History YMMV / WestSideStory

** How the story originally treats the ethnic groups involved is also clearly a product of its time. The story treats Puerto Ricans as immigrants, with a good portion of the bigotry they receive ironically coming from a group of people who are either descended from European immigrants or are such themselves. This may have been commonplace at the time of release, but it's fallen out of use due to it being both politically and geographically incorrect. Puerto Rico is a commonwealth instead of a full-fledged state, but Puerto Ricans are American citizens. If anything, many Puerto Ricans take offense to being called immigrants thanks to their pride as Americans. Meanwhile, at the time the show was written, Irish, Italian, and Polish Americans weren't wholly accepted by Anglo-America (due to anti-immigration and anti-Catholic sentiment) and considered marginalized groups NotSoDifferent from the Puerto Ricans, strengthening the story's Aesop. Nowadays, shifts in immigrant demographics and social mobility have caused those groups to be considered just as "white" as [=WASPs=]. Thus, the parallels between the Jets and Sharks are lost on modern viewers. For this reason, the 2020 Broadway revival made the gangs mixed-race with members of every skin color on ''both'' sides. It's pretty telling that, going by the way the story was originally written, the only one who actually recognizes this and acts what was considered accordingly for the time period is the bigoted cop, Lt. Schrank.

* MoralEventHorizon: It's pretty hard to root for the Jets after [[NearRapeExperience they attempt to rape Anita]]. Granted, [[RealityEnsues the entire point]] is to ''[[MisaimedFandom not]]'' [[MisaimedFandom root for either side]].

* MorePopularReplacement: The film's version of America is much more beloved than the stage's, with it being a much more exciting battle of the sexes rather than Anita and her friends basically bullying another girl for thinking different. Consequently, this also makes Bernardo an example for replacing Rosalia as the song's second most prominent soloist. Helps that he's actually a major role and therefore his involvement in the number feels like it's actually adding to the character and plot, unlike when an ensemble member performs the contrarian lyrics. It's also worth noting that Stephen Sondheim himself prefers the movie's version, and believes that he subconsciously wrote worse lyrics for the stage's rendition of spite for having to alter the song.

* NarmCharm: The brownface on the the Puerto Rican characters has aged really, ''really'' poorly. But the actors still turn in great work despite this, with both Creator/RitaMoreno and Creator/GeorgeChakiris being strong enough to win Oscars.

* Amar Ramasar as Bernardo in the 2020 revival was a major source of division. While universally regarded as an excellent dancer, his acting is much more contentious. And of course, there's the fact that Ramasar is an infamously controversial figure, and his involvement brought quite a bit of bad press to an already divisive revival.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: It can seem horribly cliché nowadays -- not least because it's adapting ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', which itself underwhelms many readers who find it trite, shallow, and immature. There's also the fact that it's meant to be [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped against bigotry and racism]], but the Sharks have much less stage/screen time than the Jets and the film casts white performers with affected accents in major Puerto Rican roles.

** Having one of the most acclaimed writers working today Creator/TonyKushner pen the script also got many psyched for the project.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The Spielberg film specifically asked for Latino actors for the Shark auditions, after the controversy of the original film's casting. Maria's new actress, Rachel Zegler, can also do her own singing, unlike Natalie Wood, whom Marni Nixon dubbed over.

** The story treats Puerto Ricans as immigrants, with a good portion of the bigotry they receive ironically coming from a group of people who are either descended from European immigrants or are such themselves. This may have been commonplace at the time of release, but it's fallen out of use due to it being both politically and geographically incorrect. Puerto Rico is a commonwealth instead of a full-fledged state, but Puerto Ricans are American citizens. If anything, many Puerto Ricans take offense to being called immigrants thanks to their pride as Americans.
** At the time the show was written, Irish, Italian, and Polish Americans weren't wholly accepted by Anglo-America (due to anti-immigration and anti-Catholic sentiment) and considered marginalized groups NotSoDifferent from the Puerto Ricans, strengthening the story's Aesop. Nowadays, shifts in immigrant demographics and social mobility have caused those groups to be considered just as "white" as [=WASPs=]. Thus, the parallels between the Jets and Sharks are lost on modern viewers. For this reason, the 2020 Broadway revival made the gangs mixed-race with members of every skin color on ''both'' sides.
** Regarding the former point form the above, it's pretty telling that the only one actually recognizes this and actswhat was considered accordingly for the time period is the bigoted cop, Lt. Schrank.

