“Could We Not Dye It Red at Least?”: Color and Race in West Side Story

Journal of Popular Film and Television

ISSN: 0195-6051 (Print) 1930-6458 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjpf20

Lauren Davine

To cite this article: Lauren Davine (2016) “Could We Not Dye It Red at Least?”: Color and Race in West Side Story, Journal of Popular Film and Television, 44:3, 139-149, DOI: 10.1080/01956051.2016.1161585

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01956051.2016.1161585

Published online: 20 Sep 2016.

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Download by: [UZH Hauptbibliothek / Zentralbibliothek Zürich] Date: 03 October 2016, At: 04:11 “Could We Not Dye It Red at Least?”: Color and Race in West Side Story

West Side Story (1961). Directed by Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise. Shown: preview program cover. Photo courtesy of United Artists/ Photofest.

By LAUREN DAVINE

efore embarking on his work as choreographer and co-director of West Side Story (1961), Jerome Robbins wrote a letter to BSaul Chaplin, Walter Mirisch, and Robert Wise, the producers of the film, expressing his anxiety surrounding the adaptation of the Broadway musical to the screen: West Side Story was a believable and touching work because of the spe- cial poetic conventions we evolved, conventions which were inherently theatrical. The problem is now to find a new set of conventions, inher- Copyright © 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC DOI: 10.1080/01956051.2016.1161585 ently cinematic, which will also convey the essence of a show whose Color versions of one or more of the figures in the essence is not in any of its separate elements . . . but in their organic article can be found online at www.tandfonline. unity. (qtd. in Vaill 322). com/vjpf.

139 140 JPF&T—Journal of Popular Film and Television

Robbins realized his artistic vision and to violet, to iris blue, etc. The array of Abstract: West Side Story’s (1961) har- retained the rigorous coherence of his colors onscreen each correspond to a monious integration of music, dance, original production. Amanda Vaill, a song in the overture, and reemerge later and cinematography is evidence of its biographer of Robbins, argues that the on when the song is featured in a musi- effective transposition from stage to strongest segments of the film adapta- cal number (Acevedo-Muñoz 125). For screen. However, despite the film’s os- tion were characterized by a novel “syn- example, the poppy red backdrop in the tensible unity on the level of structure thesis of music, shot, and action” (322). overture is accompanied by the instru- and style, one cannot ignore the strong Wise’s “imaginative but controlled color mentals of the song, “Tonight.” Corre- sense of dissension present in terms of concept” (Wise, qtd. in Acevedo-Muñoz spondingly, the “Tonight” musical num- racial conflict in the film, which is played 18) is reflected in the film’s meticu- ber/montage opens with an ominous sky out through the film’s color. This ar- lous design, which foregrounds, above at sunset in this same shade of red. The ticle argues that this disunity expressed all else, the expressive potential of the overture sequence is the first indication through the film’s color, as well as the film’s color cinematography (Acevedo- that the use of color in the film is care- “chromophobia” that runs throughout Muñoz 18). fully and thoughtfully orchestrated. The the film, are indicative of a deeper fear The film’s intricate color scheme is function of color is further reinforced of miscegenation which lies at its core. introduced in the overture, where the by the “color-coordinated costumes” only movement over an abstract Man- (Acevedo-Muñoz 18) and set design. Keywords: color, Hollywood cinema, mu- hattan skyline is the changing back- Ostensibly, color plays a central role sical, race, West Side Story ground colors: from citrine yellow, to in sustaining the “organic unity” of the poppy red, to persimmon, to magenta, musical that Robbins describes. Despite

West Side Story (1961). Directed by Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise. Shown: Jet Song. Photo courtesy of United Artists/Photofest. Color and Race in West Side Story 141

West Side Story (1961). Directed by Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise. Shown far left: George Chakiris; right foreground: Russ Tamblyn. Photo courtesy of United Artists/Photofest. the film’s unified structure and style, sis of the film’s reception in various the film reproduces racist discourses of however, the strong sense of dissen- contexts, Negrón-Muntaner challenges white American ideology by construct- sion in terms of racial conflict cannot be dominant interpretations of the film by ing a series of “binary oppositions” ignored. The conflict between the two uncovering “subversive readings” which which reinforce a mythology of Puerto rival gangs is played out through the work to effectively address the ways in Ricans “as invaders and intruders of film’s color, which disrupts its organic which the film has constructed “Puerto the U.S. mainland” (Sandoval-Sánchez unity. This disunity expresses a fear of Rican subjectivity as deviant” (87). This 64). This sense of fear and anxiety sur- miscegenation, an anxiety that insidi- contention also follows Alberto Sando- rounding the racial other in the film is ously permeates the entire film. val-Sánchez’s reading of the musical as displaced onto another discourse em- The film’s preoccupation with mis- framing “ethnic difference as a threat to phasizing the fear of color itself. cegenation is pointed out by Frances the territorial, racial, and linguistic iden- The fear and loathing of color in Negrón-Muntaner, who argues that the tity, as well as to the national and impe- Western culture is what David Batchelor film’s “antimiscegenation motif” places rial subjectivity, of Anglo-Americans” terms “chromophobia” (22). For Batch- it alongside D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of (63). In his deconstructive analysis of elor, chromophobia’s modus operandi is a Nation (1915) (88). Through an analy- the film, Sandoval-Sánchez argues that “to purge color from culture” and to un-

