FMS394: Teens, Film, and U.S. Culture

Lesson 2:Rock, Rebellion, and the Rise of the

Teenpic

Guiding Questions

What role did popular music play in the rise of the teenpic?

How do teen tastes and activities become sites of generational tension and youthful rebellion?

What do the forms and popularity of film representations of delinquency tell us about U.S. culture in the 1950s?

Hollywood's Resistance to Teens

Why were movies so late to court the teen marketplace?

Industry conservatism and skepticism Demographic data about teens only just emerging “Adult” artistic sensibilities Film as a “family” medium

Exhibitors vs. Producers and Distributors

Pop Music and Teen Culture

Music is where teens begin to shape the cultural landscape

1953: A Tale of Two Charts: Pop and R&B

Patti Page's “How Much is that Doggie in the Window?

Ruth Brown's “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean”

Patti Page

Ruth Brown

Pop Music and Teen Culture

1954: The Chords and Crossover Appeal

• Sh-boom

1955: The Rise of Rock and a Tale of Two Versions

• Tutti Frutti– Little

Richard– Pat Boone

Little Richard

Pat Boone

Rock and the Rise of the Teenpic

Above: Blackboard Jungle (dir. Richard Brooks, 1955)

Right: Rock Around the Clock (dir. Fred F. Sears, 1956)

Rock and the Rise of the Teenpic

• Elvis Presley and Jailhouse Rock (dir. Richard Thorpe, 1957)

• “Indigenous” perspective

-Significance of entertainment media

-Legitimates rock as a musical form

-Class and sexuality via delinquency and violence

Moral Panics and the Rise of the Teenpic

James Dean and Rebel Without A Cause (dir. Nick Ray, 1955)

Trouble in Suburbia

Drag Racing

Teen Hero/Teen Anti-Hero

Exploiting Delinquency?

Skirting the Code

Next Time on FMS 394…

Cleanpics and the Endless Summer