In 1961, Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless landed in the United States, as did Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura, and world culture was never the same. But the Academy Awards and critics’ prizes that year went to West Side Story—still a more popular film than either Godard’s or Antonioni’s. Now, 50 years later, West Side Story remains a cultural touchstone, one of those rare, unifying art events especially unique in our decentralized, fractious era.
This issue of CityArts recognizes the phenomenon of a cultural touchstone for the good reason that we can benefit from being reminded of how art can bring people together. West Side Story’s synthesis of all of the arts is detailed in our 360-degree perspectives: Jazz critic Howard Mandel considers the soundtrack; dance critic Joel Lobenthal reflects on the show’s choreography; John Demetry traces the underappreciated sociological reach of the climactic song “Somewhere”; Ben Kessler finds surprising contemporary relevance in the oft-noted but usually shallowly perceived “Gee, Officer Krupke”; and Judy Myers connects the film’s kinetics to an astonishing aesthetic breakthrough.
A cultural touchstone like this makes our appreciation of the other arts (Barnett Newman’s abstractions by Jim Long, Loren Maazel’s conducting by Jay Nordlinger) freshly relevant. The arts come together in our souls and in our culture—when it functions humanely, an infrequent act to which West Side Story attests.
There will be 50th anniversary theatrical showings of the film by the Fathom organization and a newly released Blu-ray version to help us recall how even a work of popular art can sustain our highest values without shortchanging our humanity.
Criticizing West Side Story’s big-budget Hollywoodization is common but unhelpful; it’s best to recognize its place in the fine arts traditions that go from Shakespeare to ballet to Rebel Without a Cause to Michael Jackson‘s “Beat It” music video. All this because it is indeed a cultural touchstone—something Titanic, Rent, Pulp Fiction and countless other passing art fads cannot claim.
About the cover: Art director Ed Johnson ingeniously salutes West Side Story’s historic urban graphics through Saul Bass’ contribution to modern iconography. Advertising could become art in the Pop era, a fundamental precept of the high/low dynamic. It brings thinking back.
