Nobody talks to children...No, they just tell them.

Rebel without a cause...but in my opinon he totally had a cause. I mean he was really just a normal guy trying to stand up for himself against all the bull that was happening around him. This movie is filled with weak characters that represent so much of the society back then and saddly enough still today. Characters like the Father who is whipped by the mother and can't even stand up to his own son let alone for him. I mean for godsakes he was wearing a woman's apron around and cleaning up. That's actually an interesting take on the father role at this time because as we saw in the date with your family video the father should be the driving force and most relaxed when he comes home, in other words the house and family should revolve around him. Not to mention usually during this time period it was the father who put the wife in line and maybe even enforced domestic violence to prove his point, not to say that either way is a correct manner to uphold a household I just found it funny how Jim tells the officer that he wishes his dad would just smack her into line sometimes.

Another interesting character to add is the father of the Judy, a man who is obviously the man of the house but at the same time is treating his own daughter like a tramp. I mean yeah she has her flaws she hangs out with a rough crowd and she might wear too much makeup but hell shes 16 i mean give the gal a break. She shows her own dad affection and he smacks her in the face! It just further drives home the point that the distance between parents and their kids during this time peroid was a large and dangerous riff, take Plato for example his parents basically disown him and he doesn't know how to live or think civily because he's missing this large void in his life where he should have had parents...so naturally when Jim and Judy show him the littlest ounce of affection or friendliness he goes overboard and ends up being the death of him. The real crooks in my opinon in this film are the damn greaser guys they are the provokers of basically everything that goes wrong in this movie, i mean sure it can be argued that everyone was on edge and basically waiting for an excuse to go over the line but still these guys push the enevople way way way too far. I mean hanging a chicken from the doorway? Knife fights? Chicken runs? Theses kids must be bored outta their minds to come up with stupid stuff like that...id be curious to see how their homelife is. I won't hold it past them if their family's where actually typical nice conservatives.

When it comes down to it Jim is a good guy, he tries to do what is right but his parents and basically everyone around him tells him what to do or change his way of thinking or living. This drives Jim mad but I mean he's no rebel at all he's trying to merely survive in the messed up world around him. And his cause is the cause everyone Should have, to do what is right no matter what happens and to defend the defenseless, and never ever back down.