“The invention of the teenager was a mistake. Once you identify a period of life in which people get to stay out late but don't have to pay taxes - naturally, no one wants to live any other way.” 

― Judith Martin

       Hellooo, it’s been a while, I missed you all!

     Once again I find myself rambling about cinema, the art of the the dreamers and the lunatics. The last movie I’ve seen is called “Rebel Without a Cause”. I can’t really say I've identified with the plot, since I’m just a docile girl with an internet connection (ok, maybe I’m semi docile…).

     Anyway, not that the world needed a confirmation, but girls really do prefer bad boys, since they all went nuts over James Dean. I swear to God I’d rather face an angry gorilla by myself that a horde of obsessed, maniac teen fans with a bucket of grenades. Those little things just scare the hell out of me.

    This is basically a movie that brings out all the problems teenagers went through in the 50's. The movie is about Jim (James Dean, sexier than ever), who is already tired of moving from town to town with his nag of a mother and his ‘mush’ of a father. Let’s just say they weren’t exactly living the American Dream. So, as soon as they arrive to yet another town, he goes all Lindsey Lohan and decides to have a little too much fun with his buddy Alcohol and gets arrested for being drunk out of his mind. During the initial scene at the Police Station, we can clearly see that Jim’s family makes the Kardashians look like a functional, healthy family, and that says a lot. While they’re at the police station, he sees a girl his age crying like a dam (Judy), and a young boy (Plato), accompanied by an older lady.

      Later on, at school, he encounters both Judy and Plato at school, falling in love with the girl and becoming best friends with the boy. I can’t really say I was surprised since this wasn’t much of a plot twist (but I’ll give it a break since this is a movie from the 50’s and by then Hollywood hadn’t yet used this history line millions of times). Anyway, as a bad boy, Jim naturally gets in trouble. He starts to mess with the bullies. Nowadays bullies may wear caps and dress all baggy, but back then they were more of “daddy’s boys”, with their shiny cars and slicked back hair.

First, Jimmy gets into a knife fight with Buzz, one of the bad guys (Judy’s boyfriend, to be more specific), getting slightly injured. Then, he sort of misplaces his brain, and as result he gets really reckless and dumb and enters a game called ‘Chickie Run’. It consisted into stealing a car and driving it towards a cliff; the first one to jump lost and got called a chicken. This game actually ends up killing Jim's opponent, since he got stuck and wasn’t able to jump (I guess this means he won the game; too bad he lost his life).

         Jim, being a good guy at heart, runs home to tell his parents about what happened. And Jim’s parents, being inconsiderate at heart, don’t make it very easy for him. So, as frustrated as a vegetarian in a meat festival, he runs away from home. On his way to nowhere, he bumps into Plato, who is very upset and starts to say whatever comes to his mind, and accidentally admits his love to Jim (I guess, the girls weren’t the only ones crazy about him). At first Jim gets confused, and tells Plato he doesn’t want him back. However, they decide to run away together because of what happened to Buzz. 

         Months go by and Jim starts to look at Plato as more than a friend. And in one hot summer night in Southern Colorado the two boys found love. Years went by and they were no longer running away from town to town. They built a life in Iowa as “adult friends” (since they would have gotten shot if people found out they were gay).

“But didn’t Jim love Judy?”, you ask. Well, children, Judy was never more than a beard.

The Joker,
Sophie Grey

Note: to those who don’t know what a beard is (I’m actually not referring to man’s facial hair), click here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=beard