The conflict between the two rival gangs is played out through the film’s color,

which disrupts its organic unity. This disunity expresses a fear of miscegenation, an anxiety that insidiously permeates the entire film. 142 JPF&T—Journal of Popular Film and Television

If in Western culture color is associated with a foreign, exotic “other” … then it is no coincidence that the most colorful sequences in the film … are ones that showcase Puerto Rican subjects. dermine its value and importance (22). that the spectacle of ethnic otherness in this presents against the more restrained Batchelor argues that there are two ra- the film is used to divert attention away gestural vocabulary of a predominantly tionales used for this expulsion of color from the racism at its core (64). This Anglo-Saxon culture” (206). This sense (22). The first understands color to be strategy is employed in the “America” of restraint that Knapp identifies is as- characteristic of “some ‘foreign’ body— sequence. The song is set up as a “male- sociated with the Jets, whose white- usually the feminine, the oriental, the female” (Acevedo-Muñoz 160) political ness marks them as American and the primitive, the infantile, the vulgar, the argument between Anita (Rita Moreno) “norm.” It is also expressed in the light, queer or the pathological” (Batchelor and Bernardo (George Chakiris). Anita muted, and washed-out colors worn by 22–23). The second frames color as takes an assimilationist stance, reject- the Jets. Almost all of the Jets wear vari- “superficial” and “supplementary,” as ing her country of origin and praising ations and gradations of muted browns, something that is “inessential” (Batch- life in America, while Bernardo takes an mauves, yellows, beiges, blues, and elor 23). In summary, color is marked as anti-assimilationist one (Sandoval-Sán- grays. The cool tones that the Jets wear both “dangerous” and “trivial” (Batch- chez 72). Bernardo’s lyrics effectively are in keeping with the “cool, angular” elor 23). Moreover, the fear and de- express the racism and prejudice that and “modern strands of jazz” that are nouncement of color in Western culture the Puerto Rican immigrants have to associated with them, most pointedly in is symptomatic of broader anxieties sur- endure (“Life is all-right in America/If the cool jazz musical number, “Cool” rounding “race, gender, [and] sexuality” you’re all-white in America”). Despite (Wells 147). Moreover, aside from some (Dalle Vacche and Price 52). “Color is Bernardo’s demystification of Anita’s of the Jets being aptly named “Ice” and routinely excluded from the higher con- assimilationist argument (Sandoval- “Snowboy,”2 their choreography is also cerns of the mind,” argues Batchelor Sánchez 73), Sandoval-Sánchez asserts consistent with their cool demeanor, (23). “It is other to the higher values that these dissenting statements are ul- especially in the “Prologue,” with their of Western culture” (Batchelor 23). As timately overshadowed by the song’s detached finger snaps, cool strides, and a case in point, Robbins expressed his “patriotic pro-U.S. propaganda” (73). chassés. Thus, one could argue that the dislike for West Side Story’s ostenta- Moreover, the incredible dancing and restrained movements and, by exten- tious use of color in a letter to friend and syncopating Latin rhythm further under- sion, colors, worn by the Jets are rep- dance critic, Richard Buckle: cut the song’s social commentary, invit- resentative of the “chromophobic im- Some of it’s wonderful and exciting ing the audience to become mesmerized pulse” (Price 80) that Batchelor writes . . . but some of it gets bogged down in by the spectacle that is accentuated by about. As Batchelor explains, behind the the lack of understanding of what the the vivid shades of purple and red that degradation of color in Western culture scenes or the musical numbers were the Sharks wear. is a fear of color—“a fear of contami- about. And occasionally Hollywood rears its ugly head and splatters the “In many ways,” argues Negrón- nation and corruption by something that screen with the soft lights streaming Muntaner, “West Side Story suggests is unknown or appears unknowable” from Heaven or garish Technicolor or that cultural identity is, so to speak, a (Batchelor 22). STEREOPHONIC SOUND. (qtd. in matter of make-up. Puerto Ricans are In the “Prologue,” the muted colors Berson 157) made of dark powder, bright-colored that the Jets wear are interrupted by the As his letter suggests, Robbins sees ruffled costumes (women), black and burst of reds and deeper purples that color as well as other cinematic ele- dark colors (men), accents, and unlim- characterize the Sharks. After Bernardo, ments (lighting, stereophonic sound) ited movement” (94). Raymond Knapp wearing a poppy red shirt, is confronted as secondary to the theatrically derived echoes this essentialist understanding by a pair of Jets, he falls back onto a (and higher art) elements of music and of Puerto Rican culture, arguing that crimson red wall, and punches it in an- dance. the “vigorous and exaggerated hand ger. The red in this sequence stimulates If in Western culture color is asso- and body gestures” of the Puerto Ri- action (Benson), and contributes to the ciated with a foreign, exotic “other” cans in the film “deriv[e] from a gen- rising tension between the two gangs (Batchelor 22–23), then it is no coinci- eral tendency in America to perceive which climaxes in a chaotic, “brassy dence that the most colorful sequences many immigrant populations as gen- brawl” (Berson 89).3 Moving beyond in the film1 are ones that showcase erally more exuberant and colorful” this surface characterization of the Puerto Rican subjects. “America” is (206). Knapp argues that this racial ste- color red, it is important to draw out its one of such musical numbers, which ac- reotype “might be explained in terms deeper, cultural significance within the centuates the Puerto Ricans as objects of a need to compensate for inadequate film. That red is also the color of blood of spectacle. Sandoval-Sánchez argues English, but... also reflects the contrast is especially meaningful within West Color and Race in West Side Story 143

