The film Rebel without a Cause masterfully juxtaposes two characters that have seemingly opposite conditions: Jim Stark and Judy. Of the many differences that these two characters share, their contrasting family structures are perhaps the most interesting aspect of the movie. Rebel without a Cause displays a snapshot of how the family structure of the 1950s functioned with Judy’s family. To counter this, the movie depicts the Stark family, which is a direct opposite of the accepted family structure at the time. Making a social commentary on this topic of the household ranking could have been one of the main intentions of the movie’s director, Nicholas Ray, in producing the film. Even though the 1950s were just over 60 years ago, the social …show more content…
Jim exudes masculinity, or at least the want for it, throughout the movie, in stark contrast to Judy, who is an extremely feminine character. Jim’s father, Frank, almost completely goes against the masculine father stereotype of the day, as he is an overly-kind man who seems to seek the acceptance of others. His lack of masculinity is cemented in the scene where Jim comes home to find his father on his hands and knees (perhaps one of the most subservient positions possible) in a frilly, yellow apron cleaning up some food he had spilled that he was carrying to his wife in bed. Seeing his father doing chores that would normally be considered “women’s work” at the time, for a woman (Frank’s wife) nonetheless, Jim is at a loss of words. He grabs his father by the apron and stammers, “stand . . . don’t . . . I mean, you shouldn’t . . . don’t . . . what are you?” Later, Jim asks his father for advice on what he should do regarding the “chickie run,” which is a game of “chicken” with two cars racing off of a cliff. Rather than offer the advice that his son wants, Frank tells Jim that “no one can make a snap decision,” and to “consider all the pros and cons.” Clearly, this goes against the “think later, act now” mentality of a “real man,” and Jim gets so fed up with his father’s advice that he bluntly asks him, “what can you do when …show more content…
In making the movie’s main themes teen estrangement and paternal issues, the filmmakers, either intentionally or not, created a film that shows how the average family functioned in the 1950s with Judy’s family. Whether or not we realize it, almost all forms of art depict in some way the time period in which they were created, from the works of the Shakespeare to the paintings of Pablo Picasso. And, while Rebel without a Cause may not stack up to those pieces of art, it certainly does share in their ability to reflect the day in age in which it was
When he first moved in town, he was sent to the police station. He tried to be friendly to Plato who was at the police station but Plato treats Jim like a random stranger. He also meets Judy at the police station. He sees her several days later and asks her if she wants a ride but she already has one. Then he drives up to Judy and her friends and ask for directions. They just pointed in different places and made fun of him. He keeps on trying to get attention from the “cool kids”. His class takes a field trip to see the planetarium star show and listen to a lecture at the Griffith Observatory. An astronomy lecturer gives an existential narration of the darkness of the universe and Jim tries to make everyone laugh by saying, “Moooooooo” while the lecture is going on. After the lecture, Buzz and a couple of his bully friends make fun of Jim and call him a chicken which lead to a knife fight. Jim and Buzz make a deal on a chicken run. Buzz asks Jim if he has ever been in a chicken run, and Jim lies by saying, “Yeah, that’s all I ever do.” As soon as Buzz leaves, Jim asks, “Plato, what is a chicken run?” (“Rebel Without a Cause”) Jim does not know if he should go or not. Jim decides to think, ‘Dad said it was a matter of honor, remember? They called me chicken. You know, chicken? I had to go because if I didn't I'd never be able to face those kids again.’ Jim then goes to the chicken run and Buzz
Director Nicholas Ray was lucky to have a talented composer create an original score for Rebel Without A Cause. Leonard Rosenman was born in 1924 and studied music in New York and Europe. His work as a film composer and arranger is very traditional, and has been regarded by some music critics as "insignificant." However, Rosenman received Academy Awards and Oscar nominations for his work. Along with film scores, Rosenman wrote theme music and scores for numerous television shows. The score in Rebel Without A Cause is much like another film starring James Dean, East of Eden.
