#aplang18remix

To put it bluntly, the characters in Rebel Without A Cause did not resonate with my classmates that I watched the movie with.  Although, this is not really a surprise, as the movie came out 62 years ago, and the cast was made up of actors and actresses that (with the exception of Plato) were much older than the teenagers they portrayed.

Our group came to the conclusion that the movie did not accurately portray teenagers and their problems in 2018, as no one we knew had gotten into knife fights over a conflict, or risked their lives in a game of chickie.  But, this doesn’t mean that the movie did a poor job of representing teenagers and their problems in 1955, the year the movie was made.  To investigate further, I discussed our group’s findings with my friend’s dad.  

The reason my friend’s dad had enjoyed the movie while my group hadn’t, I found, must be traced back to the difference in emotional appeal of his generation’s teen movies, versus my generation’s teen movies. For instance, his generation’s Rebel Without a Cause depicts the conflict as teens versus figures in authority- parents, the police, teachers etc.  Conversely, in the second movie our group watched, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), the conflict dynamic was different from the teen versus authority dynamic of Rebel Without a Cause.  Instead, the movie focused on a teen versus teen dynamic, leaving the authority figure out of the conflict.

Many if not all teen movies that came out in my generation depict the center conflict as teens against teens.  David Denby, in “High School Confidential” notes the recent change in the participants of conflict in teen movies, writing, “The enemy is not authority; the enemy is other teens and the Social System that they impose on one another.”  

It follows then, Rebel Without a Cause is more difficult for my generation to relate to, as we’re conditioned to consume the emotions produced in a teen versus teen movie.  On the other hand, my dad’s friend could relate more to the teen versus authority dynamic of the first “teen rebellion” movies.  Of course, this is not to say that in older generation teen movies, there was no teen versus teen conflict.  There is definite proof of the teen versus teen conflict in Rebel Without a Cause in the knife fights, shootouts, and games of chickie played by Jim Stark.  But still, the movies of my generation seem to derive conflict from the teen social system, as shown in Perks of Being a Wallflower. For the teen rebellion movies of my friend’s dad’s generation, teens rebelled against adults and teens, while for the teen movies of my generation, for the most part, teens rebel against other teens.

The song Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen is quite an original.

The songs structre is what makes it an original piece. The structure begins with an a capella intro as heard in the line "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?" It then segways into a sad, almost meloncholy piano ballad that starts with " Mama. Just killed a man." After the ballad of a man confessing to his mother, it transitions into a guitar solo right after the line "Sometimes wish I've never been born at all." The guitar solo makes a clean move into the operatic section of the song. The operatic glides into the heavy rock section with the phrase " Beelzebub, has a devil put aside for me." The heavy rock lives its short life and effortlessly changes into the outro, which is a hybrid of both the piano ballad and an ending that is much like the a capella it had begun with, leaving the last words "Any way the wind blows." quite haunting.

glasses, right.

Gotta love these round, concave pieces of glass I wear on my face that prevent me from slamming into door frames (even though I do anyway). 

But, really though, glasses are quite a unique invention. Yes, everything comes from something and the modern glasses we have today are no exception. Glasses themselves come from a weird history of using bones and precious stones to block the sun’s rays, but the first pair of corrective lenses was actually inspired by looking through a fishbowl. The concept of glasses and the invention itself are actually quite original, though. Why else would someone decide to carve into a piece of glass and affix them to their face? Other than refinements and improvements in technique and precision, glasses have remained a relatively unchanged invention at their base. 

It’s interesting to see the types of impacts glasses have had over the years. Glasses are unique in that they are both a corrective necessity and a fashion statement. Imagine whole stores dedicated to picking out the cutest headgear. That’s right, you can’t. On top of that, glasses have led to a specific medical field: optometry. They are a unique blend of science, aesthetics, and practicality. 

On top of this, glasses have also had a significant social impact. Glasses can be seen as a sign of “intelligence” even though we know that vision problems can be caused by hereditary factors as well. In pop culture, glasses can signify “nerdiness” or be used to denote ugly characters before their transformation. We’ve created glasses in thousands of shapes, sizes, and colors. Glasses are even sold without prescriptions as fashion accessories.

Lastly, glasses have inspired a “spin-off”: contacts. While contacts are pretty similar to glasses, you can’t really make a bold statement and sometimes if you aren’t careful around heat you can melt your contact to your eyeball.

The room to me is an original because it creates comedy through inconsistencies in narrative and intentionally bad acting. Some lines are derived from James Dean’s performance, in A rebel without a cause. “With the line, you’re tearing me apart Lisa.” With character flaws and intentional half-assed acting, the Room has been honored with the title of the worst movie made. I think that it makes it unique, and so many people see how unusual and trashy the film is. Intentionally this film is made horribly and it falls into the category of Trash films. As a part of non-mainstream movies called Paracinema, it is a film with  one of the most cult following and admiration. Theaters continue showings during Friday nights, and people still continue to enjoy it to this day.