Side Story, not simply because blood is also expressive of white blood lines. Tamblyn) goes to see Tony (Richard is shed, but that blood is shed in the The meaning of red is muddied by the Beymer) who is stocking soda at the “protection of pure blood” (Case 71). In film’s logic. rear entrance of Doc’s (Ned Glass) Arthur Laurents’s book of the musical, Red as a color that taints and cor- store, and the entire set is covered in he describes the Jets as “an anthology rupts is rooted in the Christian belief red: the red brick apartment buildings, of what is called ‘American’” (Laurents that regards red as the color of the devil the railings that are painted a fire-en- 137). Laurents’s use of the term “anthol- and represents an “ancient and heathen gine red bordering the staircase to the ogy” refers to the idea that the Jets are bloodthirstiness” (Pleij 83). Moreover, back door of Doc’s store, as well as the a “hodgepodge” of young men “com- if color in general is understood to be wrought iron balconies which are also ing from various [ethnic] backgrounds” a characteristic of a baser, “alien” body painted in this same shade of red.6 Red (Hoffman 98–99). Sandoval-Sánchez (Batchelor 22), then the color red seems is being used here expressionistically, argues that this characterization is ren- to be the quintessence of chromopho- especially in the context of the previous dered ironic in light of the fact that the bia, because of its strong associations “Jet Song” sequence. Consistent with Jets are “children of white European im- with the vulgar and the erotic. The the themes of kinship and fraternity that migrants,” and thus conform to a white, anxiety surrounding the contamination were established previously, Tony and “all-American” national identity (64).4 of white blood is coded in the film as Riff exchange a rhyming motto: “Womb Thus, the Jets want to protect their turf anxiety about protecting one’s turf, but to tomb,” Riff says to Tony. “Birth to not only because it is their territory, but the language that the Jets use in describ- earth,” Tony replies. It remains ambigu- also because they want to keep its white- ing the Sharks is rife with xenophobic ous whether this motto is something that ness intact (Sandoval-Sánchez 64). The undertones. For example, the Jets fur- they share between just the two of them, impulse to maintain whiteness is espe- ther demean the Sharks, in contrast to or if it is shared by the Jets as a whole. cially evident when the hypocritical the other gangs that they have defeated The language of the motto is steeped in Lieutenant Schrank (Simon Oakland) in the past, because “they multiply, like familial discourse, emphasizing the no- warns the two gangs that the brawling cockroaches,” and are “eating all of the tion that one must be loyal to his frater- must stop, but then supports the idea of food” and “breathing all the air” (West nal “blood” until the end. The color red the Jets “cleaning up” (West Side Story) Side Story). The Jets’ values are articu- here is a reminder of these pseudo-blood the neighborhood and ridding it of its lated in “Jet Song,” which appears to be ties, but it is also suggestive of the vio-

Puerto Rican immigrants. The gang and a harmlessly entertaining musical num- lence that will be engendered as a result police are not only protecting their turf, ber. Its lyrics, however, strongly empha- of protecting those ties. however. They are also striving to pro- size the familial and the fraternal, and Moreover, the red setting that sur- tect its cleanliness, and maintain a terri- thus the importance of loyalty to one’s rounds the boys sharply contrasts with tory of pure (white) bloodlines. The fear own kind for life: “When you’re a Jet/ the muted colors of their clothing (yel- of miscegenation, and the adulterating of You’re a Jet all the way/From your first low-beige and light blue), creating a white blood, is rampant throughout the cigarette/To your last dying day/When sense of disruption and unrest. If in the film. This idea of “white blood” points you’re a Jet/If the spit hits the fan/You “Prologue” red connotes action, here it to a crucial irony in the film: the color got brothers around/You’re a family is expressive of impending action, of of blood is red, but those who are princi- man!” Thus, in the context of this read- something that is going to happen. This pally connected to the color (the Puerto ing of the film as expressing an anxiety is consistent with the theme of “Some- Ricans) are discriminated against on surrounding miscegenation, it appears thing’s Coming,” the song that Tony the basis of not possessing said “white that red in the film is an expression of sings. Like the words that Tony sings, blood.”5 The irony is further perpetuated this fear. Like the presence of the other, “The air is hummin’/and something when we notice that one of the Jets actu- red is a bold color that literally disrupts great is comin,’” red creates an antici- ally wears a red shirt in the “Prologue” the muted and whitewashed tones that patory energy. In a clever use of art di- sequence. In this way, the color red in color the world of the Jets and, by ex- rection, feminine garments hang on a the film performs a dualistic and con- tension, the Western world. clothing line above Tony’s head, as if tradictory function. On the one hand, Returning to the idea of red as expres- giving him a sign that the “something” red is associated with the Puerto Rican sive of shedding blood in the protection that he is waiting for is actually some- immigrants; on the other hand, the logic of white blood, the scene immediately one: a girl. As Tony raises his hand to of the film portends that “true” blood is following the chauvinistic “Jet Song” is the sky, signaling his acquiescence to ultimately white blood. Therefore, red one that is pervaded in red. Riff (Russ the powers of fate, the camera tracks

