The Republic and Apology as source texts for Rebel Without a Cause

This paper’s argument rests on a comparative textual analysis of the film and the dialogues of Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause, though it also considers certain extra-textual evidence. We argue that the academic and literary background of the film’s original screenwriter, Irving Shulman, when considered in relation to the film’s content, supports the claim that Plato’s Republic and Apology were used intentionally to frame the film’s analysis of American youth rebellion. We argue further that what emerges from that analysis is a classical critique of contemporary American culture and politics. In his 1956 article “Ajax or the Cid: An Examination of”, Eric Rohmer wrote about of the same film: ‘May one pardon my favourite vice of invoking the memory of ancient Greeks. I can’t help thinking, in good faith, that the parallel is not completely unintentional in the film.” In this paper, we follow up Rohmer’s provocative suggestion by exploring Nicholas Ray and Irving Shulman’s use of two Greek source texts – Plato’s Republic and Apology – in the construction of Rebel Without a Cause.