Rebel Without a Cause- Explosive

Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 film, directed by Nicholas Ray that stars James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo.

In the opening of the film, the audience is introduced to the three main characters Jim Stark, John “Plato”, and Judy at the juvenile detention center of the police department where each of the teens are currently facing their own problems or "rebel" issues. Jim was brought in for being inebriated, Judy was brought in for curfew violation wearing a bright red dress and bright red lipstick, mistaken for being a prostitute, and  Plato was brought in for shooting a litter of puppies with his mother’s gun.

This film is an emotionally charged teen angst drama that deals with a lot of teen issues that sadly, in this film escalate much too quickly- in the span of an entire day to be exact.

Each of the main characters deal with their own issues. Jim deals with not being understood by his family, Plato deals with abandonment by his parents, and Judy deals with feeling unloved by her father. All of them handle their issues differently. Jim wants to own up for his wrongdoings and be a man. Jim constantly feels he has to prove he’s not a “chicken”. Plato wants to make Judy and Jim his family to make up for the family that abandoned him, although this ends with disastrous results when he thinks they too abandoned him. And lastly, Judy goes out with her gang and becomes a different person, insincere. However, with Jim she just wants to be liked and loved in return.

The emotional turmoil in this film is very explosive, it’s hard to believe that the main characters are even teenagers to begin with, because of the heavy issues they are facing. Although, at the same time that’s why it’s easy to believe they are teenagers too, because of the intensity of all they’ve faced and how they react to their situations.

In the course of the film two teenagers are killed, one through their own stupidity and the other through a misunderstanding and mental breakdown. It’s surprising to me how quickly things had escalated in this film, resulting in not one but two young deaths, in the span of  less than a day. I believe understanding why this was such an influential film at the time this was released has more to do with the time period it was released than the film. During the 50’s there were a lot of gang related activities that were comprised of teens 12-19 and they mostly fought over “turf” and girls. I believe that it was influential because it was relatable, those were the issues that teens in the 50’s faced which goes to show how times have changed and how they haven’t changed at all.

Teens still deal with being misunderstood, feeling unloved, abandoned, but a lot is different today than it was then. Times have definitely changed.