Images of Melodrama in the Roles of James

Dean

      In deciding to write on a topic involving the films of

James Dean, one limits themselves to a small volume of work.

In his short lifespan, James Byron Dean (1931 – 1955) only

appeared in three major motion pictures as a main character.

He did have a credible, short career in television which we

will also take a look at but it is primarily his film career

which has kept him in the limelight years after his tragic

death in an automobile accident.

In looking at Dean’s films as family melodrama we need

to consider the main characteristics that place a film in

this category. Some attributes that signify a family

melodrama as supplied by Thomas Elsaesser in his article,

“Tales of Sound and Fury” are middle to upper class family

settings, dysfunctional family relationships, sexual

frustration, conflict of identity and contrasting images.

Lisa WallFilm Noir and Family Melodrama5/4/10

The films in which James Dean starred, East of Eden

(April ’55, Kazan), Rebel Without a Cause (Oct.’55, Ray) and

Giant (‘56, Stevens) all had themes of dysfunctional family

and interpersonal relationships and/or the desire of normal

relationships common in family melodrama. Another dominant

feature in Dean’s films was social prejudice and class

distinction. This was evident in other family melodramas of

the 50’s such as All That Heaven Allows (’55, Sirk) which had a

storyline involving a socially unaccepted romance between a

wealthy, older widow and a younger landscaper and Imitation of

Life (’59, Sirk) that focused on prejudice and self-loathing

of a young black woman contrasting the black and white and

love and hate. The television programs that featured James

Dean had similar storylines that could be listed in the

genre of family melodrama. Many of Dean’s television roles

were aired during prime time and aimed at adult audiences,

but this included most, if not all, of the programs airing

in the 50’s. There was not a significant distinction between

adult and children’s programming. Between the years of 1951

and 1955 Dean performed in over 30 television dramas, mainly

live anthology dramas. Some of these included Kraft

Television Theater (Prologue to Glory, 1952 and Keep Our Honor

Bright, 1953), General Electric Theater (I’m a Fool, 1954 and

The Dark, Dark Hour, 1954) and the Hallmark Hall of Fame

(Forgotten Children, 1952) to name a few. He co-starred with

some of the biggest names of the times in these television

dramas such as Lee J. Cobb, Ronald Reagan, Claudette

Colbert, Rod Steiger and Mary Astor.

In all of his films, James Dean plays an emotionally

torn youth working through some personal family dilemma or

crisis. The only film in which we see Dean as an adult is

the Texas epic picture Giant (’56, Stevens), which spans 30

years and shows an artificially graying Dean playing a

Horatio Alger oil tycoon with affection for Elizabeth

Taylor. The fact that Dean played teen and young adult

characters was obviously due to his young age and they were

all troubled characters with troubled family relationships

and problematic romantic connections which always including

sexual frustration.

In his earliest film, East of Eden (1955) directed by

Elia Kazan and written by John Steinbeck, James Dean played

Cal Trask, a young man with a middle class upbringing

competing with his favored brother for his stern father’s

affection. In the film Dean feels he is a bad seed and can

never match his brother in goodness or intellect producing

the contrast of good and evil, favored and unfavored. The

father, played by character actor Raymond Massey, loves Cal

and shows him kindness but does appear to have more

affection for the older brother Aron, played by Richard

Davalos. The familial relationships are further complicated

when Cal begins to feel an attachment to Aron’s

girlfriend/fiancé, Abra, played fabulously by Julie Harris.

Abra at first feels sympathy and caution for Cal but turns

to romantic affection before the end of the film.

The classic family dysfunction is obvious in East of

Eden. Cal gets angry at his father’s new business location,

a warehouse used for making ice to refrigerate vegetables,

and he ruins several large pieces of ice, symbolizing his

father’s coldness towards him. Another significant incident

happens in the icehouse as Cal realizes his affection for

Abra. It is at this point that Cal’s anger emerges into

violence as he begins to destroy the ice and sending it down

the chute, symbolizing the removal of coldness. He is angry

and confused about his feelings for Abra.

