Rebel Without a Cause vs the World

Rebel without Cause vs. The World Today

 Rebel Without A Cause is a movie about three troubled, identity-seeking teenagers alienated from the world of their parents. Each of the movie’s main characters is searching for understanding, companionship, and a sense of belonging, much like most of the teenagers today, Erikson’s stages and personal experiences.   Even though the movie is dated, it depicts the main problems and concerns that teens currently face. It presents the problems and the viewer is left to ponder how they'll turn out. I could identify with this movie on many levels.

  The movie seems to tell the audience that just because teenagers do some bad things, doesn’t mean they’re bad at heart. I agree. In the movie, Jim is pressured into participating in a chickie run with a local gang leader named Buzz. A chickie run is where two guys race in a car towards a cliff. The first one to jump out from his car is a chicken. Jim feels he has something to prove. He doesn’t want to race, but he feels he has to show everyone he’s tough. Often times teenagers try their best to avoid trouble.   If necessary they will put their lives on the line, all for the sake of their reputation.
Erikson’s psychological stages help us better to understand our characters, such as Jim Stark.   Throughout the movie Jim shows us characteristics of an “Adolescent” try to fit in, not only with his friends but also with his family.   But things aren’t that easy for Jim, because he plays a different role for everyone in the movie, but himself.   To Plato, he is a father figure and his first real friend.   To Judy he is a lover.   To his parents, he is a confused boy looking for a place to belong.   Jim is constantly being molded into this figure that his peers have portrayed for him, and because he is new he wants to make a good first impression. The last thing that he wants is to be called a chicken.   During the movie we see quite a bit of change in him, in that he grows from and...