This essay is a cross-cultural examination between the movies “Rebel without a cause” by Nicholas Ray and “Clueless” by Amy Heckerling. Although these two films take place in the same American city of Los Angeles (LA), they were set nearly 40 years apart. Thus this essay looks at the LA society through the cross cultural theme of time. This essay focuses on the teenage demographic in LA in 1955 and 1995. This essay looks at the continuities and differences between:
• Family
• Roles and status
• Conflict, cooperation and decision making
• Gender
• Communication
• Power and Authority
As displayed in these 2 films.
2. Cross cultural analyses of ‘Rebel without a cause’ and ‘Clueless’
2.1. Family
In ‘Rebel without a cause’, the culture
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that the movie is parodying is American. The Stark family has one mother and one father. The Stark family has only one child, Jim Stark. Generally the parents in this movie have little or no influence in their children’s lives. In this film, Frank Stark is a not a role model for his son Jim. In the Stark household, the mother has the overall authority and power in most situations, with the hierarchy being, Carol, Jim, Frank. In ‘Clueless’, the culture being portrayed is American.
The Horowitz family is wealthy. There is no mother in the family, she died while Cher was very young, Mel Horowitz is a single parent. In the Horowitz family the father is a big influence in the children’s life. Mel Horowitz holds the authority in this household. Mel is also a good role model for his …show more content…
children. In both films, the culture that it is parodying is American, specifically the city of LA. Both of the families only have one child, who is in their teen years. In the film ‘Clueless, the main authority figure in the Horowitz is the father, Mel Horowitz. However in ‘Rebel without a cause’ the main authority figure in the Stark household is the mother, Carol stark. In ‘Clueless’, the father is a good role model for his children, however in ‘Rebel without a cause’, the father is not a role model for his son Jim. In both films, the parents value family life greatly, however in ‘Clueless’ it is more important to the teenagers than it is to the teenagers in ‘Rebel without a cause’. Family life in ‘Clueless’ seem to be more technology based while in ‘Rebel without a cause’, technology does not play a large role. The concept of family has changed very much in the 40 year gap between the two films. 2.2. Gender In ‘Rebel without a cause’, the males are depicted to be dominant while the females were depicted to be submissive. Gender roles are clearly defined, the mother is the homemaker she stays home, cooks, cleans, and looks after the child and general housekeeping. While the man, is the stereotypical ‘man of the house’, he is the primary bread winner in the household and provides for the family. In one scene, when the mother is sick, the father can be seen wearing a frilly apron, this is not evident with most parents. In ’Clueless’, females were more selective and confident than as displayed in ‘Rebel without a cause’. In this movie the males tend to be more submissive and less dominant. Gender roles are clearly defined, the mother is the homemaker and the father is the primary bread winner and he provides for the family. Although both films deal with the age demographic of teenagers in the city of LA, the way that the male and female genders where portrayed is very different, in ‘Rebel without a cause’, the males were depicted as dominant, and the females were depicted as submissive, however in ‘Clueless’, these depictions were reversed, the females were more dominant, selective and confident, while the males were more submissive. Gender roles in both movies are clearly defined and are very traditional. The woman is the homemaker that is she stays home, cooks, cleans, and looks after the child and general housekeeping. While the man, is the stereotypical ‘man of the house’, he is the primary bread winner in the household. In both films the mothers are portrayed as loving, caring and nurturing people. While the males are portrayed as an authority figure and as laid back and hardworking. It can be seen that much has changed in LA society in the 40 year gap between these two films in terms of gender. 2.3. Communication In ‘Rebel without a cause’, there is an obvious disconnect between the parents and the teenagers. There is very little communication between the parents and the teenagers. The teenagers generally kept their problems to themselves. The teenagers had introverted emotions, they didn’t talk about them much. The teenagers didn’t bond much with their parents or the other teenagers in the film. The teenagers are reserved around parents and family. There was not much between the parents and teenagers. In ‘Clueless’, there is a lot of communication between the parent and teenagers. The teenagers are very extroverted, they share their feelings. In this film it is acceptable to share feelings and thoughts with others. Teenagers tend to be communicative with their parents. The teenagers tend to bond with other teenagers and form friendships. Cher can often be seen sharing her emotions with her friends. Both these films depict the teenage demographic in the American city of LA, however it is very evident that the society they live in has changed vastly in the 40 ear gap between the films. In ‘Clueless’, the teenagers are more extroverted than as shown in ‘Rebel without a cause’. In ‘Clueless’ it has become more acceptable for teens to share their feelings and thought with others than it was in ‘Rebel without a cause’. In ‘Clueless’ the teenagers are share their feelings and form friendships and are more communicative with their parents, however in ‘Rebel without a cause’ , the teenagers are more introverted, they do not form friendships easily, they do not share their thoughts and feelings with others and do not talk with their parents. Much has changed in the 40 year gap between these 2 films in terms of communication. 