Cal and Aron’s mother, who they do not remember, has

become a madam owning a large “house of prostitution” in a

neighboring town, where she has become quite successful,

unlike their father that still dreams of finding his

fortune. When Cal learns of this he visits her and realizes

they have quite a bit in common, including their feelings of

suffocation provoked by living with Adam. He begins to think

he inherited his “badness” from her. The parents are typical

of family melodrama parents because they simply do not know

how to parent and Cal seems absolutely lost until he gains

an attachment with Abra and she becomes the mother figure he

desperately desires. She herself comes from another, yet

unseen on the screen, malfunctioning family with a father

that remarries a women (sp) that does not want to be

involved with Abra or motherhood. As Cal and Abra’s

relationship develops, Cal and Aron’s deteriorate as Aron

feels guilt and confusion, again common melodrama fodder,

regarding the war against the Germans.

Cal’s father is a very religious man often quoting from

the scriptures and making him read from the Bible when he

feels Cal has been bad, as a form of punishment. He is made

to read Psalms 32: 5-7 proclaiming his guilt of

transgressions. He does it obediently because he wants his

father’s approval even though he whispers profanities under

his breath; giving the appearance but not actual repentance.

As family melodramas entered the 50’s, plots in the

films began to take on more social issues and East of Eden was

no exception. The film takes place in California and moves

between the towns of Monterrey and Salinas. In the film

Adam, Cal’s father, attempts to market refrigerated produce

which is harvested and prepared by Hispanic workers. These

workers are not treated badly but are treated as

subservient, day-laborers. Cal has a Mexican girlfriend that

he keeps on a close string but throws aside every time he

has a chance meeting with Abra, the white preference. Family

melodrama tends to look at white Protestants as the dominant

culture and color. Even though Adam is religious and

basically against the war, he succumbs to public pressure

and becomes part of the draft board. A Hispanic man comes to

him and begs for Adam to not draft his son and Adam tells

him he has no choice, which may or may not be true.

East of Eden also tackled the issue of prejudice against

German immigrants in American during the WWI era. There is a

scene in which a German immigrant friend of the Trask family

is subjected to racial hatred and Aron and Cal attempt to

stop a violent mob from destroying the man’s home. The anti-

German sentiment fueled Aron’s hatred of the war and his

desire to refrain from joining military service. The anti-

German scene, which is also the same scene where Cal and

Abra first realize their mutual affection, takes place in a

carnival. The carnival scene in East of Eden is an example of

chaos and confusion like carnival scenes in other melodramas

like Some Came Running (’58, Minnelli). The carnival scenes

display chaos and turmoil which is usually a problem the

plot is trying to solve in family melodrama. The plot

commonly tries to bring chaos, which is usually in the form

if dysfunctional family events or emotions as with the

relationship of Cal, Adam and Abra in East of Eden and Dave,

Ginny and Gwen in Some Came Running, back into serenity and

normalcy.

In James Dean’s second film, he played Jim Stark in

Rebel Without a Cause (1955), directed by Nicholas Ray. Again,

as in East of Eden, Dean plays a tormented teen from a

dysfunctional family setting. His emasculated father, played

by Jim Backus, is weak and brow beaten by his wife and

mother. Interesting side note, Backus was the voice of Mr.

Magoo, a cartoon character from the 50’s and James Dean

makes a reference to Mr. Magoo by speaking a line in the

movie using the humorous, easily detectable voice of Mr.

Magoo, possibly as a comical note and nod to Jim Backus.

The family has moved to a new town because Jim had

trouble in the previous town. He attempts to fit in and make

friends at his new school but he makes enemies from the

first day, not to any real fault of his own. He does connect

with Judy and Plato played by Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo.