What is a family? As a young child, Kingsolver played in her room with a toy set called “The Family of Dolls”, which served as the perfect example of what a “real” family is: “four in number, who came with the factory-assigned names of Dad, Mom, Sis, and Junior.” She always ended up comparing her family to this perfect idea of a family that she played with. As a grown-up Kingsolver went through divorce herself, creating a “broken” home for her child. Kingsolver experienced the abnormalness and society’s ideals pushed through her head. But although her family was
Jim is also a relatively flat character. He goes through the novel with very little change in his character. He is always superstitious, but also is very accepting of people. One example of his superstitions is, “And [Jim] said that handling a snake-skin was such awful bad luck that maybe we hadn’t got to the end of it yet.” (Twain, 64.) Jim always adheres to his superstitions, and in a way they govern his life. Even when Tom and Huck are attempting to set Jim free near the end of the book, Jim goes along with all their crazy machinations. This is similar to his superstitions, because he is willing to do silly things, since he believes they are essential to gaining freedom.
One of the best ways to fully understand an era is to study its literature. The printed word has the incredible capacity to both reflect and shape the hopes, fears, and ideologies of the time. This is very evident when reading literature from 1960's America, a turbulent period in the history of our country. While the authors' styles are very different, there are definite thematic patterns and characteristics evident in many of their works. For one, there is a prevalent concept of the unenlightened masses. This concept serves as a foil for the enlightened few often represented as the main characters and more specifically as the authors themselves. There also
ntroduction: Family is an integral part of many American’s lives it shapes how we grew up, how we interconnect with society, and how we choose to live our lives. “The American Family” by Stephanie Coontz is an essay comparing the way of the family from several points in time to show what changes have come about for better or worse. Her points may be biased and in order to seek confirmation of her points, the memories of individuals who have lived through the longer span of time will provide incite as to whether others agree with her. I have conducted such an interview with my grandparents Linda Jolliffe, being 70, and Earl Jolliffe, being 73. By reading Coontz’s essay aloud I was able to record and analyze their thoughts and opinions from their perspective, and compare theirs with mine while taking a look into why bias has such an effect when writing.
Having a family to rely on and be supported by is said to be the most important thing to have in life. No matter where you go, you should have loving family members who will support and help you without question, if they are ever needed to. In the novel, The Fault in our Stars, the theme of having loved ones and being close to family members is heavily leaned on through the actions of illnesses and loss. The novel shows the theme through the actions of Hazel, Augustus, and their parents. As expected, each character has their own style of expressing their emotions, feelings, and thoughts in their dark times.
Rebel Without A Cause is a very popular film from 1955. It depicts life in the 1950's from the viewpoint of three teenagers who live in Los Angeles, California. They live in a comfortable environment in middle-class America. However, they must deal with their own inabilities to "fit" into society. The teens try to fit in with their peers and find the love they so desperately need from their families and others like their peers. The biases presented in the film's are based on cultural values form the 1950s. Rebel Without A Cause also compares to some of the data presented in the text Nation of Nations. The film also compares to the general view America has of the period of the
Rebel without a Cause is a 1955 drama, directed by Nicholas Ray, starring James Dean as Jim Stark, Natalie Wood as Judy, and Sal Mineo as Plato. The film revolves around protagonist, Jim Stark, as he starts a new school after running away from several others. Jim is an extremely troubled teenager much like the rest of the characters in the film. He first befriends Plato, who has just been released from juvenile for killing puppies. Plato is clearly very unpopular with everyone else in school. Judy is popular and has a large group of friends but she is very unhappy because she does not have her father’s love or approval. She desperately seeks affection from her father and even went as far as to get herself arrested in hopes that he would pick her up. The film takes a sharp turn in the scene outside the planetarium when Jim and Buzz engage in a knife fight. From that point on the film continues to get darker. Before Jim goes to the chicken race he gets into a fight with his father about honor and insists he must go, but his father wants him to be rational, slow down, and make a pros and cons list of going to the race. Perhaps if he had listened to his father that neither Buzz nor Plato would have died by the end of the film. Buzz dies when he is unable to exit his car during the chicken race, and Plato is shot dead by the police. Because Judy does not receive love or affection from her father, she has a skewed outlook on love. She believes
Now, Jim sees this in his father and swears to himself that he will never be the ¡°chicken¡± his father is. This leads to the decisions he makes in the movie, for example, going to the ¡°chicken¡± run to uphold his honor. He begins to take charge of his own life, being that strong man himself, going to the mansion with Judy to live on their own in order to not become like his father.
