West Side Story & Pop Culture

For my paper, I specifically focused on the musical West Side Story & Pop Culture.


I feel as though the musical, West Side Story, has made an impact on many generations. I remember loving it growing up as a child. I think this is due to a few reasons. One is that teenagers are performing in the musical, two, love and revenge are two main emotions being expressed among the gangs and their friends, and third, an association within a group brings about closeness and unity. All of these aspects within the production bring all the age groups together, and this is why I feel the musical, West Side Story, is still being performed in High Schools today.
With teenagers playing the roles within the musical, viewers are able to relate to this awkward stage in their life. Teenagers bring a sense of innocence and infatuation. As a viewer, you are able to see this between the young lovers Maria and Tony. People of all ages are able to relate to this time period in their life, when love seemed so definite in your life.
Love and revenge are emotions that every one has felt at one point in time. Even though this musical was created back in 1961, issues regarding love and revenge are still the same as today. This allows children and young adults viewing and performing the musical today, to understand that decades ago these same events were still occurring. Love between two individuals is still the same feeling in 1961 as it is in 2008.
Revenge is another emotion seen throughout the musical. Throughout life, people will wish to seek revenge on an enemy. People relate to the part of the musical where the Jets and the Sharks fight. Revenge is an inevitable emotion. It’s a natural feeling when someone has been betrayed. I would hope however, it would not lead to killing anybody. This musical again, is able to reach all ages through this aspect of the production as well.
Groups are a part of life that every one strives to be in. As human beings, people want to feel included and make contributions they feel are important to their every day lives. The Jets and the Sharks are gangs, but they are also a type of group. They are like a family, always there for each other. All generations of people have been apart of a family, biological or not. Therefore, people have been able to express feelings and find support within some type of group that they belong to.
All of these ideas give me reason to believe that this musical relates to pop culture and grasps the attention of all age groups. I also wonder, however, why many people do not know the history behind this musical. I personally remember watching this musical in my 5th grade classroom and having no recollection of my teacher explaining to us that this musical was referring to the increase of Puerto Ricans moving to the United States just after World War II (127). I had no idea it was causing so much turmoil within the United States, but I do see as to why.
As an educator, I do not want to make this mistake. I would like to be able to give my students a history of something we are studying in class so they are able to understand why we are learning about a certain subject. It only seems fair. Nowadays, I feel as though showing children that interracial couples are more prominent now than before, would help them to see how times have changed as well. This is one idea to focus on when telling them about the movie. Diversity is such a key issue today, so tying in this movie about the Puerto Ricans moving to the United States, and Maria and Tony falling in love, could lead to a discussion about acceptance and decreasing stereotypes and prejudice.
I now wonder as to why my teacher did not give my class and me a history lesson on these issues behind this musical. Is it because people relate to this musical on so many levels, that there is no need for an explanation on the reasoning behind its creation? I do not know this for sure, and I am not saying we as educators should continue this, but it is just a thought. If not for reading this article, I would not have known that it is so important to look into the history of everything you wish to incorporate into your classroom.

lesson plan changes

Consumer products provide evidence of cultural diffusion in many households. Analyzing the items that are found in a home's cupboards and closets can tell us much about the residents' cultural heritage and what cultural influences affect their lives. This lesson will help your students to identify some of the cultures new to their part of the world and to understand more about cultural diffusion.

Connections to the Curriculum: Geography, math, language arts

Connections to the National Geography Standards: Standard 10: "The characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics"

Time: Two to four hours

Materials Required: Blank Xpeditions outline maps of the world, one for each group and colored pencils.

Objectives: Students will be able to locate on a world map the places of cultural origin of many of the items in their homes; and analyze the cultural diffusion that explains how those items got where they are today.
i'm not sure if the students are looking at actual maps of the world first or not, but i would make sure that happens first. then i would have them find the country on a blank map and draw different colored lines connecting all the countries to the united states

Geographic Skills: Acquiring Geographic Information, Organizing Geographic Information, Analyzing Geographic Information.

S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e :

Opening: Have your students bring from home ten things that they feel represent their culture. These items could include foods, apparel, music,religious items, decorative objects, and so on. If you know a student's cultural background, help him or her to select something especially significant to that culture. Each student should bring the items in an opaque bag. (You may want to discourage your students from bringing extremely valuable items to school for this exercise.) Introduce the concept of cultural diffusion—the spread of elements from one culture to another. This was a slower process in previous eras when cultural groups typically had less frequent contact with each other than they do today. How have the increased speed of communications and easier international travel affected cultural diffusion?
i would show a video or have the students read an article and introduce the topic this way. then i would have them bring in at least 5 things that represent their culture. they can bring more if they want, but ten things seems very overwhelming, especially for younger students.

