According to Roy Shuker, “the search for independence and an established sense of personal identity” as well as “the reconciliation theme” (42) are two of the dominant themes that are common throughout the youth film genre. Rebel Without a Cause propagates both. Predominantly a ‘rite of passage’ film, it follows the protagonist, Jim Stark, over a twenty-four hour period as he seeks acceptance from peers while maintaining a balance between his self-determined image and his parent’s constructed image. The figure Jim represents is an example of the misunderstood adolescent who is often a victim of circumstances; films using this figure often feature a reconciliation of sorts between sides, in this case between Jim and his family. Director Nicholas Ray often uses the camera and aspects of mis-en-scene as an extension of these thematic ideas. These techniques further the audience’s understanding of the bond that ties youth together and also perpetuates the division that exists between adults and teenagers.
The opening scene at Juvenile Hall runs for over fifteen minutes. During this scene, several isolated sequences take place. Ray conducts these scenes in such a way that their transitions are seamless. Often utilising the windowed walls for graphic matches, and aural bridges, both diegetic and non-diegetic, to transport the audience’s ear before manoeuvring the audience’s eye. This segment of film features three such isolated sequences: Jim and Plato in the waiting room, Judy in Ray’s office, and the arrival of Jim’s parents. The transitions between these sequences are simple for the audience to understand due to the techniques Ray uses. Firstly we are brought into the waiting room by Jim mimicking a police siren. We hear the noise while on a mid shot of Judy while in a side office; she spins around to see Jim lying awkwardly in a chair in the waiting room. Ray then cuts to a mid shot of Jim, as his siren gets louder, maintaining continuity.
This first shot on Jim Stark, stretched out in typical delinquent manner on a shoe shining chair in the waiting room of Juvenile Hall, is indicative of his current state. Jim is clearly drunk, acting outside himself, in an attempt to enter adulthood. But through this attempt he also shows his reluctance to let go of his childhood. This is first suggested by when we first see him in the title sequence both intoxicated and playing with a toy monkey. Suggesting both his desire for adulthood and his reluctance to let go of his childhood respectively. In Juvenile Hall his playful personality reinforces this, such as his immature behaviour towards the policeman in this shot. These conflicting motives illustrate Jim’s confusion and inner turmoil, which are articulated later, “You’re tearing me apart!”
As the shot continues the camera pulls back from Jim, tracking with the policeman as he significantly walks away from Jim. This shot can be divided into two halves, one where the policeman walks away from Jim and the other where Jim approaches Plato. The blocking throughout this shot is suggestive of the unity of youth by Jim approaching Plato and the separation of adults and teenagers by the Policeman walking away from Jim. Although the motif of adults walking away from youth continues throughout the film, there are certain exceptions. Plato’s maid tries her best to be there for her surrogate son, but her ineffective influence on the narrative illustrates the film’s ideological position: there is no substitute for a parents’ love. The other more significant exception is Ray (a character named after the director, played by Edward C. Platt). Ray is an exception to the trend of authority figures being parodies or ridiculed in youth films.
Ray is central to the second third of this sequence where he reports to Judy that her mother will arrive shortly to collect her. In this sequence, although the focus is clearly on Judy and her reaction to her parents, Ray is privileged to have the camera focus on him which is rare for the adult characters in this narrative. As a youth orientated film, the point of view does not align us with the adult characters, just as the three main teenage characters are hardly close to the adult characters for various reasons. However, although Ray is established as a character ‘on the side of youth’, he is still limited by his perspective. Because he is an adult he still struggles to help even though he is understanding and sympathetic to the troubles of teenagers. Nicholas Ray shows this through avoiding having Ray (or any other adult) and a teenager in the same shot. In the scene with Judy, the sequence is edited using shot-reverse-shot. Even though Ray is sympathetic towards youth, contrary to the representation of the view of the police, the division still exists as shown by the editing pattern.
