Here's why Steven Spielberg's 'West Side Story' reimagined a key character as transgender

[mountaineer]

Great, a wokey McWoke version of "West Side Story."

Here's why Steven Spielberg's 'West Side Story' reimagined a key character as transgender
Ethan Alter·Senior Writer, Yahoo Entertainment
Thu, December 9, 2021, 10:10 AM

When Steven Spielberg's already-acclaimed version of West Side Story arrives in theaters, fans of one of Broadway's best-known musicals will notice that it looks a little different from the classic 1961 film version. Make that a lot different. Working alongside screenwriter Tony Kushner, Spielberg has made some significant changes to the previous movie musical, including reshuffling the order of songs, exclusively casting Latinx actors as Puerto Rican characters and omitting English subtitles when characters speak in Spanish.

But one of the biggest changes involves a character who has traditionally played a minor role in West Side Story. In the original Broadway production and Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins's film version, the swaggering Jets are followed around the Upper West Side by Anybodys, a young tomboy from the neighborhood who desperately wants to be part of their gang.

Most depictions of Anybodys — including Susan Oakes's portrayal in the earlier movie — avoid dwelling in detail on the character's gender identity beyond the traditional trappings of a '50s-era tomboy: short hair and a spiky attitude. But Spielberg's film firmly establishes the character as transgender, both via dialogue heard in the film and the performer cast in the role: nonbinary Broadway actor Iris Menas, whose previous stage credits include the Alanis Morissette musical Jagged Little Pill. (After departing the cast last year, Menas publicly criticized that musical for its depiction of a nonbinary character.)  ...

Full story at Yahoo


Iris Menas

Pesky fact here: not all "tomboys" are transgender or gender-confused. The vast majority, I suspect, are just girls (like me) who don't like the frilly stuff and would rather play football than with Barbie dolls.

[massadvj]

I don't even know why I clicked on this because I already know why Spielberg put a transgender in his movie.  He's pandering to the woke crowd, same as the rest of Hollywood and the MSM.  Now he will be so admired for his "courage," he will win numerous awards, and no one will care whether the production is actually entertaining, focusing instead on its "groundbreaking reimagining of gender."

But let's face it. Spielberg is late to the party here, and all he really did was paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa.

[Kamaji]

I don't even know why I clicked on this because I already know why Spielberg put a transgender in his play.  He's pandering to the woke crowd, same as the rest of Hollywood and the MSM.  Now he will be so admired for his "courage," he will win numerous awards, and no one will care whether the production is actually entertaining, focusing instead on its "groundbreaking reimagining of gender."

But let's face it. Spielberg is late to the party here, and all he really did was paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa.

[mountaineer]

I wonder how much of the dialog will be in Spanish, while the audience sits there, uncomprehending. May as well watch a Godzilla movie in the original Japanese.

[Fishrrman]

I didn't see the original West Side Story film until I was older, and even then, it didn't do much for me.

I won't be payin' any attention to some new-fangled "woke" version...

[LegalAmerican]

I didn't see the original West Side Story film until I was older, and even then, it didn't do much for me.

I won't be payin' any attention to some new-fangled "woke" version...

I saw the original.  I was too young, to understand most of it.  lol  I remember some singing.  I won't watch CANCEL CULTURE either.

[mountaineer]

I never cared for the 1961 film, either. It's a safe bet I won't waste the time or money to see this year's version.

[GtHawk]

I wonder how much of the dialog will be in Spanish, while the audience sits there, uncomprehending. May as well watch a Godzilla movie in the original Japanese.

At least the Godzilla movies were entertaining anyway with their out of sync sound tracks energetic delivery of lines like Gojira!!!

With Spielberg's new casting I bet the fight scenes will be electric with gay Puerto Ricans dancing and singing 'I'll put a thiv in you'.