There are many different reasons why teenagers rebelled. It might have been because their parents had safe and quite lives after the upheavals of the Second World War. This could have led to teenagers wanting to take a risk and an adventure all the more.
Rebel without a cause was undoubtedly a youth film, which stands out above all the others. An actor called James Dean was one of the main characters in the film. His character has fights with his father, gets into trouble with the police for drunkenness and plays ‘chicken run’ with a local gang leader, Buzz, in which each drives a car towards a cliff. The looser is the first one to jump out. Buzz was killed and Dean escaped with his life.
Dean’s character rebels against his parents and suburban society. This then appealed to those teenagers bored with their ‘suburban’ life. So you can start to understand why parents were against these sorts of movies, in fact they blamed these for teenage delinquencies.
Just a few weeks after the film’s release, James Dean died at the age of just 24, in a high-speed car crash. Strangely enough this only seemed to reinforce his appeal and the need to ‘live fast, die young’.
‘Old style’ bands, like ‘The Platters’ were very much different from the ‘new style’ rock ‘n’ rollers. Elvis Presley was, without question, the best singer who represented this apparently ‘dangerous’ development of rock ‘n’ roll. He delighted teenagers but horrified parents – so much so that some television companies would only film him form the waist up.
The phenomenon of Elvis Presley swept the USA and then the world in 1956. To the young he was indeed ‘the king’of rock ‘n’ roll. He was popular because he represented a white lower class that had been forgotten by Suburban America. He was the bearer of black music to white youth.
Television screens had seen nothing like some of Elvis’s performances. His infamous wiggle, in which he had done by accident, was now a fan favourite. He was aggressive with his guitar, swinging his arm down so that his fingers snapped at the strings.
However not everyone was a fan of Elvis Presley. In the American South, segregation had just been outlawed, and people who wished the old ways to continue, with black and white separated, were the strongest protesters of the new music and musicians. They believed that people like Elvis were drawing black and white people together with their music. There were many protests and public burnings of rock ‘n’ roll records.
Elvis was becoming an industry. With his booming success, he managed to single handily revolutionise the music industry. He sensationally increased the audience for popular music and prompted hundreds of other young sisters to equal his achievements. Without Elvis, none of this would have happened.
Elvis received a great deal of criticism over his on-stage movements and the wild behaviour of his fans for some time, but these came to a head when he appeared on the Milton Berle show, which scored rating figures of over 40 million viewers. Presley was performing wildly to the music, while girls in the unseen studio audience screamed with delight.
The controversy that surrounded Elvis may seem a little strange these days, when so many performers use exaggerated movements when they sing, but Elvis was the first person, certainly on national television, to behave in such a manner. Trouble was also associated with rock ‘n’ roll in the eyes of some influential people.
However, there is no doubt that Elvis influenced the growth of teenage culture more than any other person had ever done.
When President Johnson came into power, he achieved a number of different things.
He tried to put right the war on poverty. He did this by setting up The economic Opportunity Act, 1964. This provided training to disadvantaged youths aged 16-21; helped low-income to work their way through college; requited volunteers to work and teach in low income slum areas. He helped towards the improvement of Medicare and Medicaid. In 1965 Medicare was provided with insurance for the over 65s and hospital care for the poor. He was very interested in environment protection, so he passed a series of laws aimed to ensure clean water and enforce air quality standards. Highway safety was also very important. He made sure that there were compulsory safety standards for cars and a national highway safety programme.
While Elvis was impacting on American teenagers, there were other more pressing issues that many teenagers objected to. They were divided over many different issues. Many of them thought that because there was so many good opportunities for jobs and a good wage, it was the poor people responsible for their own problems. On the other hand, many people living in the cities demanded more action. Opposition to the Vietnam War grew. Violent demonstrations and race riots were commonplace. Americans were starting to become angry. Most of all, they felt a sense of despair at their governments failure to put these problems right.
As a result of this, President Johnson took substantial steps to rectify the civil rights of black America. However these well-intended ideas did not solve the problems of poverty and disadvantage, and consequently raised people’s hopes and expanded their frustrations. Anger over the Vietnam War added to the protests in an increasingly divided nation. Johnson was criticised by the Republicans for spending too much money on welfare. He was also criticised by Democrats for failing to solve problems and for the war.
In 1961, Bob Dylan first made an impact on the American folk music scene. He was one of the most compelling white blues singer ever recorded. Impassioned fans would shout his praises and found him the image of a singing rebel.
