The Influence of Film on American Society: Part 1

Playing chicken with Rebel

Film and society have a complex relationship of give and take. Primarily, because film is more often impacted by society than society is by film. Film so often takes its central themes from social issues or cultural elements. It is only a rare and extraordinary film that manages to cause a shift in behavior in society. It is also a complex relationship because the impact of a film can be hard to measure. When the Occupy Wall Street protests began, no one heard the people citing Inside Job, the Oscar award winning documentary about Wall Street’s role in the 2008 economic crisis, as a motivation. In retrospect it does seem to be a likely influence. Also, different movies affect different masses of people. The 2006 film, Quinceañera might have meant a lot to Latino-American youths, but didn’t reach the average suburban Caucasian teenager. None the less, I will illustrate how two films have influenced American society in significant, notable ways.

Both films are from prior 1960, and both were banned from movie theatres at some point. They were critical in nature of elements of American civilization, and were thus revered by some and loathed by others. Strong films often achieve this love-hate relationship with viewers, as the truth can be hard to take. I’m talking of the 1955 movie Rebel Without a Cause and the 1939 movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Rebel Without a Cause continues to echo through American youth today, but it meant even more for the adolescents of its time. Teenagers in the 1950’s were under an enormous amount of pressure. If one watches the educational videos from the era, they instruct family’s to behave with perfect cooperation and respect, leaving little space for open communication. The post-war U.S. sought to be the image of an ideal nation while all others were dealing with the horrific aftermath, and wanted its children to match the image. Teenagers were meanwhile being raised by parents who had witnessed the horrors of war, in some cases scarred by being in combat or losing family members. Children were expected to be perfect and were told their world was perfect, but they saw a very different picture, producing confusion and anger.

This is why Rebel was so immensely popular. The film depicts three principle teenagers who live in suburban America. Two of them have seemingly normal families who are in fact dysfunctional, and the other has been practically abandoned by his parents to be raised in a mansion by his maid. They smoke, drink, get into fights, race cars and break into private property as an outlet of their angst. Together, they find family in each other as they escape their parents. It was one of the first films to depict teenagers in these rebellious roles. The violent nature of some scenes managed to get the film banned from several cities. It was thought that the film would be a bad influence on adolescents. In fact, it was. The film gave teenagers a voice that they continued to express throughout the 60’s and 70’s by protesting and banning together in a love of freedom and rebellion against the establishment. The screenwriter Stewart Stern who worked on the screenplay for Rebel said, “The creation of the family in Rebel Without a Cause was ultimately the creation of the family at Woodstock.”

The cultural effect of the film is absolute undeniable. The costume of the main character, the red jacket, white t-shirt, blue jeans and black boots of James Stark, became the uniform for the rebellious teenage male of the time. In 1956, the year after Rebel’s release, Hollywood produce 10 films of similar rebellious teen themes. In 1957, there were forty such movies released. Fans continue to show up to screenings of Rebel dressed like the characters 50 years later. European youths also loved the rebellious characters. Germany and Poland soon produced their own versions of James Dean’s character of James Stark, Horst Bucholz and Zbigniew Cybulski, respectively.

Rebel heard the distraught masses and spoke to them. Its immense popularity and effects on society and cultural have made it and its characters and actors legendary. It continues to be watched and loved half a century later, with similar meaning for contemporary audiences. I myself adore the film and its artistic innovations, its strong production elements and its heartbreaking story.