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In the film, “West Side Story,” there is a scene where Anita and Bernardo sing about the pros and cons of being an American as opposed to a Puerto Rican. In this argument Anita sings of all the pros to being an American and all the new opportunities available here that wasn’t available back in Puerto Rico. She sings of all the new technology, job opportunities and freedom she has as a woman that she wouldn’t otherwise have in Puerto Rico. Bernardo on the other hand, was a bit more critical. He sings that there are limits to these new freedoms and opportunities. For example, he sings about how job opportunities are limited to positions as waiters or shoe polishers for Puerto Ricans. He also sings about how most things that are available in America are also available in Puerto Rico. The only difference is that these same items cost more in America.

In the Briggs reading, it proposes the same debate of whether or not globalization is a good thing, particularly in Puerto Rico. Linda Chavez argues in her book, Out of the Barrio that America’s colonization of Puerto Rico actually does more harm than good. In the 1950s and 1960s, many garment industry and other manufacturing jobs were held by Puerto Rican women in northeastern cities where they mostly settled. These people chose to stay and ended up on welfare. She recalls an AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) program that was meant to aid the people on the island. Chavez claims the people left behind their traditions and were changed for the worse when they moved to mainland U.S. and ended up living off of welfare.

Westside Story does an excellent job showing us the state of race relations. It seems as the biggest difference between the Jets and the Sharks is race. The Jets are all white and American, but the Jets are all from Puerto Rico. Throughout the story we’ve been able to see just how tense things are between the two groups, with large fights becoming a possibility very often as a result of members feeling such strong hatred towards each other. The fact that there was such a strong division between the Jets and Sharks really shows how bad things between Americans and Puerto Ricans were at the time. With more and more people coming to America from Puerto Rico, some of us were not as welcome as we’d like to believe. There were many instances of Americans feeling superior to the Puerto Ricans, and some even questioned why Puerto Ricans were even coming to the United States. Sometimes, Puerto Ricans were blamed for in an increase in crime rate. It’s very interesting to see how all the Puerto Ricans come together to form their own group, the Sharks. Because Puerto Ricans weren’t very liked, and were all considered to be on the lower end of the social hierarchy, they all came together to form their own group and together, they didn’t let anyone tell them that they were better than them. Even the Jets, who were born and raised in New York, had to deal with the Sharks multiple times, and the tension between the two groups frequently resulted in large groups of members fighting each other. Despite their racial differences, the Sharks weren’t going to let anyone put them down, especially not the Jets.

In class we watched a movie from 1962 called “West Side Story.” It started on the streets of New York where a gang of white guys called the Jets were hanging around the park. Then a gang of Puerto rican guys, called the Sharks, came in and we immediately see tensions between these two gangs. The tension could be caused by each gang not liking each other because of their race or just a territorial issue. A white guy named Tony falls in love with a Puerto rican girl and she feels the same way. She is cautious of the relationship because she is scared that her family will disapprove of him because he is white and because he is affiliated with their rival gang. In the reading “Reproducing Empire” by Laura Briggs discusses American imperialism in Puerto Rico and how it views Puerto Ricans at the time. It tells of a common idea that Americans had of Puerto Ricans, “One held that Puerto Ricans were, definition, sick and needed to be kept at arm’s length from our soldiers and sailors, who could be infected by them and thus endanger wives and children on the mainland.” (Briggs 17). This quote from the reading explains a thought that people had of Puerto Ricans, that you have to avoid them or you might contract an illness or disease. This relates to the movie because the Jets probably think of Puerto Ricans as lower than them and are racist towards them.

