and West Side Story is supposedly a movie that teens identify with. Having first seen the film West Side Story when I was still in high school, I can see why many people feel that way.

Over the years, however, I've been more and more inclined to believe otherwise. Since I was still a teenager in high school when I first saw this great classic film, back then, I identified with the kids (i. e. the Jets, the Sharks and their girls, and Tony and Maria) being kids, but when I got older, I came to appreciate West Side Story even more for what it really is; a work of theatrical art and beauty, through and through. Contrary to what many people say, either explicitly or implicitly, the great golden oldie-but-goody movie/musical classic, West Side Story is not just a movie for teenagers, but a great movie/musical classic for people of pretty much all ages and from all walks of life. I say this, because, whenever I've attended a screening of this great classic, I've noticed that people of almost all ages (I say almost all ages, because I personally would not recommend West Side Story for kids who're under eight years old) and all walks of life are present in the audience--pre-teens, teens, young adults, middle-aged, and older people.

West Side Story, imho, is a classic that seems to bring people from pretty much all walks of life and all ages together, to share as one big happy, if temporary community, in a real movie theatre, with the lights down low, as it's really meant to be viewed. Unfortunately, however, like all movies, West Side Story also has its detractors. There are people who're upset by it, because, for whatever reason(s), it tends to hit too close to home for them; those who live and work in low-income communities where there's much crime, gang-violence and racial/ethnic tensions. There are Social workers, mental health councilors and many law-enforcement people, and average, ordinary people who've got issues that they have to deal with themselves, or people who simply fail to get what West Side Story is about, because of a generation gap also often feel that WSS hits too close to home. They frequently have had to deal with racism, gang violence and the problems of substance and alcohol abuse. Some people even say that the film West Side Story is too “white-bread”, or too sanitized. These are things that I also disagree with, first because it’s a musical, secondly because it’s based on certain realities, despite being fiction, and thirdly, because certain things such as dubbing and make-up were quite commonly used during that period.

Many of today's young people, regardless of who they are, or what walk of life they're from, have also grown up listening to tinnier-sounding music and viewing schlockier films in which things are constantly exploding on the screen, and that're extremely fast-moving, with no slow-down breaks in the action, in antiseptic-looking multiplex cinemas that contain anywhere from 10-30 cinemas that're shoebox-sized, with screens that look like great big TV's, plus the general admission and concessions can cost upward of ten dollars or more.

Yet, the film West Side Story is proof of one thing: that really artistic and beautiful movies/musicals with style and substance can be and have been made. Since West Side Story, like all movies, reflects the times in which it was made, however, it would be unrealistic to expect the movie industry and the Hollywood of today to produce the same sort of movie. A movie is what it is, and West Side Story is no exception. There's just no way to replicate the original, or even re-make it successfully, no matter how hard one tries. So, all of the above having been said, I'll also add this: Whether one, who like me, is a devout fan of the film West Side Story who's also seen some good stage productions of this great musical and rarely misses a WSS screening at a movie theatre in my area, or someone who's only seen this great classic on TV, DVD or video, or, if you've never, ever seen the film West Side Story at all, I say this: If this beautiful classic film is ever played on a great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre in your area, jump at the opportunity to see this great classic film on a great big, wide movie screen,, as it's truly meant to be viewed! It's an enriching, fullfilling experience that you'll never forget.

[–] boxerrebellion 8 years ago

I have to say that although I understand a lot of your post, I have never heard this film referred to as a 'teen movie'. I never considered it be aimed at teens, but as I first saw it as a rather young child, definitely under the age of ten, I considered the characters to be 'adults' - or darn close to it. Even in my 50s, I thought the main characters to be young adults... yes, Maria is still high school age, but Tony, Riff, Nardo, and Anita I thought were older teens, post high school... face it, these kids weren't going to college. I find the idea of high school aged Jets raping Anita even more disturbing than the scene already is.

[–] pontevedro 8 years ago

I'll second boxerrebellion's post. I've never understood anyone to think WSS was a teen movie, just as no one regards R&J as Shakespeare's YA drama. It was certainly not marketed that way in 1961 - if anything the slant was more toward parents: here's what's going on with kids in an urban environment.

Teen oriented movies released in 1961 include: The Parent Trap, Blue Hawaii, and Gidget Goes Hawaiian. (Both Gidget and Elvis in Hawaii at the same time?)

[–] friendoffilm 8 years ago

Actually, pontevedro, my younger sister and I (my younger brother hadn't even been born yet.), were both pre-teens when the film version of West Side Story first came out in the fall of 1961 (mid to late October, to be exact.). Subsequently my parents refused to take either me or my younger sister to go and see it at that time, even though many, if not most other kids we knew were seeing this film during the heyday of its freshness, newness and popularity, because neither of them considered West Side Story really a kids' movie, although both my parents saw West Side Story pretty much when it first came out on screen. Yet, I'm almost positive that, had I been invited to go to see the film West Side Story with a bunch of other girls from my grade (chaperoned by someone's parents, to boot.), my parents wouldn't have objected, and would've let me go.

I saw West Side Story for the very first time on a now-defunct cinema north of Boston, and north of the town where my siblings and I grew up, during a national re-release of this film, at around Christmastime of 1968, as a high school Senior. Since I was still a teenager in high school when I saw this film, I identified with the Jets, the Sharks and their girls, as well as Tony and Maria regarding kids being kids and so on, but I also enjoyed the film as a whole, for the fantastic piece of art that it really is. When I got a little older, however, I loved the story, and was able to also really appreciate the film West Side Story for the great work of art that it really is.

Truthfully, West Side Story still tugs at my heartstrings, even today. You're right....it's not just a teen movie. It's a movie for almost all ages and all walks of life!

While I agree with the notion that West Side Story is not just a teen movie, I do, however, know a number of people who feel otherwise about this film, and some of these very people have made it clear, though implicitly, that they consider me immature, or even retarded, but that's their problem, not mine.