Due to these issues many young people turned against the lifestyles of their parents. Some of them turned to ‘radical politics’ as well. Older people’s established values were challenged by this behaviour. Parents found it very hard to permit and warrant this kind of behaviour. Hippie clothes, with long hair and mystical religions, became fashionable, along with the use of drugs and permissive sexual behaviour. They had many slogans, but their main one was ‘make love not war’. The majority of them were white middle class college students. The Vietnam War and racism made them especially angry. So they would march with great protest and demonstrate against Vietnam. They also rejected the idea of somebody getting a high paid job. They had no faith in established politicians. True hippies liked to think of themselves as entirely non-violent. They were often called flower children for the obvious reasons of wearing flowers all the time and handing them out to the police. They often settled in communes and San Francisco became the hippie capital of America.
Music was a very important part of this youthful revolt. The British invasion by pop groups including the Rolling stones and the Beatles. These songs were unsurprisingly about peace, free love and drugs. The largest outdoor festival was at Woodstock in 1969. It became an everlasting symbol of the hippie lifestyle. It was described as a ‘coming together for rock, drugs, sex and peace’. About half a million young people turned up to hear the music and dance to the beat of their favourite hippie band. It was also an excuse to use cheap marijuana, and swim nude in the lake. Artists such as Janis Joplin, Joan Baez and Jimi Hendrix, sang about sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. They also sang about opposition to the Vietnam War. Politicians, teachers and parents were outraged and generally appalled by this sort of behaviour, but they could not be ignored.
Pop music was starting to lead the way, with pop musicians travelling farther and farther afield and radio stations all over the USA, and the World, broadcasting white western pop music. The Beatles enjoyed huge amounts of success in America and became greatly influenced by the music of India. This resulted in a whole generation of white pop musicians opening their ears to American black soul and blues music. For the first time in history, black artists found themselves treated as equals.
Starting in 1965, a huge number of demonstrations and strikes affected almost every university and college. Students wanted and demanded a stronger say in their education. They wanted to put an end to all the restrictions and college rules imposed on them. There were often many violent clashes over the Vietnam War because most colleges had military cadets and training. The SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) became a powerful movement that spoke for student realism. So-called ‘outside agitators’ visited SDS campuses in an attempt by the police and college authorities to stop them. Politicians and parents reacted with rage, accusing students of being ungrateful for the benefits American society had given them. In order to break up protests, the police and even soldiers were called upon.
Teenage youth culture had emerged and grew enormously during the period of 1955-75. There were many different factors and reasons for this. Young white middle class people had a lot more money to spend on themselves than ever before. Companies were starting to reply with products that were specifically targeted at them and ‘teenage fads’ were starting to become a lot more profitable. Teenager’s annual spending power had increased by 15 million dollars between 1950 – 1959. It was also estimated that the average teenager had between $10 - $15 a week to spend.
Actors such as Marlon Brando and James Dean were starting to become teenage icons. Teenage rebellion was an entirely new thing. In the past, young people had simply mimicked their parents’ fashions and tastes, and had been kept firmly in their place. The teenage rebellion took place when the USA was at its most prosperous. A reason for the teenage rebellion might have been because their parents lived safe and quite lives after the upheavals of the Second World War. This may have led to teenagers wanting to take a risk and an adventure all the more.
Performers such as Elvis Presley were becoming teen idols. He was seen as ‘the king’of rock ‘n’ roll. Television screens had seen nothing like some of Elvis’s performances. His infamous wiggle, in which he had done by accident, was now a fan favourite. He was aggressive with his guitar, swinging his arm down so that his fingers snapped at the strings. Elvis was becoming an industry. He managed to revolutionise the music industry. He increased the audience for popular music and prompted hundreds of other young sisters to equal his achievements. Without Elvis, none of this would have happened. He was performing wildly to the music, while girls in the unseen studio audience screamed with delight.
Other young people ‘dropped out’ of standard society altogether and became ‘Beatniks’. The ‘generation gap’ was a very hard concept for older Americans to understand. Others became hippies and wore strange clothes, with long hair and mystical religions. They had many slogans, but their main one was ‘make love not war’. The majority of them were white middle class college students.
Music also had a big part to play in the growth of teenage culture. Bands like the Beatles were very popular. Their songs were about peace, free love and drugs.
In the end, many of these young people grew tired of their existence and when in 1975 the Vietnam War ended the movement began to deteriorate.