These two new friends also come from extremely dysfunctional

homes. Judy has a father that thinks her affection for him

is incestuously improper and we never see Plato’s family

because they are extremely inactive in his life. He is being

raised by a black housekeeper that has true affection for

him and appears to love him like a mother but nevertheless,

he cannot function normally due to the fact that he feels

abandoned. In our first scene with Judy and Plato they are

in trouble at the police station in Jim’s new town. Judy was

picked up for what we can assume is prostitution and Plato

has killed a litter of puppies, so we see immediate these

people are not living normal lives.

Jim loves his father but despises him for his weakness

and emasculation. At one point we see his father on his

hands and knees, wearing an apron, cleaning up a spill. Jim

wants his father to be strong and give him advise he

desperately needs but his father is so weak he can’t even

commit to advice, much less commit to being a man. This

further deepens Jim’s confusion and frustration. He makes

the comment to the policeman helping him that if his father

would just hit his mom one time things would be better.

Jim and Judy become romantically involved after the

death of her boyfriend, an event that changes Jim’s

perspective. Jim realizes the path he is headed down only

causes pain and chaos when he sees how death brings about

sorrow and agony, even if you are indirectly involved.

Plato, Jim and Judy become the makeshift family that all

three are desperately seeking. All three teens are searching

for a father’s acceptance. Plato never knew his father so he

was always searching for one, Jim has a father that he feels

is very weak and controlled so he searches for a “strong”

father to give him support and Judy has a father that feels

she is unworthy of love no matter how hard she tries so they

are all seeking strong males to guide and love them. Plato’s

possible homosexual interest in Jim is thinly veiled and

never openly expressed but is obviously present and is

possibly due to this journey of searching for a strong male

figure. The trio find an abandoned mansion that is in

decrepit condition similar to their family lives yet mold it

into their dream home and view their small circle as their

dream family.

As mentioned earlier, a characteristic of family

melodrama is the inclusion of social issues, especially

those films released at the later end of the genre period.

In Rebel Without a Cause the social issue of alienation is

explored with the three main characters. This is pointed out

in the article Rebel Without a Cause: Approaches to a Maverick

Masterwork by Delia Konzett:

Crucially, as a 1950s melodrama, Rebel Without a Cause

calls attention to the instability of conventional

gender and social relations. Its critique of society is

biting because it targets exactly those institutions of

mass social or bourgeois life – family, home, school –

meant to be uplifting, stable, and safe but that can

turn out to be alienating and victimizing. When

melodramas address the institutions of home or family

they engage, sometimes critically, Hollywood’s own

tendency to underplay social conflict by moving towards

conditions of resolution and ultimate stability. A

result, as in the works of Douglas Sirk, like Magnificent

Obsession (1954), All that Heaven Allows (1955), and Written on

the Wind (1956), is the critique of romantic relations

and standards of masculinity as well as the

artificiality of filmmaking conventions that portray

them. Rebel Without a Cause takes the provocation further

by exploring the problems not of adults but of youth.

The resulting, interwoven conflicts in the film occur

on multiple levels, between Jim and other youths, his

parents, and the police.

Judy, Jim and Plato feel they do not belong to any group.

They do not fit in at home, school or in average society. We

realize this inability to be accepted when we are introduced

to all three for the first time at the police station where

they are all in trouble for different reasons that point

directly to their particular family lives. There is a chasm

between the youth and adults in Rebel Without a Cause. I would

not consider this a matter of class distinction in this

particular film but definitely an issue of cultural turmoil.

The teens are lost and searching and the adults are simply

clueless as how to help them.

Dean’s last film, Giant (1956) directed by George

Stevens, is an epic film depicting life on a Texas ranch.