Development: Number each bag and then number and letter each of the items in the bag. Divide the students into groups of four or five. Exchange bags among the groups so that every student has another student's bag. Have the groups open the bags one at a time and examine the items they contain. Students should note their best educated guess at the place of cultural origin (which may not be the same as the site of manufacture!) for each of the items in the bag. The groups should map the location of origin for each item by sketching the items on blank outline maps of the world.
having the students sketch is a good idea, but if that takes too long, they can write it too. the students will have to have cultural backgrounds of a few different countries in order to make an educated guess. i would want to make sure the video or article i show at the beginning will touch upon that. i think talking about where these items are manufactured and their cultural origin may become confusing, so i would want to focus on cultural origin OR manufacturer location, and then switch. when doing the maps, they can have 2 then, one for cultural origin and one for manufacturer location. then at the end they can look at both maps and tie in all of their ideas. they can use corresponding colored pencil colors on both maps to represent the same item.

Closing: Groups should discuss the movement of each item to their local communities and draw this diffusion with colored pencils. When did each item (and the culture with which it is associated) reach their community? Did the item come with a group of people that moved to the area? Did the product come by way of modern retailing, including advertising? Do the items typically reflect the cultural roots of thestudents who brought them in, or a smorgasboard of world cultures?
colored pencils is a good idea as i said up above. i would want the students to do more of an opinion analysis. they can look at what they use from other countries, and see how we need these other countries to make these things for us. it could also lead to a discussion about different cultures around the world. maybe i could relate it back to the video or article i was showing as my introduction to the topic i did a similar assignment to this in my college geography course, and it was very interesting. it can definitely be used in elementary schools, on a simpler level.

barbie, fiona, avril, & lil' kim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTpvjNn2BUM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2eUCfREAbw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrDIlVsUmK4



after watching these videos, i was a little disturbed with some of the images i saw. first off, i thought fiona apple looked very sickly, almost like she had an eating disorder or a drug addiction. i feel like she was giving the impression to girls that being this skinny will get the boys to notice you. i also feel as though it is telling boys girls that are considered 'attractive' are indeed this thin. i personally thought it was disgusting. i have never been considered fat in my life, but never skinny either, & i have never had a problem with my body. but after watching this video, i can see why girls might want to be this thin. i also thought she was being rather provocative. she was in bed with what appeared to be a naked man, moving around in a sexual sort of way, trying to get attention from the viewer. she also does some stripping, not revealing her naked body, but showing her taking off different layers, down to her undershirt. gross. she looks like a slut in this video. i never really liked her music either.

avril's video, i thought, was the most tame. i like her music, and i like how she is different from most girls in the way that she dresses & carries herself. she is not coming off as a slut, to me, however she too is in bed with a boy. she is showing herself fighting with him too, which can give the wrong impression to young couples. they might think it's ok for them to hit each other... until someone gets hurt. i would hate for boys to think it's ok to hit their girlfriend, when she is pissing them off. the violent parts of this video were the only parts that made me nervous.

now on to the lil' kim video... oh man. the only words i can think to describe this video are disgusting, appalling, slutty, sexual, and vulgar. she is swearing left & right, showing off her boobs & opening her legs in sexual manner, & i find all of this inappropriate. i don't think kids need to see this type of behavior, because it will give girls & guys the wrong impression. girls should not be acting like this in middle school or high school. in college, you are an adult, & you can what you please. but if a young girl were acting like this, i would be mortified. this behavior is wrong to me, & needs to be spared from children.

a point that stuck with me from the barbie article, was the fact that the magazine depicted girls as being the typical 'housekeeper' role, by giving them craft ideas like cooking, sewing and needlework. i loved these type of crafts as a young child, & my mom was never worried about me. she never thought i would be doing only these activities for the rest of my life. i was still a very athletic girl, participating in softball & cross country. i never restricted my activities to those that were only for girls. i tried to do boy things as well, it was just that i loved many of the girls activities. i don't think this should be taken too seriously, if girls like doing them. obviously it is a different story if they feel they are forced to due to their gender.



i have also heard that the image of barbie gives the wrong impressions to girls. first of all, that she is white & blonde, which is telling girls that this is what they should look like. if barbie is another ethnicity, she is not just barbie, but native american barbie, or hawaiian barbie. it's frustrating for many girls. i also think they put the stereotypical dress on these barbies.
i also think her body image is telling girls they are only desireable by guys, only if they are thin. her measurements (38-18-34) are not even possible if you were to put them on a actual human person. i have heard barbie has caused many girls to develop eating disorders, which makes me sad. girls should be happy with the bodies they are given... since each & every one of us is beautiful in many different ways. :-)