Tag: James Dean

Resisting Passivity in Rebel Without a Cause

A snapshot of 1950s America looks different to different people. An idea floats among public discourse even today that the 1950s sitcom Leave It to Beaver accurately represented life in America, but the external polish of suburbia harshly conflicted with the slowly rotting foundation of “traditional” life. The Cold War took up the mantle of global tensions after World War II introduced the atomic bomb.