Are the Jets in West Side Story white?

Are the Jets in West Side Story white?

Tony—played by Isaac Powell who is part Native American, Black and white—then kills Bernardo. Van Hove may have made the Jets multiracial, but he also took out white supremacy and institutional racism as a source of violence in West Side Story. “It’s a very specific story about white people making Puerto Ricans other.

Are the people in West Side Story Hispanic?

Maria and Bernardo are Puerto Rican, but Natalie Wood and George Chakiris, the actors who played them, are not Latinx. Both actors put on broad accents to seem more authentic, which just made the whole thing worse.

Who are the Sharks in West Side Story?

The Sharks are a gang on the streets of New York City. They are rivals with the Jets. Maria’s association with the Sharks, and Tony’s association with the Jets, causes conflict when they first fall for each other. The Sharks consist of: The Shark girls consist of: Maria, Bernardo’s sister Anita…

Who are the main characters in West Side Story?

The synopsis below may give away important plot points. A fight set to music between an American gang, the Jets, and a rival gang, the Sharks, who have moved into the Jets’ territory from Puerto Rico. We are introduced to the leader of the Jets, Riff ( Russ Tamblyn ), and the leader of the Sharks, Bernardo ( George Chakiris ).

Who are the gangs in West Side Story?

On the west side of New York City, the Jets and the Sharks are Polish and Puerto Rican gangs respectively who hate each other and who battle each other for territory in their neighborhood. Their feud makes a small connection when at a gymnasium dance, Tony, one of the founders of the Jets but who is now inactive in the gang, and Maria,…

What happens at the end of West Side Story?

Tony has since begun to drift away from the gang, and the Jets think he doesn’t belong any more. Riff tells them firmly that once you’re a Jet, you stay a Jet and reassures them of their invincibility before going off to find his friend (“Jet Song”).