West Side Story is a film about two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. The Jets are American and the Sharks are of Puerto Rican descent. The movie has a Romeo and Juliet storyline -- however, in West Side Story the two lovers, Tony and Maria, are from two different ethnic groups as opposed to two sparring families in Romeo and Juliet. It is ethnocentrism that stands in the way of Tony and Maria's love.

Ethnocentrism is defined by Spector (2009, 12) as the "belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group" and/or and "overriding concern with race." This is exactly what the problem is in West Side Story. The film is rife with concerns about ethnicity and where it places on in society. The film is about a fight over territory as it shows how immigrants from Puerto Rico come to New York and, in a sense,...
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