[T]he color red in the film performs a dualistic and contradictory function. On the one hand, red is associated with the Puerto Rican immigrants; on the other hand, the logic of the film portends that “true” blood is ultimately white blood. 144 JPF&T—Journal of Popular Film and Television

pastel colors of the dresses that hang in the bridal shop reinforce the film’s project of assuaging bourgeois anxieties surrounding the threat of the ethnic other, and by extension, miscegenation. Thus, the film accomplishes this task of assuaging anxiety by dampening the bright, saturated colors that are associated with the Puerto Ricans. Toward the end of the bridal shop sequence, Maria tells her brother, Ber- nardo, that “tonight is the real beginning of my life, as a young lady of America.” As she begins to twirl gracefully in her dress, there are multiple multicolor after- images of her movement. Her dizzying twirls are accompanied by frenetic music that gets louder and higher-pitched the faster she twirls.7 With the use of colored filters, Maria’s figure soon blurs into a bright red silhouette, until the camera tracks back slightly to reveal other hazy, bright red figures dancing in unison in the “Dance at the Gym” sequence. The creative editing technique used to transition to the “Dance at the Gym” sequence effectively expresses

Maria’s entrance into the social milieu of American youth and thus the beginning of her life “as a young lady of America.” Acevedo-Muñoz argues that this sequence can be read as Maria’s desire to assimilate herself within Ameri- can culture, marking the beginning of her “personality dissolve” with Tony (90). However, the innocuous musical convention of the “personality dissolve” becomes a “cultural dissolve,” as Ma- ria begins to conform to the mythology of white, bourgeois womanhood.8 This mythology reaches its apotheosis in the “I Feel Pretty” sequence later on. West Side Story (1961). Directed by Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise. Shown: Rita Moreno, Interestingly, at the beginning of the Natalie Wood. Photo courtesy of United Artists/Photofest. bridal shop sequence, Maria complains to Anita about wearing a white dress upward to the hanging clothes, and then the sequence, not only connects Tony to the dance: “Could we not dye it red dissolves to a close-up of gowns hang- to Maria, but it also marks the begin- at least? White is for babies!” Maria’s ing in the bridal shop where Maria (Nat- ning of his “personality dissolve” with desire to dye her dress red is not only alie Wood) and Anita work. The graphic her, a generic convention of the musical expressive of her wanting to be more match that is created through the dis- whereby “each member of the principle grown-up, it is also expressive of her de- solve is accomplished primarily through couple acquires the characteristics of sire to assimilate into American culture. color: the chiffon and raspberry pinks the other” (87). What is most significant As already mentioned, the color red in and robin’s egg blue that hang on the about this sequence is that the juxtaposi- the film is rather complex and contradic- clothing line meld with the pastel col- tion of the red set with the softer pastel tory: while it is expressive of otherness ored dresses in the bridal shop. Ernesto colors creates a discourse in which the and the threat of miscegenation, it is Acevedo-Muñoz argues that this editing loudness of the color red is placated by also ironically expressive of white blood technique, and the “feminine” setting of these mild and understated pastels. The lines. The convoluted nature of the color Color and Race in West Side Story 145

[W]hat is new and exciting is often also viewed as dangerous. Color is also associated with sex and sexuality …

