The Refreshed Politics of "West Side Story"

Also: Zebras, Tim Kaine, and Hot Chocolate.

No Polls, Just Vibes

The weekly word on politics, (usually) free from polls.

Here’s the rundown:

• In case you missed it, a lot was revealed by and about Mark Meadows this week. Vox has a great rundown on that.

• Build Back Better has almost certainly been pushed back to early 2022.

• Politico got weirdly defensive about its (supposedly everyone in the media’s) coverage of the downfall of democracy.

• Sen. Tim Kaine is a huge fan of Barbasol, apparently.

• Those Zebras in Maryland were finally caught. May they forever run free in our hearts.

• Finally, if you love mysteries but hate True Crime podcasts, here’s a fascinating episode of The Daily in which they investigate the assassination of Haiti’s president.

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The Refreshed Politics of West Side Story

The old West Side Story is dead. 

At least that’s the immediate sense I got from the first shot of Steven Spielberg’s 2021 remake. The opening shot pans over rubble, and notably, scaffolding with an intense likeness to the famous scaffolding featured on posters for the 1961 film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. 

That scaffolding now lies bent and broken on the ground, destined for a landfill, to be forgotten ⁠— much like the 1961 film, if Spielberg and the film’s many critics have anything to say about it.

The 2021 West Side Story is a spectacular achievement in the art of movie musicals. I would explain why, but frankly, other critics have already laid it all out better than I could. (I found the NPR, NYT, and Atlantic reviews the best.)

Of course, the original was also considered an achievement in the art of movie musicals. It won Best Picture in 1961 and is highly-regarded by many critics as a classic. Many of those critics questioned the need for a remake, no matter how high quality.

The original film is also littered with flaws, particularly in its stereotypical depiction of Puerto Rican immigrants. Many Latinx critics questioned the need for a remake, considering how much harm the original had done.

So, if virtually no one wanted a new West Side Story, why do it? 

To answer that, I think it’s worth delving into the refreshed politics of the new film. The script for Spielberg’s version was written by Tony Kushner, most famous for the modern classic play Angels in America, and who also collaborated with Spielberg on Munich (2005) and Lincoln (2012).

The new script is much more nuanced and effective than the original at portraying the political themes of the story, although it's not quite flawless (more on that later).

Kushner’s talent has always been in his ability to psychologize even the most confusing characters, and he’s brought that to the new script, particularly in his psychologizing of the Jets. The Jets, a gang of white high-school boys, are very obviously the aggressors, while the Sharks, a rival gang of Puerto Rican immigrants, are simply defending their livelihood.

The movie establishes the story’s connection to our current political moment right from the start. That opening shot ends up panning up to reveal that the land the two gangs used to fight over is being bulldozed to make room for Lincoln Center. The gang rivalry is all the more heartbreaking, and futile, because of these stakes. It’s clear that the Jets are territorial over land they are losing to the rich, not immigrants.

Kushner also takes more time to give backstory to Tony and Riff, the founders of the Jets, characterizing them as young men completely abandoned by society, with no hope of ever climbing the economic ladder. They end up creating the Jets to be a part of something, and to feel like they have some control. They take out their aggression at the world on their easiest target: the Sharks.

As Alissa Wilkinson noted for Vox, “It’s a tale of ultimate futility; these kids are fighting one another as a proxy for the fights they know in their guts they can’t win, against the police, looming racism, poverty, and the will of a city to whom they are merely bodies, easily displaced.”  

Riff, the leader of the Jets, even acknowledges this futility early on. After a police officer spits out a racist tirade against the Sharks, Riff spits back that the real enemy are the developers taking their homes. But Riff also knows that that fight is hopeless, so he takes his aggression to the Sharks.

In response to this new psychologizing, a critic for the New Yorker argued that the new film does too much to “rationalize aggression—or racism—away.” To be sure, Kushner has added some level of understanding to the Jets, but understanding should not be confused with “rationalizing away.” Nothing about the film makes the Jets’ actions excusable. They are still clearly the original aggressors here and are very much in the wrong.

Their aggression quickly spirals into hatred and racism, which in turn quickly spirals into deadly violence, and once that cycle of violence begins, it can’t be stopped. In the end, there is virtually no hope. Unlike the original, or Romeo & Juliet for that matter, there is no suggestion that any good will come from this tragedy ⁠— that the characters will learn from their mistakes.

These themes were of course present in the original, but Kushner has expanded and amplified them. He’s refreshed them so they feel more connected to today’s society than before. The new version is so heartbreaking that there are times when it can be hard to watch.

There are still some flaws that carry over from the original, although to a lesser extent. The Sharks, as well as Maria and Anita, feel more nuanced in this film, but still receive much less screen-time and character-depth than the Jets. This is perhaps a consequence of the film’s choice to make the Jets more clearly the aggressors. If the Sharks are merely trying to defend themselves, there is less that we need to understand about them. Still, it's disappointing to see that mistake repeated here considering how consistent that criticism has been since 1957.

Where the new version fails the most is, ironically, a consequence of how it succeeds. By so effectively adapting this story into a lesson in the psychology of racism and a reflection of our current political moment, West Side Story has now essentially used Puerto Rican people as a catch-all for non-whiteness and for non-Americanness.

As Dr. Yarimar Bonilla noted for New York Times, the new film virtually ignores that Puerto Rican immigrants aren’t even crossing borders to come to the US. They are coming to America from, well, America. 

“In early interviews, Mr. Spielberg said that the film could help Americans understand what is happening ‘at the borders.’ But as a territory of the United States, Puerto Rico’s 3.2 million residents are U.S. citizens. The borders we cross are imperial ones,” she says.

The fact that imperialism is almost completely ignored in this new film doesn’t completely negate the effectiveness of West Side Story’s lessons about the dangers of racism, but it is a major failure on the filmmakers’ part. West Side Story is supposed to be a Puerto Rican story as much as a white one. It certainly does not succeed on that front.

So why remake West Side Story? Frankly, the old version was loved enough, and outdated enough, that fans and critics alike deserved a version that can be loved without qualification. Spielberg’s version, unfortunately, doesn’t achieve that, but it is a marked improvement.

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Spiderman: No Way Home — Spoiler-free Review

It was two-and-a-half hours of pandering, and honestly, I loved it. 10/10.

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The Weekly Soundtrack & I Hardly Know Her!

Our music and cocktail columns combined into a special crossover column for one time only.

First up, with holiday breaks starting soon, now is a great time to relax with some hot chocolate and winter-themed soft indie pop.

And what’s hot chocolate & chill without hot chocolate?

Le Chocolat Chaud (Parisian Hot Cocoa)

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 2 tbsp semisweet chocolate chips

• 1 tbsp unsweetend cocoa powder

• vanilla extract

• 1 shot cognac

• whipped cream (optional)

• cinnamon sugar (optional)

In a saucepan over medium heat, whisk together milk, sugar, and cocoa powder. Whish constantly until milk is warm but not boiling. Mix in chocolate chips and 1-2 dashes of vanilla extract. Once fully combined into a liquid, pour into a mug. (Or honestly, just make it from a pack. I won’t judge). Add 1 shot of cognac. Garnish with whipped cream and cinnamon sugar.

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