Media

Media Studies - Films

Isolates, outsiders and or rebels are characters that the audience can identify with. Two films which (that reflect the rites of passage genre) have characters that possess isolate and rebel personalities. In ?white oleander? we have Astrid who is both a rebel and isolate and in ?Rebel without a cause? Jimmy is both isolate and rebel also. Both characters the audience can identify with.

In ?white oleander? Astrid experiences a lot of things that make the rites of passage genre and also make her an isolate and rebel. She experiences a loss of innocence, identity crisis, a situation they did not chose and are forced to struggle against (being fostered) and her desire for independence (trying out different styles like Goth for each home she moves to). Astrid is heavily influenced by her mother, so Astrid feels the need to ?break away? and discover herself, hence rites of passage genre. In ?Rebel without a cause? Jim experiences things that make him a rebel (hence the title) and isolate. Jim experiences things that make him a rebel and isolate. He reaches the verge of adulthood (he wants to be responsible for his actions), he gets involved in a situation he does not choose and is forced to confront (the knife fight, chicken run, the bullies and Plato clinging onto him) and loss of innocence (when buzz dies) Jim starts of as an outsider and a irresponsible boy and ends up a responsible man. (Rites of passage genre)

In ?White Oleander? we can see Astrid go through and identity crisis and loss of innocence at the same time when she cops off her hair. She feels guilty for her affair with Stars? husband/boyfriend and she wants to make herself ugly and punish herself. This is also a sign of her rebelling. Another sign of her rebelling is when she visits her mother in the jail she decides to go dressed as Goth/punk looking like a prostitute with dyed black hair because she knows it will offend and rebel against her mother. It is effective, her mother is angry. We can see Astrid change thought the whole movie. In the very last scene Astrid makes suitcases reflects each lifestyle (and personal style) in every house she has lived and been fostered in. she even does one for the youth center she lives in. This is a film technique helps the audience recover each home and experience she has gone through and understand