Plato
The 1950s was a key point for social and gender changes. Many Americans were exhausted after World War II and desired to return to "normalcy" within their nuclear family. Women's role was beginning to change and there was a rise of another social category and culture: the teenager. Teenagers were challenging authority even if it was as harmless as wearing pink or red with black. Director Nicholas Ray portrays this culture in his 1950s film, Rebel without a Cause. He acknowledges the changes going on within this new social category by giving the audience a psychological look at the internal aspects of teenagers. The three main characters find themselves at the root of change in their households and find themselves lacking something from their families. Judy and Plato both lack fathers and attach their displaced desire upon Jim. Jim himself searches for a father but finds it in himself. Throughout the entire film, there are important symbols that represent and show the psychological quest and desire. Jim's tweed sports jacket and his red jacket represent the displaced desires for a father and classify Jim as the father. The mirror shows the displacement of desires onto an object. They all must at some point enter the fantasy wo
Plato hardly knows Jim but he has already created an imaginary ideology around him. Nevertheless, his death opens the door for Judy and Jim; Plato's imaginary eases Jim and Judy into the real world. Plato becomes the key for Judy and Jim to enter into the adult world. Plato is once again creating the fantasy. " His father says, "I'll try to be as strong as you want me to be. He is once again being humiliated by the outside world. This thirst represents Plato's inability to enter into the adult world, hence the fact that he had to die. This same scene introduces Judy. He is devastated because his ideal father or ideal family in a sense has failed him. The shot at Jim is reminiscent of Plato shooting the puppies. Plato must be sacrificed for what society believes is the greater good of the family. The moment that Plato has with the mirror and capturing Jim happens to Judy in this scene. The lecturer is teaching and warning the teens about the universe and the meekness of humankind. Plato is sitting on the bench shivering. Through these symbols and the action of the film, the three of them are at least able to create the fantasy and even if it is for just one second they find the family they never had.
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