Beginnings

A classic outsider story starring the iconic rebel, James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955) Here in the 50s, American youth culture had split into many sub-cultures and this was one of the first films to illustrate being a teenage outsider and the problems associated with it. In the film, Jim Stark a 17 year old who is new to the city of Los Angeles experiences problems with his parents and his peers at school. This was in an age of Hollywood perhaps more innocent and less corporate, 20 years before the blockbuster. The main goal was to tell an interesting story rather than to make money, but still was both a critical and commercial hit at the time. Jim Stark is introduced drunk being held in a police station so we are not sure whether to like him or not perhaps because of the suggestion of the films title; what kind of rebel is he exactly, how far does he go? If he's too much of a rebel to the extent of committing crimes that highly effect innocent others then the audience will not like him. But if he is the misunderstood outsider who only rebels because he questions his place in this life then that's something everyone can enjoy watching. But still we have to make up our minds until after the opening scene is over. The fact that he is giving a dishonest representation of himself due to his drunkenness goes against normal Hollywood rules. Usually in an opening scene we must get a feel of everything and everyone and a sense of the film's tone. If our protagonist is not himself in the first 15 minutes, then it will take a lot longer to convey his true self, making the film slower, a huge risk especially in those days when drama films were prone to several walkouts during screenings.
The relationship between Hollywood and the movie was probably much closer then than it is now. Producers may have been more open minded towards the writer/directors creative decisions, not that producers did not pressure the filmmakers, but probably gave them more creative control than today and mostly understood the subject matter. Due to the whole greaser/rocker sub culture controversy in America at the time the film would have been crucially relevant to America. Of course the film became a must see for the greaser sub culture, even if it portrayed them in a negative light it still included them. They identified with it of course because it understood them, an aspect that really pulls in audiences. The success of the film proved to film makers that Jim Stark, young, alone and faced with life changing situations, was the appropriate template for a main character and that all mainstream films that followed should do the same.

   

0.30 - "Today's most vital controversy!" - easily relatable for the audiences.