Youth, Exploitation and Hollywood's 1955

Critic Gilbert Shields argued in 1950 about the value of teenage audiences to Hollywood: "The real moviegoers are made up of younger people . . . Children survive, they always automatically and habitually slip away to see the movies... Half of the people over the age of 30 see less than 1 movie per month on average, and half of the people over the age of 50 Don't watch movies at all." 1

Although the term "adolescence" became popular in the 1920s, its special regularity, and its cultural connotations, only began to gain importance after the war in America. James Dean became the idol of many teenagers in the United States in the 1950s, and the films he starred in all received high box office success. By the end of 1956, according to Vientiane magazine's observation: "The demand for youth films ... came from a variety of markets, from small theaters to large theater chains, from remote areas to large cities." 2 By 1959 , the market value of teens is estimated to be as high as $10 billion per year.

In this case, in 1955, Hollywood developed a rock movie "Blackboard Jungle" for the first time for the teenage market. It's an "adult" film about juvenile delinquency, which is reportedly particularly suitable for older students. As the film's theme song, "Rock Around The Rock", featuring Bill Haley, hit No. 1 on the Pop Charts, and Bill Haley also became the No. 1 teenage cult rock star. "Blackboard Jungle," a low-budget film, was an unexpected box-office hit, as countless teenage audiences flocked to theaters because of the song "Rockin' Day and Night."

At the time, Hollywood called films like "Blackboard Jungle" "Exploitation Films," which used to be used to fill those insignificant subculture markets. These films provide content prohibited by the production code, such as sex, prostitution, and drugs, which are expressed in a sensual way, and the production companies will also emphasize that they are making these content for the purpose of "educate". For example, the large subtitle of "Blackboard Jungle" before the film starts, which declares that the purpose of the film is to "care about juvenile delinquency - its causes and effects", but when it is released, it uses the most eye-catching words to promote it. Attract the target audience of the film. Take for example the ads for two other teen exploitation films ("Running" and "Teenage Delinquency"), also released in 1955: "Here's the real, hard truth about today's lost generation!" and "We teenagers go wrong. Shocking Stories of Directions!" And, of course, with the sensational titles: "Hot Girl" (1956), "The Untamable Young Man" (1957), "Young and Crazy" (1958), "Mistress of High School" (1958), "Secrets of High School" (1958).

Therefore, perhaps in terms of artistic achievements or status in film history, "Blackboard Jungle" is not as good as "East of Eden" or "Rebel Without a Cause", which were also born in 1955, but it also has a different aspect of Hollywood at that time. lasting value. For example, "East of Eden" starring Elijah Kazan and James Dean, and "Rebel Without a Cause" directed by Nicholas Ray and James Dean are all produced on a large-scale color screen. A "luxury blockbuster" made at a low cost. And "Blackboard Jungle" absorbs youth culture into its own film narrative in the form of an exploitative film.

Following the Paramount decision in October 1949, which separated the major studios from the projection system, Hollywood rapidly changed its production and distribution strategy. On the one hand, the number of productions was reduced and austerity policies were adopted. The production of B-grade films, short films, cartoons and newsreels was stopped, and efforts were concentrated on a small number of A-grade films, and standardized medium and low-budget films were gradually eliminated. Type sheet production. A film with a budget of more than $1 million was rare in the 1940s, but became commonplace in the 1950s, as major studios concentrated more and more of their human and financial resources on a few films.

But on the other hand, some small-scale theaters that have been spun off from the big studio system have lost low-cost serial films (Serial Film) and medium and low-budget genre films, and are unable to compete with other theaters for luxury blockbusters. In this case, there has been a serious shortage of film sources. As a result, independent production has sprung up to make up for the much-needed source of film in these theaters. These low-cost independent productions can no longer be bundled and sold like B-grade films attached to A-grade films, and can only attract audiences through their own charm. When they couldn't compete with luxury blockbusters, these independent producers could only develop the subculture market, which was why exploitative films were so popular at the time. The big studios, on the other hand, continue to regulate the entire market by controlling the distribution channels of these independent productions. In 1949, 20% of films distributed by major companies were produced by independent studios. By 1957, this proportion had tripled to 58%, and to this day, Hollywood still conquers the world with this: on the one hand, the cost has repeatedly increased. "blockbuster" movies; on the other hand, small-budget independent producers released by major corporations developing new genres and markets.

Exploitation films can sometimes be particularly aggressive in order to cater to certain audiences, even though they ostensibly claim that their purpose is to educate. As the 1957 'Film Herald' exhibitor explained: "AIP's policy is to provide teenage audiences with on-screen satisfaction, but never to alienate those older or younger. .” 3 However, such a manifesto is more of a perfunctory censorship rhetoric, because in the movies, these educations are passed along. We're not sure exactly how Dadiye, the hero of Blackboard Jungle, tamed his beastly gang of students (perhaps by giving them a cartoon?). I thought that at the Christmas party, Dadier organized the singing performances of the naughty students to become a climax of the film, so as to change the students' views on him, but I did not expect this paragraph to end in a hurry. Because the filmmakers knew very well that the film's potential target audience had no interest in watching them sing. Instead, the students smashed a math teacher's outdated jazz record in the classroom, and the director happily performed it as an important scene.

