JAMES DEAN CAUGHT IN THE GENERATION GAP IN REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE essays

JAMES DEAN CAUGHT IN THE GENERATION GAP IN REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE essays According to actor Jim Backus, "We started out making a routine program picture in black and white (that) was going to be. . . about teenage kids that I thought was going to be a sort of Ozzie and Harriet with venom. Then the reports started coming in on East of Eden, and they (the studio) knew they had a star on their hands" (Alexander, 56). Since Backus was signed by Warner Brothers to star in Rebel Without A Cause as the father to James Dean, his comment on the film as being something similar to Ozzie and Harriet "with venom" should be viewed as highly accurate, for in Nicholas Ray's American masterpiece, the presence of "venom" is easily sensed, due to the various cultural/societal conflicts that erupt between the two opposing sides, being the teenagers and their older superiors. James Dean, in the role of Jim, the non-conformist "rebel" son of Backus, seems to provide most of the conflict through what is now generally described as the "generation gap" which was linked to many social problems in the 1950's when Rebel Without a Cause was in production. Set in the city of Los Angeles, Rebel Without a Cause, considered by many critics as a classic example of American cinema, explores the lives of three teenagers caught within the "generation gap"Jim (James Dean), Judy (Natalie Wood), and John (Sal Mineo), nicknamed Plato. Underneath a rather straightforward story about a clash between mixed-up but sensitive teenagers and their mutual alienation from their parents, Rebel Without a Cause contains many of the traits that often contribute to youthful confusion, such as excesses in material comfort, inadequate and incapable fathers and an alarming desire for an early death. In this regard alone, the film was tragically prophetic for the next two generations of American 2 slipped from mild ...