West Side Story takes place in New York, Manhattan. In the beginning of the musical, we see an American gang called the Jets having tension with a Hispanic group called the Sharks. During this time New York was experiencing something called globalization and colonization. In L. Briggs excerpt, Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and US Imperialism in Puerto Rico, he explains that with globalization, interaction with other nations, leads to development and colonization (Briggs, page 1).Colonization meaning that people from other nations moving into the United States; these people were called immigrants. The mixing of races caused different problems in the United States. Americans believed that Puerto Ricans immigrants were poor, had extremely large families, and were sexually active. People in American didn’t like the new immigrants company. In fact Americans questioned why Puerto Ricans were in America. A conservative newspaper writer, Don Feder, compares needing non english speakers in New York to needing higher crime rates in the country (Briggs, page 7).This shows how much they dislike immigrants. This strong dislike explains why the gang Jets hated the gang Sharks. The tension between them sparked from racial differences. Both gang competed with each other and fought each together to prove which gang was better. According to Briggs excerpt, he explains that immigrants were usually grouped together at the bottom of the social ladder or in the “rung of the social ladder” (page 163). The Jets probably viewed the Sharks as the lower class. As a result of the different social classes, both gangs competed with each together. This competition is sort of like a pride thing for both groups. The Jets are from New York so they should be the superior class, while the Sharks are foreigners. But the Sharks aren’t willing to accept that they are the lower class.

In the film “West Side Story”, there was a particular scene where the wife or girlfriend of the leader of the Puerto Rican ‘gang’ started singing a song about how she was in America. From the interpretation I came up with, I believe the whole notion of that song was to show that now since she was in America, she was more liberalized and had the choice to do whatever she wanted. This is evident by when Maria was not allowed to be with the guy she met at the dance by her brother, the leader of the Puerto Rican ‘gang’. Her brother’s wife or girlfriend didn’t said “now she is in America”, implying that she has a right to do what she wanted. This notion of liberalization is also evident in the reading “Reproducing Empire” when Briggs said that “Puerto Rican woman coming to the United States were achieving greater independence from home and husband, freedom from male dominance, usually through work outside of home.” This displayed how women had more freedom to do things they wouldn’t be able to do in their homeland of Puerto Rico. This maybe because of traditional values in the homeland. The traditional concept wasn’t in the United States so thus, it gave many Puerto Rican women a chance to be more free, or in a sense, more liberal. This portrays the construction of race and difference in the American Empire. The difference being shown by seeing how both countries were different, which in turn, shows the construction of the Puerto Rican race and seeing how they did what they did especially when women from their thrived because of freedom.

The movie West Side Story takes place in New York during the 1960s and from the first few scenes we are able to the construction of race and difference in the American empire. It involves two rival gangs such as the Jets who are the white American neighborhood gang and then the Sharks are a new rival Puerto Rican gang that seeks to take over the Jets territory. It first occurs in the beginning of the movie as they are involved in a fight and officers arrive at the scene and automatically assume it is all the Shark’s fault for the big fight. Although it is showed before they fight how the Jets wander around town and scare people for their own pride and laughter meanwhile after the fight they discuss how the Shark’s are different compared to all the other gangs that tried to take their territory.

In relation to H. Briggs reading it is said ” Puerto Ricans sexuality and reproduction have been reputed to produce disease, literally and metaphorically” which relates by to scene once Tony, a Jet member, falls in love with Maria, the Shark’s leader sister, at a dance where both gangs go to. As soon as they kiss, her brother, the leader realizes and goes to confront Tony but then the Jets leader stops him and they are restricted from being in trouble amongst each other. It may cause concern for many of the Jet members because they want no association with their rivals but more towards the Sharks because they only like to breed of their own kind. Plus they are discriminated harshly from the get go and see Tony as man of the Jets, a racist. Also Briggs mentions that the Puerto Ricans “chose to stay, and many ended up on welfare” to show the stereotypes that were created. This goes back to the play when the Puerto Ricans sing the “America” song and mention all the stereotypes they get and yet see America as an opportunity.

On of the most important scenes in West Side Story is when the Puerto Rican females have a debate with the males about how life is in America. Right before this scene Tony first meets Maria and Bernardo , Marias brother doesn’t allow them to be together. The women take offense to this and talk about how they believe that life in America is great and that in America they can aspire to anything but the men see it differently.  The men see America as a place where they are held down by the white supremacist. This leads to a sing-off between men and women
The Briggs article speaks on relations between Puerto Rico and America and describes Puerto Rico as a polite school girl who respects and obeys the U.S which is like the females in this scene. Briggs also speaks on the relationship between Cuba and America and speaks on how Cuba was like a group of rebellious boys so while the Sharks are portrayed as only Puerto Ricans it can be said the they men act a lot like the Cubans did at that time.

