Thesis Statement It is my thesis statement that the male rebel in Hollywood cinema will perform well as an individual and in society as long as in the end he conforms to particular social and cultural norms. To elaborate, the male rebel is allowed to be rebellious in certain aspects of his character as long as at the end of the film he is seen to have tempered this wild manner with a socially acceptable and good characteristic. To illustrate this thesis statement I would like to draw on two movies. The first is Rebel Without a Cause (1955), directed by Nicholas Ray and starring James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo. The second film is Get Shorty (1995) John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo and Danny DeVito (Rebel).
Summary of Films I will begin this essay by giving a brief summary of both films. Rebel Without a Cause is a tale about a teenager named Jim Stark played by James Dean, who has been moved from town to town by his family because of his tendency to get in trouble.
Jim
Cropped screenshot of Virginia Brissac, Jim Backus...
English: Princess Diana dancing with John Travolta...Jim, a misunderstood and rebellious adolescent, meets two other characters with similar issues Judy and Plato. Jim gets into trouble through-out the plot line in circumstances such as knife fights and chickie runs. It is ultimately through this chickie run that Jim, Judy and Plato form a close bond. In the end, the three form a pretend family and seem to live idyllically happy in an abandoned mansion. The conclusion of the film sees Plato die and Jim and Judy forming a loving and mature relationship.
Get Shorty which was filmed 50 years after Rebel Without a Cause, is about a mobster Chili Palmer, who goes to Hollywood to collect an outstanding debt for his boss. While there...