Symbolism Of Rebellion In Movies

A rebel is someone who acts out against a crowd or idea. It symbolizes freedom, gives people character and sometimes spreads awareness. A good portion of today’s society is shaped around what the rebel symbolizes. Many people are drawn to the iconography of the rebel through every day activities. Just a few examples are children movies, music, celebrity icons, and our everyday transportation.
There are a lot of movies with violence, drug abuse, or some type of rebellion. Even children’s movies incorporate the idea of a rebel. As a child, many girls, including me, idolized the Disney princesses. Cinderella, Rapunzel, Ariel, and Jasmine are just a few of the famous princesses. All these characters have one thing in common, rebellion. Cinderella
went to the ball and fell danced with the prince behind her step mothers back. Rapunzel ran away from her tower with her lover. Ariel disobeyed her father and rest of her town by going to the surface to meet a boy. I know when I was little I wanted to find my prince, no matter what I had to do. These Disney princesses pushed me to the idea of rebellion.
Another movie that symbolizes the rebel is N.W.A Straight Outta Compton.
This movie portrays the journey the rap group N.W.A had to become famous. Street rap was just getting popular before the group was formed. This group influenced the rap scene today without this group. The movie showed a lot of violence with police officers and other rappers. The movie shows how they found their way out of the hood through rap. Rap was an art to them but to others it was just people lashing out. Instead of staying in the hood and doing drugs or getting involved in violence, like most do, these four boys found an art to help them escape. They did something most people in their town wouldn’t ever attempt. The movie elaborates on how hard it was for these young men to get their career started. They faced many obstacles, like when Ice Cube went solo. Their manger was taking too much money from the group so Ice Cube decided to turn away and do his own music. He did not sign the contract giving away a large chunk of his money like the other members did. He didn’t like it so he walked away. Doing so changed his life. Going solo made him even more
famous.
Movies are a big part in how the iconography of the rebel is a drawn to people, but so are celebrities.
There are many celebrities that influence the counter-culture. For example, Tupac Shakur. He is a rapper, record producer, actor, and poet. He has sold over 75 million records all over the world. Shakur stood up and talked for those people who could not be heard. He rapped about how messed up the government and society in general was. He rapped about how police were harassing people, how girls were selling their bodies, how more people are growing up in broken homes, how people were being judged because of their race. People wanted to be him because he spoke for the people. Shakur opened the people of society’s eye. He made them realize what was happening was not okay. Tupac Shakur did not sit back and watch it all happen like most people did. He made society more aware of what was happening. I listen to many of Tupac’s songs. I believe them to be inspiring. His songs are not only about the bad things in life, but he sang about things that was close to the heart. People listen to his music and wanted to change the
world.
One celebrity that is famous for her lashes out against society’s image is Miley Cyrus. Society portrays her as an outsider and rebellious. Miley is also viewed as a confident role model. Many people want to be like her because she is so different from everyone else. She once was viewed as an innocent little girl who started in a hit television show Hannah Montana. As soon as the show ended, Miley Cyrus started to figure out who she really was, not just the person her society. She is a bold, self-reliant role model to many people. She is happy with who she is. Other peoples’ opinions do not matter to her. I look up to her because she is happy in her own skin and happy being different. I do not have the courage to turn against society and be different. I honor her ability to do so. This singer, songwriter and actress’s rebellion acts towards society influence not only my outlook on life but many others too. Celebrities are a huge part of society. People look up to a lot celebrities as role models.
A different way to express yourself as different is through your car. Cars are a giant part of people’s everyday life. Car enthusiast have altered the look of their vehicles. People who modify their cars are often called “motorheads” or “gearheads”. Being one of the people to modify their cars, I believe it is a great way to show the world a little piece of me. I go to many car meet where each car is modified. Not a single car is the same as the other. The owners of the vehicles all have expressed themselves through their cars. It gives us a sense of freedom and diversity. There is a variety of things we do to our cars to make us unique and stand out from how society wanted cars to be. For example, we modify our cars by putting on a loud exhaust, lowering it, swapping an improved engine in, and installing different body kits. We all come together to show off what we have done to our cars to make them stand out amongst the crowd. People who are not into cars find these meets and modifications ridiculous or juvenile. Cars were made to get a person from one place to another faster than walking or riding a bike. They were not made to be super loud or so low it seems to be just barely hovering over the ground. The wheels were not made to be angled out to stick out of the side of the cars. They were not made to have wings on the back. However, each of these modifications represent it owner in a unique way. We stick out in the crowd.
Many people have some sort of way to keep up-to-date on the news, weather it is watching it on the television, going to the news channels website, listening to the radio or podcast, reading the paper, or seeing a post on social media. In any of these you can find information about protests. Protestors are a great example of counter-culture. People protest to fight against something that they disagree with. For instance, there was a lot of protests on whether gay marriage should be legalized. I noticed before this marriage was legal, there was a lot of commentary on it on social media. I do believe that it should have been legal and that we are all equal no matter what. I saw several posts on twitter and news links on Facebook about this controversy. Those who protested the right of same sex marriage, rebelled against society to prove their point. I felt drawn to these protests because they were all over the internet and radio. It was the newest excitement in the world. Even though I did not express my opinion in such a way, I did feel a strong connection to what they were fighting for. I am not one for voicing opinions publicly so I look at these types of people to be my voice. There were many instances where I wanted to comment on others hate on the protests. I believe just because someone is publicly fighting against something does not make them a terrible person. They are standing up for what they believe is right. They are going against what other people think is normal and making a difference in the world. When people try to make the world a better place by stepping out of their normal routine and voicing their opinion, they have mine and a hundred other people’s attention.
The symbolism of the rebel greatly impacts society in various ways. We can be listening to music, watching our favorite childhood movie, driving a car, or scrolling through social media you can find the iconography of the rebel everywhere. It is what excites people and excitements is what draws their attention the most. A great amount of people strives for excitement or something new. That is exactly what a rebel symbolizes and it is what draws most people in.