Although, as noted, teenagers and adults are frequently framed separately, this is not always maintained. Instead, when an adult and a teenager is in the same shot, Ray takes advantages of the widescreen aspect ratio by using the different corners of the frame, or uses different levels to perpetuate the difference. This is most apparent on two occasions. Firstly when Jim is playfully teasing the police officer as he walks away. Jim is sitting on a shoe shining seat and is therefore at a lower level than the standing policeman. But to emphasise this difference in levels, Ray takes the camera down to waist level so that the height difference is exaggerated by the low angle. Furthermore the second example also indicates important exposition in terms of the relationship between Jim and his father. When Jim’s family arrives, Jim, who is still sitting in the shoe shiner seat, stands to greet them. By standing he raises himself well above the level of his parents, again accentuated by the low angle. Through this assumed position above his father we are visually introduced to the idea of Jim’s father’s weakness. The dialogue, which positions Jim’s father as uncomfortable with the concept of delinquency and therefore unaware of any way to deal with it, further reinforces this. Then at Jim’s invitation, their positions in the frame are switched. Jim’s father now occupies the shoe shining chair, and Jim below him, symbolically in the position typically occupied by the lower class worker. Jim’s father’s reluctance to take this position is of importance in this situation. Like later in the film, Jim’s father never manages to take a position of authority, a position that Jim desires of him. Furthermore, in switching these positions, the frame still makes the distinction between the adult world and the world of the teenager.
Throughout Rebel Without a Cause there is a deliberate use of costume to suggest delinquency as well as further perpetuating the gap (or sometimes lack of) between the world’s of teenagers and adults. Throughout the film, leather and ‘bomber’ jackets are used to symbolise rebellion from mainstream society, just as the colour red is also given associations with delinquency. In Juvenile Hall Judy is wearing a bright red coat and red lipstick (the same colour as the jacket that Jim wears to the ‘Chickie Run’), suggesting both her delinquency as well as conveying her sense of loss and need for belonging. Conversely Jim is dressed in a shirt and tie, not typical of 1950’s youth; instead the conservative clothes make him look like a dad himself. This establishes Jim as an outsider, not just through his delinquency, which is further reinforced once he goes to school the next day. His dad dresses in a shirt and tie similar to Jim in various other stages of the film. This again is much like the juxtaposition between the toy monkey and the alcohol, alluding to Jim’s growing frustration and confusion about his place in society.
Nicolas Ray’s camera in this sequence and in the wider film is often unobtrusive, but his framing is frequently subjective. In Juvenile Hall, by using the windowed walls, Ray has on different occasions framed the teenagers in such a way that has all three appear in the same shot. By doing so “[Ray] is able to visually establish the bond that unities all of America’s troubled, troublesome, alienated middle-class teenagers, who, with little variation, are mirror images of one another” (Peary, 282). The idea of windows as mirrors is furthered later in the film. Firstly when Jim spies Judy on the street before his first day at school he is looking through a window. At the mansion, Plato and Jim speak through a broken glass door. More knowingly perhaps is the use of windows at the ‘Chickie run’ where Jim and Buzz are both sitting in their parallel cars, looking at one another. Jim sees through his window everything he wants to be, Buzz as the popular teenager who has Judy as his girlfriend. This scene is poignant, as by the end of the film Buzz and Jim have switched roles and the mirror image is realised. Through using windows, in scenes such as in Juvenile Hall where the three teenagers are introduced, Ray captures the bond that ties American’s youth. Through this Ray suggests not only the unabridged similarities that tie them together, but also that “their differences…are not as strong as their common problems” (Peary, 283).
This sequence is indicative of the wider film. It combines a variety of techniques to contribute to the audience’s understanding of the division that exists between adults and teenagers as well as communicating the bond that ties youth together. These ideas are communicated through Ray’s framing, colour, costume, and blocking. Importantly this scene introduces the shared search for personal identity that ultimately unites the young characters in this narrative. This sets them on course towards reconciliation, but the brutality of Rebel Without a Cause is that it recongises that generational gap is so wide that some characters will never get a chance to find it.
Bibliography
Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, US, 1955)
Ebert, Roger. ‘Rebel Without a Cause.’ The Great Movies II. Broadway Books: New York, 2005.
Peary, Danny. ‘Rebel Without a Cause.’ Cult Movies: The Classics, The Sleepers, The Weird and The Wonderful. New York: Dell, 1981. 282-285.
Shuker, Roy. ‘Hollywood’s Adolescents: Youth Film as Genre Study.’ Unknown. 41-47.
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