Rebel Without A Cause

Rebel Without a Cause is an unconventional story with a conventional, classical approach to storytelling. The film follows the seven traits of Classical Hollywood Cinema and is adapted to the hybridization of film noir, which was primarily a style of B movies, and teen drama films, which was newly emerging in the 50s.
Rebel Without a Cause follows the classical Hollywood three-act narrative structure and is told from an omniscient/objective point of view, allowing the viewer to travel through space and time. In the opening scene of Act I the viewer first meets the lead protagonist, Jim Stark. The film exhibits continuity editing in the following scene, where a wide shot of the police station establishes the location for the setup.

Jim is a “man on the run” moving from school to school to avoid trouble and feels alienated from his family and peers. The film is stylistically noirish with Nicholas Ray’s use of low-key, garish lighting, the use of shadows cast on character’s faces, and the setting of a city street at night in the opening scene. The film also deconstructs film noir conventions by including a fatherly policeman, white heterosexual antagonists, and a female love interest that isn’t responsible for his troubles. Themes of the teen drama genre are also heavily present, such as Jim being the “new kid” in school, choosing the popular girl as a love interest, being late to the trip to the observatory, and a fight with a bully on the first day of

Jim finds the mirror in the police station, which sets up the relationship between the two, but has little to do with the story. Rebel does not strictly adhere to the conventions and themes of Film Noir. The film remains linear throughout and does not include flashbacks, dreams, or hallucinations that would otherwise make the film intentionally disorienting or hard to follow. In addition to that, many symbols and motifs of Film Noir are absent, such as the water motif and torture scenes. Being a student of method acting, James Dean was able to personify a genuinely pessimistic and troubled Jim Stark with passionate outbursts and the natural mumbling and brooding of a distressed teenage boy. Jim, Judy, and Plato, played by movie stars of the 50s, were dynamic characters forever changed by the events of the story. Character actors played the static characters of the film, such as Plato’s caretaker.
Ray takes advantage of the use of cinematic staging to enhance the emotions of both the characters and viewer. During Jim’s argument with his parents about going to the police, the use of back shots and full frontal shots mirror his inner conflict. While Jim and Judy speak privately in the mansion, their faces crowd the frame in a close up shot reflecting the vulnerability and intimacy of the