red is further reinforced in this particu- utes to the film’s project of assuaging virginal is merely another Latina stereo- lar scene. Here, red is the color of new bourgeois anxiety surrounding miscege- type (Sandoval-Sánchez 28), she is also and exciting experiences, of possibility, nation. In fact, these two components go made to be diametrically opposed to the and of the promise that “something’s hand-in-hand. “vamp” figure, something that becomes coming.” Maria’s entrance into Ameri- The Latina is often represented in all the more significant when considered can culture is an entrance into red. This popular culture as a hyper-sexualized in relation to color. As discussed above, is expressionistically conveyed through “vamp” with a “fiery [and] explosive color in Western culture becomes an ex- the use of red filters in the transition personalit[y]” (Sandoval-Sánchez 28), tension of otherness, understood to be from the bridal shop to the dance at the a stereotype that is part of a larger con- the territory of the foreign and exotic gym. But what is new and exciting is of- ception of Latin American culture as (Batchelor 22–23). If red connotes exten also viewed as dangerous. Color is “full of boundless energy and irrepress- citement, liveliness, and sexuality, white also associated with sex and sexuality; ible sexuality” (Negrón-Muntaner 92). is tedious, frigid, and bourgeois (Batch- it emerges as a signifier of what cannot Although Maria’s characterization as elor 11, 18). To put Maria in a white be said or shown explicitly (Batchelor 68). Indeed, the red-silhouetted figures West Side Story (1961). Directed by Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise. Shown: Natalie Wood (as at the beginning of the “Dance at the Maria), Richard Beymer (as Tony). Photo courtesy of United Artists/Photofest. Gym” sequence turn into dancing youth whose loose and drunk-like movements to blues music evoke mid-century anxieties over youth sexuality and delin- quency. Anita does not think Maria is fully prepared to be a part of this world, assuring her that she can dye her dress red next year when she is more mature. White is “for babies,” as it is primarily associated with virtue, purity, and innocence (Dyer 72–73). Aside from her name (Negrón-Muntaner 94), Ma- ria’s innocence is marked by the cross she wears around her neck, as well as the Virgin Mary medallion pinned to her slip dress (Acevedo-Muñoz 88). Her innocence is also implicitly referenced when she meets Tony for the first time. Tony is so enamored upon meeting her that he cannot believe it is real: “You’re not making a joke?” he asks her. She replies, “I have not yet learned how to joke that way.” In this sense, Maria’s white dress is an extension of her na- iveté. As Richard Dyer notes, “white is ‘pure and untouched’ and therefore red- olent of sexual untouchedness” (74). Al- though the purity associated with Maria and her white dress seems ironic within the racist logic of the film (which sees the racialized other as a threat to whiteness), it ultimately works to support this logic. Maria’s white dress is not only evocative of anxieties about preserving a chaste femininity, but it also contrib- 146 JPF&T—Journal of Popular Film and Television

West Side Story (1961). Directed by Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise. Shown center: Rita Moreno. Photo courtesy of United Artists/Photofest.

