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They kissed in West Side Story?
A stream-of-consciousness exploration of a classic story, and porn
I consider myself a reader but there are a plethora of the so-called classics I never finished or read in high school and college. Whatever their themes, cultural relevance, history, etc. were lost to my daydreaming. Movies too. To this day, I relish the fact that I’d never seen Pretty Woman or You’ve Got Mail or The Godfather. (I don’t know why three romcoms instantly popped up on the screen of my mind.)
The same is 100% true of West Side Story.
In junior high, we read parts of it. Maybe in highschool, too? It certainly lurked about in at least one college class. I know a few of the songs from the play even though I’ve never seen or read it. That’s the power of crossing the cultural saturation threshold — you don’t need to have seen or known something to know the references. (Do you feel pretty? I feel pretty. Oh, so pretty I feel pretty, and witty, and bright.)
The other night, I came home to my wife watching West Side Story, which I initially mistook for another movie, which I mistook for The Outsiders. I was wrong on all three accounts, then it clicked.
Tony and Maria were in the bridal shot discussing how their parents would take their relationship. The scene ends in a…
