Rebel Without A Cause Conformity

The youth of the 1950s were built off of their rebellious personalities, their sense of morality, and the metaphorical phrase of being rebirthed. This is best shown in the film Rebel Without a Cause, where teens are seen running away from their parents and getting involved in stuff they shouldn’t be. The reasons why teens were depicted as rebels against conformity was because of how youth culture formed, such as the growth of cars, being involved with love, and forming gangs within their group of friends. When comparing 50s kids to today’s kids, it can be seen that the generation’s culture is drastically different. The biggest goal for parents today are to wipe out the source of rebellious thoughts, and keep strict conformity amongst their family so it would not cause society’s downfall.
Many find it true that many teenagers in the 1950s were rebellious and it was because of their consumerist traits, how they fit in society, and their strained relationships with the adults. When Jim Stark yells at his parents, “You’re tearing me apart!”(RWOAC), he describes how his parents are the reason why his life is suffering. Great examples from this film of its rebelling would be Jim’s actions to keep his pride even if it comes to

defying his parents, Judy’s rebellious acts towards her sexist father, and of course Plato coming out as a homosexual in a time where it wasn’t a norm. But after meeting Judy and Plato, Jim Stark realizes that his reason to rebel is not just to defy his parents, but to find love.
Behind their rebellious acts there is a sense of morality behind it such as the adult’s decision to not listen to the youth, the depiction of homosexuality in the 50s, and how youth culture was formed as a result of the growth of consumerism.

It has gotten to the point that teenagers like Jim would think, “I don’t know what to do anymore. Except maybe die”(RWOAC). When saying this, they’re describing how society was tough back then and didn’t offer much morality to people like Jim, Judy, and Plato. From the lack of morality, the friend group was then given the opportunity to rebirth into a new person, a person with morality, a person with a good reason rebel, and a person who would understand the challenges of being involved with youth

culture.
Lastly, the metaphorical rebirth of a person was greatly depicted in the film, with Jim realizing that fighting for his love is more important than fighting for his pride, Plato learning that it is okay to be homosexual, and youth culture as a whole affecting the film’s characters. When Frank Stark, Jim’s father explains to him that he, “Can’t live in an idealistic world forever”(RWOAC), he then soughts for something he hasn’t thought of before, love. And he does find love through Buzz’s death, and in a way both Jim and Judy has been reborn as a result of a single death.