dress is another example of the film’s at- red covers her. That Maria is made to “overwhelms” the senses and leads to tempt to distill and to dampen—to liter- pass through a rainbow instead of mov- a “loss of consciousness” (Batchelor ally whitewash—otherness. The notion ing directly into red is also telling of the 32). This conception of color as “fall- of whitewashing becomes even more film’s anxiety surrounding this color. ing into a state of grace” (Batchelor loaded with the knowledge that a white Just as Anita, all too aware of the color’s 32) is also echoed by Aldous Huxley’s actress, Natalie Wood, is playing Maria. suggestive connotations, is hesitant to The Doors of Perception (Batchelor Negrón-Muntaner sees Maria’s white dye Maria’s dress red, so too is the film 32). Here, Huxley’s comprehensive ac- dress as not only indicative of her virgin- hesitant about Maria falling directly into count of ingesting mescaline is char- ity, but also of her being “untouched by red, anxious about the color’s associa- acterized by an intense “experience of American culture and uncontaminated tions with the vulgar and the erotic. The color” (Batchelor 32). For Huxley, the by racism” (94). Although Maria can be film mitigates the threat of the foreign mesmerizing effects of color engender seen as unmarked by American culture and exotic by making this transition to a state of ecstasy and a “loss of self” before her experience at the dance, her red a gradual one. Maria must transition (Batchelor 34). Moving into the cin- white dress is actually expressive of the through the spectrum to comfortably ar- ematic realm, Batchelor discusses the racist undertones of the film and its proj- rive at red. way in which film characters “fall into ect of mitigating the threat of otherness. Maria’s descent into color is part color” from black and white (36). Using Maria’s wish to dye her dress red of a larger understanding of color as Wim Wenders’s Wings of Desire (1987) comes true in the transition from the a metaphor of falling from, as well as as an example, Batchelor understands bridal shop to the dance at the gym. As into, grace (Batchelor 32). For example, the angel’s fall into color as a fall into Maria begins to twirl in her dress, she Roland Barthes describes color as “a “a world of sensuous existence, of hot also begins to be colored. First, with kind of bliss” or “a tiny fainting spell” and cold, of taste and touch, but most subtle hints of rainbow, and then a vivid (Barthes qtd. in Batchelor 32), which of all it is a fall into . . . self made with Color and Race in West Side Story 147 the explicit purpose of losing the self in turns home safely to “Kansas and Grey” and the use of brown face for George desire” (37). Similarly, Maria’s fall into (Batchelor 74), Maria and Tony’s worlds Chakiris, the American actor who plays color is “a fall into a world of desire” are literally separated through color. As Bernardo in the film (91). (Batchelor 37). After complaining to opposed to the “illusory” conflicts in the It is Natalie Wood’s darkened skin Anita that “nothing happens” (West Side classical musical, Maria and Tony strug- as Maria which is especially complex, Story) when she looks at Chino (Jose De gle with concrete conflicts that cannot because of the star discourse surround- Vega), the man that her brother would be resolved through musical numbers or ing her popularity as a child actor and like her to marry, Maria is overwhelmed personality dissolves (Acevedo-Muñoz her later status as the “idealized teen- with lust and passion after first seeing 90). Thus, West Side Story is “revision- age girl” (Finstad 205). After her role as Tony. When she sees Tony from across ist,” subverting both the formation of little Susan Walker in Miracle on 34th the room, everything around her blurs the heterosexual couple at the musical’s Street (1947), it appeared that Wood out of focus. end, as well as the fantasy of a “unified was “play[ing] everyone’s daughter in a Just as one can “fall” into color, one community” typical of the folk musical series of ‘family films,’” such as Father can also be displaced into color (Batch- (Acevedo-Muñoz 154). Was a Fullback (1950), No Sad Songs elor 40). Citing Salman Rushdie’s inter- The lack of a “unified community” for Me (1951), and The Star (1953) pretation of The Wizard of Oz, Batchelor is especially evident in the “Dance at (Tibbetts 146–47). These roles solidi- argues that Rushdie’s reading of both the Gym” sequence. The white and fied the actress as the perennial “little the novel and 1939 film emphasizes “an Latino youth do not mix, despite a so- girl” within American popular culture, uprooting and displacement into color” cial worker’s efforts to get them to so much so that Warner Bros. initially rather than “a Fall” (40). A central dance together. Instead, they dance did not want to give Wood the part of theme of The Wizard of Oz is a yearn- separately and keep to opposite sides the teenage Judy in Rebel Without a ing for home, but Rushdie argues that of the gym. Moreover, the rival gangs Cause (1955) (Finstad 177). This un- the film is just as much about a yearning and their supporters are further sepa- easiness over Wood’s maturing into an to leave home (Batchelor 40). Rushdie rated through the colors they wear: attractive young woman who is no lon- writes that The Wizard of Oz “is unar- blues, browns, oranges and yellows for ger a little girl is played out in a scene guably a film about the joys of going the Jets; purples, black, navy, and red in Nicholas Ray’s film. When sixteen- away, of leaving the greyness and enter- for the Sharks. However, despite their year-old Judy (Natalie Wood) gives her ing the color, of making a new life...” separation and demarcation, Negrón- father (William Hopper) a kiss on the (qtd. in Batchelor 40). These sentiments Muntaner argues that “the film never cheek, he reacts by slapping her, chid- are captured in the song “Over the Rain- entirely succeeds in maintaining [this] ing her for being too old for “that sort bow” (Batchelor 40). Like Dorothy, illusion of difference” (94). She argues of thing.” The film’s rationale for this who dreams of going “somewhere” that “many [of the youth] are indistin- scene was to show the audience that beyond her ordinary life, Maria also guishable from each other. The details Judy’s rebellious behavior is a result of yearns to leave her humdrum existence of dress, body movements, skin tone, her father being emotionally unavail- of “sew[ing] all day” in the dress shop and hair color are mobilized to define able (Simmons 59); however, one could and “sit[ting] at home all night” (West the boundaries of sociability, as these argue that Judy’s father does not know Side Story). She longs for a world of ex- Puerto Rican bodies’ identities are not how to deal with his latent attraction citement and experience. It is no coinci- obvious and must be clearly—and re- toward his physically maturing teen- dence, therefore, that Maria’s entry into peatedly—labeled” (94). Skin color is age daughter, so he slaps her in a bout this world is marked by an “uprooting” certainly one of the ways in which the of panic. Interestingly, PCA director into color. film marks the Puerto Ricans as other Geoffrey Shurlock flagged the scene as Similar to Dorothy’s yearning for a (Negrón-Muntaner 91). Rita Moreno, having incestuous undertones, but even- “somewhere over the rainbow,” Maria the actress who plays Anita in the film, tually dropped his objections when he and Tony also dream of a utopia where later criticized the film’s exaggerated saw the final cut (Simmons 59). Shur- they belong in the song “Somewhere.” and essentialist representation of the lock’s concern about the incestuous As they sing, the wall behind them is Puerto Rican characters, pointing out undertones is perhaps more expressive bisected with color: one side is red and that the makeup they wore looked as if of a collective cultural guilt than about the other side is blue. This expressive they had been covered with “a bucket of what was actually happening onscreen. lighting is suggestive of the racial dis- mud” (Berson 158). Negrón-Muntaner To extend this logic, if Wood is “ev- sension that is all around them, threaten- describes the representation of the eryone’s daughter”—that is, America’s ing to tear them apart. Maria has fallen Puerto Rican characters as demonstrat- daughter—then to desire her as a sexu- into color, but with it she has also fallen ing minstrelsy, both through the use of ally attractive young woman (through into violence. Unlike Dorothy, who re- exaggerated accents and mannerisms, her father’s gaze) is indeed incestuous.