James Dean plays Jett Rink, a poor young man envious of his

boss’s wealth and lifestyle. The large sets and huge

landscapes magnify Jett’s alienation and loneliness. We are

told by Jordan Benedict, played by Rock Hudson, that the

Benedict ranch is almost 600,000 acres. The only inhabitants

are the Benedict family, Jett, and the Mexicans that

everyone considers invisible except Jordan’s wife, Leslie

Benedict, played by Elizabeth Taylor. This vast space and

lack of other residents fosters Jett’s attachment to Leslie,

which, of course in true family melodrama fashion, is not

reciprocated which obviously complicate matters. He always

dreams of owning Reata, the Benedict ranch, but more than

that, he dreams of living the life they have.

The scenes in which Dean appears in Giant are few but

very telling. We see Jett age many years over the film but

never matures emotionally. He is always searching for

Leslie’s acceptance. When he is left a plot of land by the

Benedict sister, Luz, he names it Little Reata to punish

Bick Benedict. We never really see Jett in a positive light.

He is always harsh and agonizing. We feel pity for Jett but

only because we know he will never find what he is seeking.

Even after he becomes wealthy from oil he strikes on Little

Reata, he remains a miserable wreck and Leslie still loves

the stubborn Bick who has lost much of his fortune because

he stayed with ranching and didn’t develop his land as oil

land. Jett still loses even after he gains the wealth Bick

lost.

Giant spans 30 years in the life of a Texas ranching

family. The character of Leslie Benedict is a free thinking

woman with a definite mind of her own. Her counter-part,

Jordan, is the exact opposite. Her husband thinks women

should be seen and not heard just like the children. As

Leslie tries to help the Mexicans working on the ranch, her

husband and sister-in-law get angered at her interference in

“matters she doesn’t understand”. Typical of films from the

50’s, even though she has an independent mind she still

acquiesces to Jordan’s control. She gains final respect for

him when he defends his mixed bred family from harassment at

the hands of Jett. I agree however with Alison McKee in her

article What's Love Got To Do With It?: History and Melodrama in the 1940s

Woman's Film that issues of great historical consequence as

the race issue between the white and Hispanic population in

Texas of that period sometimes lose their significance when

brought into a personal context. She states, “Film

historians, theorists, and critics often complain that

classical Hollywood cinema takes great liberties with

history, recasting events of a national or even global level

in terms of individuals and personal biography.”

The conflicts of dysfunctional families and racism

coincide when Jordan’s son Jordy, played by Dennis Hopper,

also in Rebel Without a Cause, marries a Mexican woman and gives

birth to Jordan’s half-breed grandson. Emotional conflict

arises when Jordan expresses care and concern for his

daughter-in-law and grandson but shows shame as well. Racism

is always evident in Giant as is class distinction. In one

scene Jett comes to tell Jordan he struck oil, he is covered

in blackness and as he is standing beside Leslie, his

darkness appears to make her even “whiter” to magnify Jett’s

darkness or blackness, even though he is white, rendering

him forever subservient, regardless of any wealth he might

acquire and this endures to the end of the film. The time

frame is interesting in the fact that this film was made

during the time frame of the Brown vs. the Board of

Education and desegregation was a major national topic at

the time.

Over the course of the film, the Benedict’s harshness

regarding their Mexican neighbors lighten and this is

evident when local boy Angel Obregon, played by Sal Mineo,

also returning from Rebel Without a Cause, comes to Reata, the

Benedict Ranch, to tell them he is joining the military. He

is welcomed with care and kindness and the earlier obvious

racial cloud appears to be lifted.

Few films show this personalization of larger issues

more vividly than the racism issue in The Chase (’66, Penn).

Marlon Brando’s character, Sheriff Calder, tries to protect

a black man that has information the vigilante townspeople

want. They beat Sheriff Calder to near death with everyone

watching him and no one responds to his aid. The film

climaxes in the perfect place to symbolize wreckage and

waste, an old junk yard.

James Dean had a small but important career in

television but many of his roles are not available for

viewing today. These television programs varied in story and

depth. Many had Dean in the same type role that would usher

in his era of stardom. This role of teen angst and tormented

youth seemed prevalent and of course he did it so well.