“Puerto Rico is a good place to think about the meanings of colonialism and globalization because it has for a century been where the U.S has worked out its attitudes towards its own expansionism. These attitudes have wavered between celebration and denial.” (page 2)

Yesterday in class, we watched the film West Side Story. The film takes place in the city of New York during the early 60s. From the very first scenes, we get to see the racial tensions present. The white, American-born young adults of the neighborhood are at odds with the Puerto-Rican immigrants they live alongside. Both races divide themselves into two opposing gangs and avoid association with each other by all means. The Caucasian males belong to the Jets and the rival Puerto Ricans make up the Sharks. These divisions displayed throughout the film span far past the context of fiction.

One of the Jets during the film spoke on his disapproval of the immigrants they lived alongside because he felt his neighborhood was being overrun. Brigg’s article clarifies that feelings of discontent over the entire situation of Puerto Rico was common. There were not only Americans opposed to the incoming immigrants but also some opposed American involvement in the Caribbean nation altogether. The disputes over American foreign policy and immigration are still very much alive to this day and will more than likely continue for years to come.

West Side Story is a musical that incorporates many themes in it; one of them being race. The musical is about two street gangs, Jets and Sharks, that have a hatred for each other. The Jets are white and the Sharks are Puerto Rican. The story takes place in New York in the mid 1900’s.
In one particular scene, both gangs are at a dance. The whites stay on their own side of the room and the Puerto Ricans stay on the other side of the room. They don’t care to mingle with each other. The Jets keep their women close to them. The sheriff even tries to play a game that would force the two groups to interact and confront one another. This doesn’t end up working. Instead, they end up having a dance battle, each group trying to outdo the other. The Jets are way too stubborn and there is an obvious tension with the Sharks. They believe the Puerto Ricans are the enemy and they will only change and damage to the American ways and culture.
This scene is related to L. Briggs’ “Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and US Imperialism in Puerto Rico” because he talks about this social and cultural difference between the two groups. Many argue that Puerto Ricans that have migrated from Puerto Rico to the mainland aren’t even immigrants because it is a part of the US. Others would disagree completely. That is where this hatred came from essentially. Puerto Ricans were turned to racialized minorities in the mainland and they were treated just as that. They were looked upon as having bad families and they weren’t given real jobs.

“the work of incorporating new nationalities into modern racial categories did change in the post-World War II period with the implementation of policies encouraging migration of Puerto Ricans to the mainland, and after 1965, with the lifting of some immigration restrictions.”

The Movie/Musical West Side Story pits rival gangs the Jets and the Sharks against each other in a gang war. In the midst of all this conflict a former gang member of the Jets named Tony falls for Maria a Puerto Rican girl who is the sister of the head of the Sharks. This act is what is said to initiate the gang war but it is made clear that their were tensions that existed prior to the act between these two groups. There were preexisting tensions due to the Puerto Ricans being newcomers in America and at the time it was a common occurrence for groups of people entering into the Americas to face discrimination and throughout the movie their are even hints at how they are stereotyped. Through the song “America” some of these concerns about the stereotyping and discrimination that occurs such as the racial slurs and the stage looks that they receive. But the other side of the argument is also expressed in which Anita speaks about all the opportunities in America and how much better the living conditions are.

The influx of Puerto Ricans into America is explained by the legislation passed which made it significantly easier to immigrate into America. This action was taken in order to make Puerto Rico into a model for democratic nations in post WWII America where they were attempting to make an example of what a democratic nation under America could look like. These new immigrants who came in did not have much and this is exactly where these stereotypes stemmed from. Just as many other peoples of different nationalities had come into the country where they sought opportunity.