Maria has fallen into color, but with it she has also fallen into violence. 148 JPF&T—Journal of Popular Film and Television

Hollywood’s anxieties surrounding other words, only the white man’s at- lion against the ultimate celebration of the maturing Wood were temporar- tention allows Maria to become a sub- white female Americana” (166). Given ily assuaged when the release of Rebel ject, to be visible” (95). Although Maria the film’s racist undertones, however, established Wood as “her generation’s performs some stereotypical Hispanic Maria’s performance as Miss America idealized teenage girl” (Finstad 205), choreography in the sequence, such only serves to reinforce its project of as- with magazine headlines such as “Nata- as using a fan in Flamenco-like style, similating the other. In fact, upon closer lie’s Teenage World” and “Going Steady she is also clearly “playing” white as inspection, Maria resembles the Statue with Stardom” (Finstad 205). However, well; this is signaled to us in large part of Liberty, with a stola draped over one the cultural anxiety surrounding Wood through color. First of all, the dress that shoulder and a bouquet raised in the air would resurface with West Side Story, she wears is orange and yellow—colors like a torch. By dressing Maria up in this albeit in a different guise. Now the un- that the Jets and their supporters were way, she becomes an iconographic sym- easiness surrounding Wood’s sexual wearing earlier at the dance at the gym. bol of freedom and hope for other im- attractiveness was compounded by her Acevedo-Muñoz sees Maria’s donning migrants like herself; it also furthers the leading role as the Puerto Rican immi- of Jet colors as evidence of her “per- nationalist/assimilationist propaganda grant, Maria. The “sweet child” (Tib- sonality dissolve” with Tony (106); started in the “America” musical num- betts 149) of white America now had however, this is actually indicative of a ber (Sandoval-Sánchez 73). Ultimately, noticeably darker skin. According to cultural dissolve and the assimilationist however, the pastel pink robe that Maria Negrón-Muntaner, the threat of Maria’s impulse of the film. Thus, when she be- wears works to undermine this possibil- otherness in the film is placated by the gins to sing the song, she wraps a piece ity of freedom and hope, reminding one audience’s knowledge that she is being of lilac tulle fabric around her neck, that she is really only free when she is played by the white Natalie Wood (92). imitating the style of a white, bourgeois passing as white. The cultural anxiety surrounding the in- woman. The muted, lilac scarf is as- Beneath West Side Story’s harmoni- terracial relationship in the film is also sociated with the reserved character of ous integration of music, dance, and cin- mollified by this knowledge (Negrón- Anglo-American culture, and is an ef- ematography is its use of color—which Muntaner 92). fort to mitigate the “dangerous” other- ruptures its perceived organic unity. The Whiteness in the film is privileged in ness of the Puerto Rican characters. Ma- film’s use of color is expressive of its obvious, but also subtle, ways, most no- ria’s desire for whiteness is most clearly racial conflict, and by extension, the tably in the “I Feel Pretty” musical se- evidenced when she pretends to be Miss anxiety surrounding miscegenation. It is quence. For example, Negrón-Muntaner America, donning a pink satin stola and through color that we are able to see the argues that the sequence conveys the a tiara. Acevedo-Muñoz understands many contradictions and ambiguities of message that “Maria only feels pretty Maria’s appropriation of Miss Amer- the film. Beneath a narrative which pro- when a white man, Tony, sees her. In ica “as an act of resistance and rebel- vides a cautionary tale surrounding racial conflict is a film which, ironically, West Side Story (1961). Directed by Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise. Shown: “America” further perpetuates this conflict. “This (George Chakiris, fourth from left; Rita Moreno, third from right). Photo courtesy of United turf is small, but it’s all we got,” Riff Artists/Photofest. announces to his fellow Jets. “I wanna hold it like we’ve always held it—with skin!” Although “with skin” is seem- ingly referring to the gang’s preference for using their bare hands to fight as opposed to using weapons, this statement could also refer to maintaining white skin and is thus rendered ambiguous. To hold their turf “with skin” is to hold it with the notion of white supremacy and the promise of protecting white bloodlines. This brings us to the “paradox of whiteness” (Dyer 47). As explained by Dyer: whiteness “both is and is not a color, is and is not a tangible sign” (47). Dyer argues that it is through its abil- ity to be both “particular and nothing in particular” that reinforces the hege- mony of whiteness (47). In other words, the visibility and power of white people is ultimately derived from their invis- ibility, and thus their status as the norm Color and Race in West Side Story 149

Beneath a narrative which provides a cautionary tale surrounding racial conflict is a film which, ironically, further perpetuates this conflict.

