It's agreed that West Side Story (which is my all time favorite film, hands down!) is a very beautiful film, which does show that love can and does take root and develop across the ethnic, racial, religious and color barriers, which is something that that has always happened in real life, and happens today. The same is true with gangs fighting for and sticking up for their turf. Today, however, such fights over turf aren't fought with fisticuffs, switchblade knives, or even chains, but with high-powered automatic guns, which makes them even more deadly...and dangerous.
While West Side Story does prove that love does cross the above-mentioned barriers, and that disapproval on both sides does help bring two lovers closer together, the message has proved to be a double-edged sword. While love develops despite disapproval from both sides, that same sort of disapproval can also cause a love to go up in smoke, as well.
West Side Story, despite being fiction, also carries the message of how deleterious the consequences of racial/ethnic an cultural hatred can be and often are, and proves that arrogance, hubris and violence are definitely not a good thing, at all.
Yet, West Side Story also carries yet another message: That reconciliation between groups, as difficult as it can be and often is, can also be possible.
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