Rebellion

While rebellion has historically been understood as a political revolt, in America today we frequently reference rebellion in the sense of rejecting either our perception of our parents or the status quo. We often think of rebels as being extreme individualists who strive to prevent themselves from being influenced by anybody else at all costs, but those who resign themselves from connecting with or being informed by anybody are generally unsociable egomaniacs who most would rather avoid. Because humans are social beings who cannot be defined except in relation to others, after discarding another’s beliefs most are compelled to find others whose preferences and beliefs we can share, admire or emulate. In practice, we use fashion to announce our tastes and preferences in an attempt to make these connections.

The archetypal American rebel fashion was definitively redefined from cowboy attire in 1955 by James Dean. In his first movie, East of Eden, Dean plays a distraught teen who becomes obsessed with the idea that he is more like his estranged, urban, cynical, business-savvy mother than his devoted, rural, religious, unambitious father. Although he considers himself an outcast, he doesn’t do anything bad except throw some ice blocks down a chute and introduce his fraternal twin brother to his supposedly dead mom, which inexplicably makes him freak out and join the army at the end. The real point of the movie is that the enterprising brother is more sexually attractive than the socially-conscious one.

East of Eden, while not a good movie, especially when compared to auteur director Elia Kazan’s other films, was a successful one, and was quickly followed up by Rebel Without a Cause. In this much better film, Dean plays a distraught teen (sound familiar?) who desperately tries to fit in with his peers by being confrontational with them. Dean’s character, Jim Stark, trying hard not to be like his effeminate father, attempts to hide his delicate emotions behind a cocky façade, and Dean portrays both of these sides in the over-the-top and obvious way that Hollywood prefers. Jim simultaneously befriends Judy (Natalie Wood) and Plato (Sal Mineo), and Jim and Plato are forced to confront their homosexuality while Judy’s father confronts his sexual attraction to his daughter. These are extremely heavy themes, and unfortunately it’s no surprise that the disappointing ending is a cop-out (Plato goes berserk and gets himself killed). The title of this movie would forever change how the word “rebel” was applied.

Although James Dean would die in a car crash in the same year these two movies were released, a young, white, naïve, Christian gospel singer who had a penchant for ruining blues songs by turning them into catchy pop-tunes would quickly usurp Dean’s look and confuse apparently every teenager in America into thinking that conformity was rebellious as long as you shook your hips (it’s maddening how much more hedonistic and sexually-charged forties swing dancing was than this). Elvis was no rebel, but he had sex appeal and he lived the American Dream.

I can only contribute this swift commercialization of the idea of rebellion to the fact that most Americans, being overwhelmingly conservative (I’m not talking about politics here), are only able to dismiss the precepts set by their nation and parents to a suprisingly small degree. Also, most are less interested in discovering or voicing their own opinions than in being sexually desirable. True rebellion requires us to take sole responsibility for our actions, which isn’t American at all.