(Dyer 81). Although racial dissension is W. K.L Dickson, Anabelle Dances (1894), Side Story. 1956. Romeo and Juliet/West played out primarily through the film’s which creates a similarly entrancing effect Side Story. New York: Dell, 1965. Print. coloration, and thus through its visually through the image of a twirling woman with Negrón-Muntaner, Frances. “Feeling Pretty: hand-coloring techniques. West Side Story and Puerto Rican Identity striking aesthetic, we must not forget 8. Acevedo-Muñoz acknowledges that Discourses.” Social Text 18.2 (2000): 83– that this conflict ultimately hinges on Maria’s personality dissolve in the film also 106. Project Muse. Web. 15 Aug. 2012. skin color, and, ironically, the invisibil- encompasses “various cultural adjustments” Pleij, Herman. Colors Demonic and Di- ity or “colorlessness” of whiteness. (90), but this is merely a euphemism for the vine: Shades of Meaning in the Middle film’s racist project of cultural dissolution. Ages and After. New York: Columbia U Acknowledgments P, 2004. Print. Price, Brian. “Color, the Formless, and Cin- I would like to thank Murray Pomerance Works Cited ematic Eros.” Color, The Film Reader. for his constructive criticism and revision Acevedo-Muñoz, Ernesto R. West Side Story Ed. Angela Dalle Vacche and Brian Price. suggestions in the process of writing this as Cinema: The Making and Impact of an London and New York: Routledge, 2006. article. An earlier version of this article American Masterpiece. Lawrence: U P of 76–87. Print. was submitted to Professor Pomerance for Kansas, 2013. Print. Rebel Without a Cause. Dir. Nicholas Ray. his course in the Joint Graduate Program in Batchelor, David. Chromophobia. London: Perf. James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Communication and Culture at Ryerson and Reaktion Books, 2000. Print. Mineo. 1955. Warner Home Video, 1999. York Universities. I would also like to thank Benson, Shannon. “West Side Story.” Musi- DVD. Zorianna Zurba for her helpful comments cal Theatre 166a/266a. Western Univer- Sandoval-Sánchez, Alberto. José, Can You and support. sity. London, ON. 14 Nov. 2006. Lecture. See? Latinos On and Off Broadway. Mad- Berson, Misha. Something’s Coming, Some- ison, WI: U of Wisconsin P, 1999. Print. Notes thing Good: West Side Story and the Simmons, Jerold. “The Censoring of Rebel American Imagination. Milwaukee, WI: 1. “Colorful” in both senses of the word— without A Cause.” Journal of Popular Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, i.e., in terms of costume and setting, but also Film and Television 23.2 (1995): 56–63. in terms of lively dancing. 2011. Print.

Proquest. Web. 15 Aug. 2012. Case, Sue Ellen. “Tracking the Vampire.” 2. These names not only emphasize the Tibbetts, John C. “Natalie Wood.” Ameri- Feminist and Queer Performance: Criti- cool demeanor of the Jets, they also under- can Classic Screen Profiles. Ed. John C. cal Strategies. New York: Palgrave Mac- line their whiteness. Tibbetts and James M. Welsh. Toronto: millan, 2009. 66–85. Print. 3. For a detailed, shot-by-shot exploration Scarecrow Press, 2010. 146–49. Print. Dalle Vacche, Angela, and Brian Price, eds. of the film’s meticulous design, see Acev- Vaill, Amanda. Somewhere: The Life of Color: The Film Reader. New York and edo- Muñoz, chapter 3. Jerome Robbins. New York: Broadway London: Routledge, 2006. Print. 4. Warren Hoffman challenges Sandoval- Books, 2006. Print. Dyer, Richard. White. London and New Sánchez’s reading of the Jets as “Anglo- Wells, Elizabeth A. West Side Story: Cul- York: Routledge, 1997. Print. American” or “All-American.” He contends tural Perspectives on an American Musi- Finstad, Suzanne. Natasha: The Biography that the quotation marks that Laurents places cal. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2011. of Natalie Wood. New York: Three Rivers around the word “American” in his descrip- Print. Press, 2001. Print. tion of the Jets (“an anthology of what is West Side Story. Dir. Jerome Robbins and Hoffman, Warren. The Great White Way: called ‘American’”) is indicative of their Robert Wise. Perf. Natalie Wood, Richard Race and the Broadway Musical. New “tenuous white status” (98). See Hoffman, Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, and Rita Moreno. Brunswick, NJ, and London: Rutgers U P, 98–100. 1961. MGM, 2003. DVD. 5. Thank you to Murray Pomerance for his 2014. Print. insight regarding the irony of white blood. Keenan, Richard C. The Films of Robert 6. The color scheme of the setting is the Wise. Toronto: Scarecrow Press, 2007. Lauren Davine is a PhD candidate (ABD) in skillful work of art director Boris Levin, who Print. the Joint Graduate Program in Communica- recreated New York’s West Side with thirty- Knapp, Raymond. The American Musical tion and Culture at Ryerson and York Uni- seven large sets at Goldwyn Studios in Hol- and the Formation of National Identity. versities in Toronto. Her research interests lywood (Keenan 117). Princeton and Oxford: Princeton UP, include postwar Hollywood cinema, queer 7. The hypnotic effect of Maria’s twirling 2005. Print. theory, and race, gender, and sexuality in in combination with rainbow-colored after- Laurents, Arthur. Music by Leonard Bern- film and television. images is reminiscent of an early film by stein. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. West