Come the end of World War II, the Americans were anticipating the terms of a hope-filled future, in which they believed it meant they could venture off into the great beyond of space, teleport from place to place and that everything and anything was powered by nuclear material. No one had even contemplated the rise of Rock’n’Roll, an endless Cold War and the supremacy of entertainment by the constant uprise of youth culture. From this, it blossomed into a new kind of film for a new breed of teenager: the juvenile delinquency film. In this essay, I will be discussing the role of the juvenile delinquent within the two movies, Jim Stark in Rebel Without A Cause (1955) and Vince Everett in Jailhouse Rock (1957) and the impact of relevant industrial, …show more content…
The mother assumes much more of an authoritative role or better known as ‘wears the trousers in the relationship’. Thus, this result has feminized Jim’s father, Ray. The father is then consistently portrayed in an subordinate role to the mother. For instance, when he is seen in the mother’s apron on his knees picking up food in the hall, Jim Stark was actually befuddled at the state of his own father for his mother. Jim’s father is also unable to voice his own opinion in any sort of argument, and is unable to stand up to Jim when he argues against his mother, thus being demasculinised by his mother. It is not seen as a surprise that Jim wants to go to the police station to confess the truth that he had played a part in the Chicken Run, when the police station is the only force that will sort him out of delinquency. Although his parents urged him to keep it to himself and pretend he had zero involvement with the situation, but obviously this is not the sort of acceptable norms that society would promote to their children. The 1950’s viewer would indicate Jim’s family as incompetent and a poor living environment which would define Jim’s state as a …show more content…
In the 1950s, Juvenile delinquency was a phrase that everyone was saying and juvenile delinquents were associated with rock’n’roll, so this meant that the best place for the world’s most famous rock’n’roller was placed behind bars.” The theme of juvenile delinquency was picked up by mass media. Rock ’n’ roll and wild movies only reinstated the negative connotations that adults already had about the younger generation in the 1950s, in which Jailhouse Rock was released. This only further persuaded society that the next generation was on the road to being ruined (Young and Young,
The authors both making sweeping statements about the political nature of the United States, but Ames addresses a more concentrated demographic of American society than Hedges. The latter points the finger at the venal egotism of celebrity culture for entrancing the public into complacency, and at America’s political leaders for orchestrating the fact, but he also places substantial blame on the people at-large for allowing themselves to be captivated by the entertainment industry. Ames discusses an issue in which the Millennial generation stands as the focal point, but she speaks directly to the teachers of these adolescents due to their position of influence. Although today’s youth are proven to possess a spark of political energy through their own volition—displayed through their generation-wide interest in dystopian literature—an environment of learning and in-depth analysis provides the best opportunity for the novels’ underlying calls-to-action to strike a chord with their young
Thus, the shifting perceptions of the justice system has transformed what it means to be a child and an adult due to their pervasive, and punitive approaches to crime and delinquency. Although adolescents today enjoy many new freedoms and greater time to experiment, those that don’t conform to “normative behaviors” and engage in socially constructed definitions of delinquency, often end up under the firm hands of the juvenile justice system. Despite the creation of this phase in an adolescent’s life, the injustices within the adult justice system have breached into the juvenile system, thus, blurring the lines of what it means to be an adolescent in modern times. Thereby, the adolescent stage is constantly being manipulated to conform and match the social construction of crime and delinquency, and the rise in the practice of trying juveniles as adults within the court system and mandating life sentences is evidence of this
Many Americans believed that rock n’ roll was an irritant that provoked conflict between parents and teenagers and increased antisocial behavior. Acknowledging that there was no simple, casual equation between enjoying Elvis and arranging a rumble, they remained convinced that rock n’ roll reinforced the most worrisome aspects of youth culture. Because films displayed nudity, teenagers were introduced to various sexual activities displayed on the television.
For example, in Norfolk, Virginia, singer Larry Williams, who had recorded “Bony Maroney” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” was arrested after he jumped off stage and across the “color line” to dance with white fans. Maybe in some ways it did influence teenagers to rebel against their parents, but was more provoked by their surrounding peers rather than anything else. Adults would blame the music for their children's behavior instead of blaming themselves or the kids. Rock ‘n’ roll was blamed for all the problems and juvenile delinquency when the reason was not music.
Buzz challenges Jim in a chickie run to prove his power and masculinity. When Jim asks Buzz why he is initiating the chickie run, Buzz gives no logical explanation -- he just says that he has to do “something.” Unfortunately, Buzz fails to jump out of his car in time and falls down the cliff and dies. Buzz’s irrational method of proving his superiority eventually led to his own demise, but he is not to be blamed for his death. Rather, it is the American society which imposed certain images of a powerful masculine figure and pressured young males to conform to such unrealistic images that is responsible for Jim’s death.