These stories, often airing in theater style playhouse

performances played a significant role in advancing Dean’s

career and gave him experience in working with his method

acting skills. Many of these playhouse performances

contained the same storylines keeping his work within the

family melodrama genre. These performances gave him the

opportunity to work with many major stars and directors of

the era like Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, Eddie Albert,

future president Ronald Reagan, and directors John

Frankenheimer and Sidney Lumet. He also worked with several

up-and-coming actors stars like Rod Steiger and a young

Natalie Wood, who was already well known prior to her Rebel

days.

Some of the television roles mirrored his film roles.

He played a tormented teen criminal opposite Ronald Reagan

in the General Electric Theater presentation of the Dark, Dark Hour

(1954) and a young boy from the wrong side of the tracks

searching for love with a young Natalie Wood in another

episode of the General Electric Theater titled I’m A Fool (1953),

narrated by Eddie Albert. In an episode of Schlitz Playhouse of

the Stars title The Unlighted Road (1955) he stars as a young man

returning from Korea to settle down and winds up the

unwilling participant in a crime leaving him torn regarding

what to do.

As mentioned, Dean portrayed his teen angst persona on

the small screen but also played other parts as well. He

portrayed the Apostle John in an episode of Family Theater

entitled Hill Number One (1951). He also played a Union

soldier saved from a court martial by Abraham Lincoln in the

Studio One production of Abraham Lincoln (1952).

In looking back at the short career of James Dean one

cannot ignore his contribution in the family melodrama films

of the era. When studying dysfunctional families and social

conflict in films of the 50’s, the films and television

roles of James Dean are significant. Whether he is playing a

sexually frustrated young man in East of Eden, a lonely ranch

hand in Giant or a troubled son in Rebel Without a Cause, his

connection with his on screen family is always melodramatic.

These films broach social conflict and family turbulence

unapologetically and with style which is why we study them

today when we are looking at family melodrama as a genre.

Cal seeing his mother forthe first time in memory – East of Eden

Cal and Abra at the carnival – East of Eden

Cal and Adam argue at Adam’s birthday party – East of Eden

East of Eden

Jim and Buzz in a knife fight – Rebel Without a Cause

Jim’s Dad wearing an apron – Rebel Without a Cause

Judy and Jim – Rebel Without a Cause

The Gang – Rebel Without a Cause

Jordan, Leslie and Jett -Giant

Giant

An older version of Dean - Giant

Dean as The Apostle John in Family Theater’s presentation of Hill Number One: A Story of Faith and Inspiration

General Electric Theater – I’m a Fool with Natalie Wood

General Electric Theater - The Dark, Dark Hour with RonaldReagan

Tales of Tomorrow – The Evil Within with Rod Steiger

I just liked this one

Works Cited

Konzett, Delia. "Rebel Without a Cause: Approaches to a Maverick Masterwork." Quarterly Review of Film & Video 25.5 (2008):426-430.

Alison McKee. "What's Love Got to Do With It?: History and Melodrama in the 1940s Woman's Film." Film & History 39.2 (2009): 5. Print.

Elsaesser, Thomas. "Tales of Sound and Fury: Observations on the Family Melodrama." Monogram 4 (1975). 1-15. Reprinted in Gledhill, Home.

Referenced Works

Rentschler, Eric. "Douglas Sirk Revisited: The Limits and Possibilities of Artistic Agency." New German Critique 95 (2005): 149-161.

Smyth, J. E. "Jim Crow, Jett Rink, and James Dean: Reconstructing Ferber's Giant (1952-1956)." American Studies (00263079) 48.3 (2007): 5-27.

Films Referenced

Ray, Nicholas, et al. Rebel Without Cause. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2005.

Guiol, Fred, et al. Giant. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2003.

Elia Kazan, et al. John Steinbeck's East of Eden. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2005.