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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