Rebel Without A Cause Analysis

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It is very interesting the role that media plays in a modern americans life. A.O. Scott explains and explores this concept in his essay about the death of adulthood in american culture. While the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause, directed by Nicholas Ray, seems to be an entertaining, albeit eccentric film about the messed up teenager, a closer look through the lens of A.O. Scott’s recent essay in the New York Times, “The Death of Adulthood in American Culture,” reveals a film that is deeply concerned with the absence of parental figures in modern american culture. Because we have created a culture that is very based on what we see in the media, it is hard to be able to break from the grasp that it holds on our lives. A.O. Scott states “TV …show more content…

In the film there are two great examples of how the absence of parental figures can affect a child. In one case you have Jim Stark, who like A.O. Scott suggests has a loss of patriarchy in his household. Which isnt to say thats necessarily a bad thing. Jim's mom is forced to run the family because his dad won't stand up to her. Jim is left without direction and is forced to rebel to the culture. It seems that all he desires is some direction from his parents, but they have nothing to give him. His father sits in front of the television, and that's where he gets his ideals from. All Jim wants is his father to grow as a man, so that he can respect him as a parent. On the other side there is Plato, who has no parents at all. He instead has been given a nanny by his parents to take care of him. Even though Plato and Jim have two completely different situations, their cases are very similar. They both look for some guidance that they will never have. Jim ends up becoming Plato's father figure towards the end, because even though they haven't known eachother for very long. Jim provides the guidance that Plato never had. In the film there is an interaction between Buzz and Jim right before they do the chicken race (Buzz) “I like you, you know? (Jim) “Buzz? What are we doing this for” (Buzz) “We got to do something. Dont we?”. Through this interaction it is revealed that the teenagers are looking for something to

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