2.4. Power and Authority In ‘Rebel without a cause’, one of the groups that has a lot of power over Jim’s life is his peers. They can be seen influencing his decisions and behaviour. In this film the police and the law is the authority in this film. They have the authority to punish any lawbreakers. The teachers have the power and authority in the school as they have the power to influence the school life of the students. In the Stark house hold, Carrol stark holds the power and authority with the hierarchy being, Carol, Jim, Frank. The law is also a prominent authority figure in this movie, as it has the power to influence Jim's life. The police also have power as they can influence Jim’s decisions. In ‘Clueless’, the teachers and the parents hold most of the authority over the teenagers, while the peers hold the power to influence their lives. In the Horowitz family, Mel Horowitz has the authority and power, he is able to influence Chef's decisions about school and home life. In this film, another person who holds authority is Chef's driving instructor, he has the power and authority to determine whether or not she will pass her driving test. An example of power and authority in this movie is parking tickets. Although these 2 films were set 40 years apart, they are very similar in terms of who holds the power and authority. In both films, the law holds the most power and authority over the lives of the teenagers. In both films the teachers have the power and authority to influence the teenager’s school lives e.g. grades. However, in 'Rebel without a cause' the mother appears to hold most of the power and authority in the Stark household with the father holding the least, however in 'Clueless', the father holds the authority and power in the Horowitz household. It can be seen that there was a change in the hierarchy of families in the 40 year gap between these two films. 2.5. Roles and Status In ‘Rebel without a cause’, Jim Stark plays the role of the rebel who highly values his public image and reputation as cool. He is the only child of Cardio and Jim Stark. He is the rebel in this movie. In this movie ‘Plato’ plays the role of a ‘sidekick’ to Jim Stark. ‘Plato’s’ parents are supposedly very wealthy and they travel a lot, leaving Plato alone with only the housekeeper to look after him. Judy plays the role of the female who is attracted to the ‘bad boy’, she later becomes Jim’s girlfriend. Jim’s parents, Carrol and Frank, are the stereotypical parents in the film. They are both very protective of Jim. The mother is the stereotypical mother, she stays home and looks after the house. She is very loving and caring. The father is the stereotypical 'man of the house', he goes to work and earns the money, he also provides for his family. In this film, the police represent the law, the power and authority. They try to make the teenagers follow the law and punish any lawbreakers. One police officer, Ray Fremick , becomes a friend and mentor of Jim Stark, helping him make tough sessions and guiding him though his teenage years, he can be seen as a role model for Jim. In ‘Clueless’ Cher is the main character, she is the daughter of Mel and ... Horowitz. She is the ‘cool’ girl of the school. Her image is very important to her. In this film, she tries to help newcomer Tai To become the popular girl in school, she believes that she helps others out of good will, however most of the time she as ulterior motives. Dionne is the best friend of Cher. She is the girlfriend of Murray Duvall.Mel Horowitz is the father of Cher and ex-stepfather of Josh. He is the main authority in the Horowitz household. He works as a liquidator. He is very protective of his children. Mel is very dedicated to his job, and sometimes lets Cher and Josh help him on some cases. He is very hardworking and earns a lot of money. In this movie the teachers are a symbol of power and authority, the have the ability to influence the teenager’s school life. Josh is the ex-stepson of Mel Horowitz and ex-stepbrother of Cher. He is generally laid back and calm. In the beginning of the film, he and Cher don't like each other much, however at the end, he become Cher's new love-interest and eventually her boyfriend. Although these films were set 40 years apart, in terms of roles and status in their two societies, not much has changed. Both families shown only have one son, the police and the law in both films play a major part in terms of power and authority. In both films the teachers of the two school role is to educate the students of their respective high schools. The parental figures shown in each film have the same obligations and responsibilities e.g. caring for their children. 2.6. Conflict, co-operation and decision making 'Rebel without a cause', most of the conflict takes place between the teenagers and their social groups. In this film, Frank Stark is the one who is trying to solve these conflicts between Jim and the other teenagers in the movie, in this film most of the decisions that we can see Jim making were heavily influenced by his peers. The teenagers portrayed are always trying to fit in and be socially accepted. The teenagers displayed had broken the law just to seem cool. In this films, there was little or no parental influence on the teenagers who tended to be rebellious. This films also explores the issues normally associated with teenage years e.g boyfriend/girlfriend issues. In this film, we can see that most teenagers try to fit in and their social image is very important to them. In this film the parents have little or no influence on the lives of their teenage children In 'Clueless', most of the conflict was between social groups at their high school, with little being seen in the home, in this film the one who is trying to resolve these conflicts is Chef's brother, Josh. In ‘Clueless’ there was an idea of the teacher versus the students. The teenager tend to hang out in social groups, e.g the jocks, the nerds etc.. This films also explores the issues normally associated with teenage years e.g boyfriend/girlfriend issues. In thi film, the parents seem to have some influence on the decisions mafde by their children. Both films depict various problems faced by the teenage demographic in LA.
