The promotional materials for Rebel Without A Cause remain some of the most indelible visual icons of twentieth-century American masculinity. The image on the poster of James Dean in blue jeans, white t-shirt, and a red windbreaker reproduces the red-white-and-blue color scheme of the American flag, and charismatically conveys the kind of expressive star potential that has become synonymous with the actor's vibrant legacy. Having studied method acting with Lee Strasberg in New York, Dean practiced an unusually naturalistic performance style, which helped him stand out to the mid-century filmgoing public, despite the fact that he only appeared onscreen in three Hollywood films.
One key difference between Dean and his acting forebears was the way he dynamically blended masculinity and femininity in his embodiment of the male ideal. At various points in Rebel Without A Cause, for instance, Judy comments that Jim's lips are "soft," and that her attraction to him stems from the fact that he is "gentle." Jim is an extremely reluctant participant in the rituals of hyper-masculinity, such as the knife-fight and the chickie-run, only agreeing to them when others provoke him by calling him "chicken." He expresses tenderness and concern for outcasts like Plato, and for seemingly trivial objects like the toy monkey.
Jim's aversion to being called "chicken," which triggers him to turn to physical violence, indicates that he ultimately ascribes to the conventional notion that men should be indomitable, honorable, and proud. Jim's more traditionally masculine qualities are thrown into stark relief in scenes in which he interacts with his father—a passive, apron-clad wearing man defined by his failure to inhabit the role of the authoritative patriarch. Jim responds positively to decisive male authority, such as in his scene with the detective Ray, and aspires to become such an authority himself, grounded in manly virtues of honor and integrity.
At the same time, Jim recoils from what he sees as unnecessarily sadistic trials of adolescent masculinity. Whereas Judy begins the film wrapped up in the belligerence and arrogance of Buzz and the gang, she eventually acknowledges the insincerity of such poses, and the special value that Jim holds as a different kind of man. Jim's characterization helps reveal to audiences how masculinity can be alternately empowering and disenfranchising—perhaps even simultaneously. Jim feels compelled to participate in the chickie-run as a way to assert and protect his own masculinity against a perceived threat: being called, or seen as, a chicken. However, when Jim and Buzz ironically admit they like one another, the ritual loses its significance, and becomes a shallow exercise in satisfying the bloodlust of the onlookers around them.
Dean starred in only one film after Rebel Without A Cause—Giant (1956)—and is one of the few mid-century Hollywood actors who has remained a household name even among twenty-first century film goers. Dean has influenced actors and artists like Bob Dylan, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, Morrissey, and Johnny Depp, and has been played onscreen by actors like James Franco and Dane DeHaan. Given the various accounts of Dean's same-sex relationships in his life, and his legacy as a moral lodestone and physical ideal, he has also been voted the Greatest Gay Icon of all-time by Gay Times magazine.
