Teenage Angst

Teenage angst helps to tell the story in Rebel Without a Cause. Every teenager goes through changes, and generally, they are not easy to deal with. This film reached teenagers simply because it showed the realities of this time in life during an era when both teenagers and their families were expected to be perfect. Rebel Without a Cause uses the drama of these teenage years to reveal the truth.

Jim's and Judy's families put on a façade of being perfect, happy families, but behind closed doors nothing could be further from the truth. Jim's mother dominates his father while Judy's father dominates her whole family and despises her. The spouses of these demanding individuals take a backseat while failing to consider their children's emotions.

Only the teenagers in these families are willing to confront the reality that nothing is perfect and that the only way...