In both films, most of the conflict goes on between the teenagers and social groups at their school. In both film a lot of the conflict goes on between the different teenagers and social groups. In both films there is a person who aids in the resolutions of conflict. In ‘Rebel without a cause’ the parents have little influence on their children’s lives, however in ‘Clueless’, they have more influence over their children’s decisions. Both films explore the various issues associated with teenage life e.g. boyfriend/girlfriend issues, the want to fit in etc.…. from this tone can see that not much has changed in the 40 year gap between the two films, most teenagers are still facing the same problems in ‘Clueless’ as shown in ‘Rebel without a cause’.
3. Conclusion
When comparing these two films it can be seen that despite the 40 year gap between the 2 films there are some aspects that have remained the same or very similar e.g. the want to be accepted by peers. This is because there are simply certain problems that are associated with teenage years irrespective of environment, etc.…
Despite these similarities there are some aspects that are very different in these two films e.g. gender, in Clueless the females were more dominant and selective than as displayed in ‘Rebel without a cause’.
By comparing the two films using the cross-cultural them of time it can be seen that there are many differences and similarities
between these two cultures displayed in these two films.
In both the novel and movie focus on the war. The war influences the characters to enroll.Also, the main setting is at the Devon School. However, in the novel Gene visits Leper at his house but in the movie Leper lives in the woods.In the novel Gene is coming back to the Devon School 15 years later.However, in the book he is coming to Devon as a new student.Therefore, similarities and differences exist in time and setting in the novel and the movie.In the novel and the movie there are similarities and differences in events, character, and time and setting.
...d coloring of certain images. The novel, however, puts much greater emphasis on the imagination and creativity, and on the main character Tita. The novel really makes the reader feel Titas pain and grow with her as she discovers her freedom, whereas the movie failed to achieve this. Moreover, the movie tends to ignore the significant of 3 integral motifs, cooking, tears and sensuality.
Usually, she has a male friend who will one day be the richest man, at the ten year reunion. Denby focuses highly on the outsiders redemption and, as Denby claims, how “they might have been working at a hip software company, or have started their own business, while the jocks who oppressed them would probably have wound up selling insurance or used cars.” These high school movies are meant to intrigue us, and for the most part, they do and this is why there are so many of them. Denby closes the argument with expressing that in Alexander Payne’s, Election, Reese Witherspoon plays a very credited girl who even though she is on top, feels excluded. This shows that even surrounded my numerous cliques, you can still feel like you do not fit in. By ending this article in such a way, it gives the reader another view on these teen movies and shows that there are other movies that differ from the “mainstream” teen
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Rebel Without a Cause calls attention to society’s obsession over hyper masculinity, fears of overly dominant women, homosexuality, and juvenile “delinquency” during the 1950s. Popularity of suburban life arose – along with the necessity to fit in. Accompanying the pressures of gender roles were also the rise of alcoholism, depression, anxiety, and rage. Moreover, the film explores the conflicts that lied within teenagers because of the social standards that were forced upon them.
many similarities,the differences in the two stories stand out magnificently. In the film Life Is
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In “High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies” David Denby criticizes movies portraying high school. He writes “The most commercial and frivolous of genres harbor a grievance against the world” (426). In many movies starting in the early 90’s you began to see an extreme amount of disrespect to adults from teenagers. High school movies are filled with unruly
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The short story and the film have the same plots and the same conflict ...
Have you ever had one of those days that were so bad that you desperately needed a night at the ice cream or candy store? The 1970’s was that really bad day, while the night of self- indulgence was the 1980’s. Americans love to escape from our daily stress, and of all the products that allow us to do so, none is more popular than the movies. Movies are key cultural artifacts that offer a view of American culture and social history. They not only offer a snapshot of hair styles and fashions of the times but they also provide a host of insights into Americans’ ever-changing ideals. Like any cultural artifact, the movies can be approached in a number of ways. Cultural historians have treated movies as a document that records the look and mood of the time that promotes a particular political or moral value or highlights individual or social anxieties and tensions. These cultural documents present a particular image of gender, ethnicity, romance, and violence. Out of the political and economic unrest of the 1970’s that saw the mood and esteem of the country, as reflected in the artistry and messages in the movies, sink to a new low, came a new sense of pride in who we are, not seen since the post-World War II economic boom of the 1950’s. Of this need to change, Oscar Award winner Paul Newman stated,
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Clueless it is set in Beverly Hills in America and in Emma is set in
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