The movie itself covers so many pivotal and defining moments in history and provides an intimate observation with a twist of humor and charm that is not often depicted in movies such as these. The movie itself gives an honest insight into situations of the time that are not often addressed. One moment early on in the movie depicts the strong relationship between a single mother and her child in the 1950s, as a rule of thumb television
What is family in your opinion? Family can be a source of support, compassion, optimism, love and happiness, but family can also be a cause of depression, betrayal, hurt and pain. Family is not always determined based on having the same DNA but it is the relationships that people can make or have with one another. Family can consist of several different people like, friends, co-workers, classmates, a community, etc... Some family members can be your worst enemies because they have the most information of secrets to bring a relative down. Being able to trust a person, depend on them, and be carefree is a person that can be valued as being a part of a family. In the movie Little Miss Sunshine, their dysfunctional family is loving, supportive, optimistic and motivating. The movie is filled with humor about a modern middle-class family that is about to encounter a financial catastrophe but in the midst of their struggles they still find the beauty in life and the meaning in life. The beginning of the movie Richard, the father is giving a motivational speech about winning, he states “There are two types of people in this world, winners and losers”.(Little Miss Sunshine) Richard is a protagonist motivational speaker that is obsessed with winning. He is so consumed with achieving that he ridicules his family for not being perfect throughout the film. Richard trying to build up the ideal life or what he thinks is the ‘American Dream’ around himself. He chooses to ignore aspects of the life around him that he sees as unacceptable or out of sync with his ideal lifestyle, trying instead to fulfil his role as the authorative head of the family and provider. Sheryl is the mother who is optimist, she is always giving words of encouragement even when Richard is trying to bring down his family and she is all about being truly honest. Frank is the brother of Sheryl whom at the beginning attempts to commit suicide due to a broken heart and losing his standing as Americas pre-eminent Proust Scholar. Dwayne is the son of Richard and Sheryl and is committed to joining the air force. He also is very committed that he takes a vow of silence until he gets into the air force, but then he finds out he is color blind and breaks his
Jim was brought up as a Methodist. He became quickly fascinated with the pulpit oratory. Vera Price, a childhood playmate remembers, ”He’d always be the preacher, standing up making sermons”(Axthelm 54). Even at the young age of seven Vera, recalls Jim’s speeches encouraging strict discipline. She remembers occasions when Jim was playing with other children and “he’d hit them with a stick and make them cry. He had a power that most boys don’t have”(Axthelm 54). As Jim matured into a young adult this internal power he possessed was not fully matured. In high school Jim was in the popular crowd, but never the leader of the pack. “Only in retrospect does anyone claim to have spotted seeds of the horror to come.’ I had a hunch something bad was going to happen to him,’ says a middle-aged man in Lynn. He was smart as a whip. But he had some strange ideas. He never fit in with the town. He was different”(Axthelm 54).
The role of the audience is to infuse the fire in the popular culture movement. It appears that Hollywood was caught between the wall and the blade in the 1950’s, on one side you had the dominant culture flexing their muscle to have Hollywood endorse this family ideal and help the containment effort and for no reason ignite any friction that would agitate the already
In “Ways of Seeing”, John Berger, an English art critic, argues that images are important for the present-day by saying, “No other kind of relic or text from the past can offer such direct testimony about the world which surrounded other people at other times. In this respect images are more precise and richer literature” (10). John Berger allowed others to see the true meaning behind certain art pieces in “Ways of Seeing”. Images and art show what people experienced in the past allowing others to see for themselves rather than be told how an event occurred. There are two images that represent the above claim, Arnold Eagle and David Robbins’ photo of a little boy in New York City, and Dorothea Lange’s image of a migratory family from Texas; both were taken during the Great Depression.