Beginning with the late 1960’s counterculture in San Francisco, music and drugs will forever be inter-linked. Hippie bands such as the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, and Phish are associated with marijuana, mushrooms, and LSD. Modern electronic “rave” , or club music is associated with MDMA or Ecstasy. When one thinks of rock and roll, sex and drugs immediately come to mind. While the use of drugs is not essential for the creation or performance of all new music, it was certainly in important factor for the counterculture music of the late 1960’s. While some of the most important and influential music was made with the help of psychoactive drugs, it was often to the detriment of the artist. Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and countless other tremendously talented artists had their lives cut short due to drug use. Drugs were most often good for the music, but deadly for the music makers.
In Edward Humes book, No Matter How Loud I Shout, he discusses the different areas of the Juvenile Justice System, and how those areas affect delinquents who have made their way into the Los Angeles court houses. He recounts his experiences with these children in Los Angeles while they are in Juvenile Court, as well as telling their stories of before they entered the system (Humes, 2015). Furthermore, Humes recounts how these individuals moved through the court system based off their time done, and other factors. Humes relates the stories the kids have written in his class within the jailing facility, as a demonstration of the different back grounds that the children came from. They all grew up differently, and that has affected how they commit
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
The ‘60s were the age of youth, as millions of children’s from post World War II became teenagers and rebelled against the conservative fifties. Denying civil rights to African-Americans and liberation to teenagers in previous decades and Vietnam War, created a vortexes which lead to massive rebellion against the status qua. Music of the 1960s was characteristic of the revolution that was going on during the decade. It was a time of rebellion and counter-culture in which the teenagers and college students were critical of government, business, religious institution and other various aspects of life. Era marked by civil rights movement, Vietnam War, environment of drug abuse and sexual freedom formed new music like: folk rock, soul and psychedelic rock. These genres starkly contrast the teen idol music of ‘50s pop mainstream. Writes John Covach; “World was exploding, and rock musicians were listening more closely than ever.”(Covach, 152) Such stark contrast in pop music directly relay to changing social culture in America, which further echo’s the relationship between music and culture.
‘Pleasure and pain: Representations of illegal drug consumption, addiction and trafficking in music, film and video’, (Boyd 2011) is an analysis into various drug references, symbolism and imagery within popular culture from the 1920’s to 2010, and the role they play in the public perception and policy. Susan Boyd claims that political and institutional influences, particularly in music and film provide an increase in retributive justice towards drug use, however, also pave the way to more unorthodox forms of retaliation (ibid., p. 57). Boyd illustrates this through numerous texts which she claims have amplified after prohibition efforts, resulting in “proliferation of racialised, gendered and class-biased drug imagery in film and musical lyrics
The 1960s formed one of the most culturally complex periods in America’s history, and the analysis of this era is just as problematic. During this time, American society experienced an outpouring of filmic, literary and musical texts that challenged traditional institutions such as the Christian church, the government and the family unit. It would be naïve to argue that this period witnessed the first or the last instance of subversive propaganda targeted at young people, for the many dissenting voices herein did not emerge by random chance. The formulation of a more politically aware youth culture in America and, to a lesser but still important extent, Great Britain, was a gradual process that had been taking hold for considerable time, not one that exploded into being when Bob Dylan or John Lennon began writing protest songs.
Rock and Roll was the start of a new revolution in America. It introduced the world to many of the famous artists that continue to be a part of our lives today. "Artists who became popular in the 1950s such as Elvis, began to pave the way for others such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly" (The History of Rock 'n' Roll until 1960). With the introduction of rock 'n' roll, there came many new changes to the lives of many Americans. Rock and Roll was a major contributor for the change in teens' behavior in the 1950s because it encouraged new freedoms for teenagers, encouraged new fads among teenagers, and caused a generation gap.
He doesn't like the thought that one of them purposely killed a deer. Jim wants them to understand his choice. This shows Jim is frustrated because his brothers are pushing his buttons. This is significant because Jim is showing us how his brothers don't treat him supportingly. Even though Jim doesn't want to eat it, that doesn't mean people can give him a hard time.
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
The film Pulp Fiction was an immediate box office success when it was released in 1994 and it was also well received by the critics, and celebrated for the way it appeared to capture exactly a certain pre-millennial angst and dislocation in Western capitalist societies. The term post-modernist, often used to refer to art and architecture, was applied to this film. The pulp fiction refers to popular novels which are bought in large numbers by less well educated people and enjoyed for their entertainment value. The implication is that the film concerns topics of interest to this low culture, but as this essay will show, in fact, the title is ironic and the film is a very intellectual presentation of issues at the heart of contemporary western culture and philosophy.