Gender Differences In West Side Story

Improved Essays
In West Side Story there was discrimination and differences between cultures. Differences that were shown in West Side Story were between genders. At the dance, the American boys treated the girls with disrespect whereas the Latin boys treated their girls with manners. This was proven when they were dancing. When the Latin boys wanted to dance with their girls, they motioned the girls with a polite hand. The American boys tilted their head to signal them. Both groups also had a different melody rhythm to their music. Latin music is more structured according to patterns whereas American music does not. The Latin girls at the dance would twirl their skirts around as they were spinning, or just hold onto their skirts in general. American girls would just step to the beat and not twirl their dresses as …show more content…
I also noticed a difference in gangs. The sharks, which included the Latin’s, had Bernardo as the leader. The jets, which included the American’s, had Riff as their leader. There was a difference in behavior. In the jets group, all of the boys would be talking like they were a leader too. In the sharks group, the boys were quiet and let Bernardo do all the talking. In the movie we rarely heard any of the shark member talk. When Maria, Bernardo’s sister, wanted to dance with Tony, a white American, he put an end to it and told Maria to go home. Maria listened to her brother and went home. An American girl would have not listened to her older brother because he does not have the authority too. In the Latin culture, a little sister has to listen to her older brother no matter what.
Discrimination was shown between the groups. Before the rumble started,

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