** The line of "the money owing" is this because, in 2016, the government of Puerto Rico started to miss payments on its debt, requiring the government of the United States of America to step in.
** The line "Let it sink back in the ocean" from the same song becomes this after Puerto Rico was ravaged by Hurricane ''Maria'' in 2017, with the US government being criticized for not doing enough to help.
** For that matter, the line "Nobody knows in America/Puerto Rico's in America" is particularly relevant to the above situations.
* HilariousInHindsight: The movie has one Jet declare his love for [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]], to which another Jet sarcastically responds, "So marry him!" Nowadays, viewers un-versed in comic history would probably hear this exchange as the Jets inexplicably referring to ComicBook/CarolDanvers with masculine pronouns, since Creator/MarvelComics rechristened her superhero alias to "Captain Marvel" in 2012; it also doesn't help that Creator/DCComics renamed their Captain, "[[ByThePowerOfGrayskull Shazam]]", in 2011.

* FairForItsDay: One of the classic examples. It's a tragic love story about [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped the pointlessness and destructive nature of bigotry and racism]], released right around the time of the Civil Rights movement...and the Latino characters are nearly all played by white actors in {{Brownface}} using embarrassingly over-the-top accents. Though the original versions of ''West Side Story'' have outdated depictions of Puerto Ricans, Latin Americans still consider it an important landmark for their culture nevertheless, due to portraying them as sympathetic victims of bigotry and not simply caricatures to be laughed at. It helps that Rita Moreno - who was genuinely Latina - won an Oscar for playing [[EnsembleDarkhorse Anita]] in the film. Modern productions also resolve the issues of stereotyping by using actual Latin actors for the entire cast.

* FairForItsDay: One of the classic examples. It's a tragic love story about [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped the pointlessness and destructive nature of bigotry and racism]], released right around the time of the Civil Rights movement...and the Latino characters are nearly all played by white actors in {{Brownface}} using embarrassingly over-the-top accents.

* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: ''West Side Story'' may have stereotypical depictions of Puerto Ricans but the original film in particular is considered an important film for Latino Americans nevertheless. It helps that Rita Moreno - who was genuinely Latina - won an Oscar for playing Anita (who is one of the favorite characters anyway).

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: It can seem horribly cliche nowadays -- not least because it's adapting ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', which itself underwhelms many readers who find it trite, shallow, and immature. There's also the fact that it's meant to be [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped against bigotry and racism]], but the Sharks have much less stage/screen time than the Jets and the film casts white performers with affected accents in major Puerto Rican roles.

* AccidentalInnuendo: "When you come, use the back door."

** The story treats Puerto Ricans as immigrants. This may have been commonplace at the time of release, but it's fallen out of use due to it being incorrect. Puerto Rico is a commonwealth instead of a full-fledged state, but Puerto Ricans are American citizens. If anything, many Puerto Ricans take offense to being called immigrants thanks to their pride as Americans.

** The 2020 Broadway revival wound up being quite divisive. Some thought it a daring take on the story, with bold choices that resulted in an experience of the show unlike any other. Others thought it was a pretentious and aimless production that felt like it was being dark for the sake of being dark, and made major changes just to look different. And that's not getting into [[OvershadowedByTheControversy the highly controversial casting of Amar Ramasar]].

* BrokenBase: Fans are divided on whether the the stage version's song order ("Cool" before the rumble scene and "I Feel Pretty" and "Gee, Officer Krupke" after) or the film version's song order (the reverse) is superior.

** John Astin as the MC at the dance in the film.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler: Questionable as to whether Chino's
motive to kill Tony is driven by the [[CrazyJealousGuy latter's relationship with Maria]], Tony's murder of [[YouKilledMyFather Chino's best friend Bernardo]], or a mixture of both. Can depend on the production.]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler:Questionable as to whether Chino's

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler:Questionable as to whether his motive to kill Tony is driven by the [[CrazyJealousGuy latter's relationship with Maria]], Tony's murder of [[YouKilledMyFather Chino's best friend Bernardo]], or a mixture of both. Can depend on the production.]]

* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: ''West Side Story'' may have stereotypical depictions of Puerto Ricans but the original film in particular is considered an important film for latino Americans nevertheless.