The film attributes the children's stubbornness to the fact that when they were growing up, their fathers were on the battlefield and their mothers were busy with work, so they lacked a family life and had to hang around on the streets. This is reminiscent of another famous 1953 independent film "The Runaway Child" (the literal translation should be "Little Runaway"), in which the young boy faces the same predicament. In 1955's independent production "Marty" (translated in Chinese as "A Gentleman"), the hero Marty has been living with his single mother, and this single mother eventually hindered Marty from pursuing a relationship and happiness. Come to think of it, 1955's "East of Eden" and "Rebel Without a Cause" both featured a disappointing, feeble father and an aggressive, family-uneasy mother. This seems to be Hollywood's answer to why children can be so rebellious. But in 1954, according to the Seduction of the Innocent, an investigative report by Dr. Wertham, superhero comics and Hollywood movies were the main causes of teenage misbehavior -- something Hollywood would never agree to.

Let's talk about some of the stylistic features of the film. Notably, several of the group scenes in the film employ what David Bordwell calls receding mise-en-scene to activate depth of field. For example, after students smashed their math teacher's record, Dadier educated them. The director used a fixed-camera single shot to present this sequence and placed the two small leaders of the students—Black Miller and Irish West—in the center foreground, allowing the audience to carefully contrast and contrast Investigate the different reactions of the two, and put the sports center teacher Dadiye in the background in this scene.

There are many other such backward-looking mise-en-scène in the film. For example, after this scene, Dadier is arguing with other teachers in the office. He accuses other teachers of not really fulfilling their obligations as teachers. This paragraph is composed of a continuous A single-shot composition of nearly two minutes.

Or maybe after Dadier showed a cartoon to the students, he relied on this animation to attract the interest of the students, and the director still used a moving long shot to show the different reactions of the students during his explanation, especially Miller and West have different reactions.

Through this regressive mise-en-scène, the film is divided into layers, with separate events taking place in the foreground and background. As far as these three scenes are concerned, the director seems to be accustomed to always placing Dadier as the center of the movement in the background, and arranging several important characters who respond to his sermons in the foreground and center of the picture. . In this way, on the one hand, the audience has to pay attention to Dadier at the center of the whole scene, and on the other hand, through deliberate scene scheduling, they have to pay attention to the reactions of several key characters that the director wants to emphasize, rather than the director's passing Clips and features inform the audience directly. In short, higher requirements are placed on the audience.

Speaking of which, "The Runaway Child" is also an independent production that actively uses handheld photography and natural scenes, while "Marty" uses camera movement to reveal the character's inner long shot (such as the scene where Marty makes a phone call, and The scene near the end of the film where Marty smokes a cigarette and listens to friends chatting) even won the Palme d'Or at Cannes (the film's strong realism is probably also the reason for the award). I don't know if it was a deliberate act, but this batch of classic independent films or small-budget exploitative films in the 1950s in Hollywood made a difference in style and style from the luxury blockbuster films of that time. At that time, these luxury blockbusters mainly focused on two points, one was the wide-screen system of Sinimaskop, and the other was color movies. The flaw with both of these new technologies is that they can't have too long a depth of field, and studios would advise directors to use width rather than depth, "to flatten the plot" (Charles G. Clark, "Cinemas"). Popular Science Photography Skills, p. 363). George Cuoco complained while filming "A Star Is Born" (also a color widescreen film): "Everything has to be performed on a horizontal plane - if someone is too far back, they are in focus control. outside."

Of course, classics like "East of Eden" or "Rebel Without a Cause" will still have some stylistic attempts under the existing technical conditions, but most color widescreen movies will follow the studio's advice, A form of what David Bordwell calls a "clothesline-style mise-en-scène," arranging actors in a line perpendicular to the camera to suit the wide-screen visuals. The Sinimaskop system has thus been criticized for canceling the director's right to choose a deep space schema.

Correspondingly, in "Marty" or "Blackboard Jungle", we can see that many scenes in the film are deliberately creating a deep space, dividing the scene into different levels, and assigning dramatic elements to different levels to mobilize the audience. 's attention. In addition to the three scenes in "Blackboard Jungle" mentioned earlier, there are also many such scenes in "Marty".

Again, I don't know if these independent producers did it on purpose. However, their use of deep space did distinguish them from the luxury blockbusters of the time, and found their unique advantages in style different from those of color wide-screen movies.

Finally, I want to talk about some shadows of "Blackboard Jungle" in later blockbusters. It has not been completely forgotten with history. In fact, there are some passages that pay tribute to the film in many blockbusters. For example, "Superman" directed by Richard Donner in 1978, in order to show the era of young Superman, Superman middle school students were listening to the theme song "Day and Night Rock" of "Blackboard Jungle" on their sports car.

Of course, "Day and Night" is quite famous in rock history, and it's normal to use it as sound source music in movies. But Superman's adoptive father, let's see who it is?

That's right, it's Glenn Ford, the actor in "Blackboard Jungle" who plays the teacher Dadier. Although not as eye-catching as Marlon Brando, as Superman's father on earth, he taught Superman how to behave in the world during his youthful rebellion. The way he babbles is really no different from that in "Blackboard Jungle". By the way, Marlon Brando actually acted in an exploitative film "The Bikers" in 1953. In fact, he was from the same background as Glenn Ford. After more than 20 years, the two meet again, one plays Superman's biological father and the other plays Superman's adoptive father, which is really embarrassing. Thinking about it carefully, which of the new Hollywood movie superpowers was not nurtured by exploitative films (Roger Coleman, known as the father of New Hollywood, was a man who specialized in exploitative films)?

References: 1. Richard Mattbai, "Hollywood Movies", Beijing: Huaxia Publishing House July 2011 1st Edition, p. 146 2. Hy Hollinger, "'Lost Audience': Grass vs. Class, "Variety, December 5, 1956, p.86. 3. William R. Weaver, "AIP Heads Set Sight on Teenage Patron," Motion Picture Herald, May 25, 1957, p.20.