“Rebel Without a Cause”

Youth is represented in “Rebel Without a Cause” through numerous methods. At the start of the film we see the protagonist playing with a toy monkey, he makes a bed and puts him in. This shows us he is a youth and the action of putting the monkey to bed expresses his desire for a parent figure who would do the same for him. However during this scene we see he is drunk, this indicates to us he is rebelling against hegemony, as drinking when a youth is prohibited. These actions show the boy to be in a liminal stage passing between youth and adulthood, this follows closely to Eisenstadts theories.

Next we see scene in which youths and adults are conversing they are divided however by a desk this shows the boundary between the two ages. The fact the object is a desk expresses this literally as desks are something we associate with adults and authority. The camera in this case is placed on the youths side, this helps the audience feel empathy towards the younger sub cultures in the film.

Throughout the film we see the main character Jim struggling with eisenstadt’s right of passage to adulthood, the reasons why become obvious in a scene in which he argues with is father. In this scene the shot composition places Jims father lower down the shot, this indicates his inferiority, and shows him as weaker. This shows the protagonist Jim has no role model and therefore can never be a man. This offers insight into why he joins a youth sub culture and is locked in this liminal stage.

Another important aspect of the film is binary opposition. This is so important that even one of the characters socks has a binary opposition. The most obvious opposition in the film is childhood and adulthood. This is represented literally with things such as, cold and warmth and light and dark. Jims red jacket plays an important part in this. The fact it’s the colour red indicates jim is passionate and angry young man, struggling to become an adult. When he gives his jacket to his girl friend to keep her warm and when he gives it to plato, is an act which shows he is becoming a man. Protecting his friends and indeed at the end of the film when jims father hands him his jacket, jim has escaped the liminal stage, completed the right of passage and finally become a real man.