The American youth subculture in the 1950’s was quite different from that of the previous generation who were very much involved in the second world war. This new rock and roll generation, that lived in a time of economic prosperity had time on their hands and were exposed to rapidly changing environment here in the states. The expansion of suburbs and the new face of urban cities redefined the appearance of America at the time. Juvenile delinquency, including gang violence, vandalism, and loitering was thought to be a great threat to the older generation of the time as sexuality and rock and roll seemed to be very much on the rise. African American musicians were thought to be fueling the fire with highly explicit and sexual overtones in their music, and this music was considered to be “The devil’s music”. During this time in American history the civil rights movement was well under way and the desegregation of schools was prominent in the headlines.
Blackboard Jungle (1955) illustrates the rise of juvenile delinquency in an inner city school where the teachers describe it as a “garbage can”. This is attributed to the severe behavioral problems of the school’s students and their unwillingness to learn in a classroom situation. Racial themes are prevalent throughout the plot and the relationship between the teacher, Richard Dadier and Sidney Poitier’s character, Greg Miller is one of strong tension and eventually friendship. The in-class article by Beth McCoy “Manager, Buddy, Delinquent: Blackboard Jungle's Desegregating Triangle” focuses on a triangular relationship between the white male protagonist, the black male character, and the white woman. The conflict between Dadier and Miller starts off on a sour note as he meets the African American student at first smoking in a school bathroom instead of being in line with his classmates. After reprimanding the student he realizes that Miller is insubordinate in class, quite intelligent, and a leader amongst the other students. Dadier’s accusations that Miller threw the baseball at him during class and that he went to the principal over Dadier’ racial comments were unfair to the student and show Dadier’s own racial dilemma, singling out the class’s only African American student.
The real triangular relationship to focus on in the movie is the one between Dadier, Miller, and the delinquent white youth in Artie West. West is the villain in this situation due to the fact that he had Dadier mugged in the ally way, he threw the baseball in class, told the principal that Dadier used distasteful racial remarks in the classroom, and even harasses his wife into a deep depression which caused a premature birth. West’s attempts to scare Dadier away from the school are thwarted by the pact of friendship made by the white and black protagonists. Not until the end of the film do we see this “buddy” relationship between the teacher and student. This friendship is symbolic because it shows an interracial relationship springing up during the time of desegregation, signaling an understanding rather than indifference.
I personally enjoyed this movie and it’s always interesting to read some of the crazy stuff that comes out of these articles. What I found to be interesting was the fact that McCoy thought that West’s character showed traces of homosexuality in that he over-obsessed over Dadier, led his peers in a gang, and that he participates in homoerotic banter with his classmates. He witnesses Dadier speaking to women in the movie but his focus is strictly on Dadier.
Do you think that West’s character is a homosexual or that this is just completely over-analyzed by the article‘s author? Do you believe that the social triangles within the film should have West or Miller as the “other” or the negative influence of the film? Does the “buddy” relationship between Miller and Dadier remind you of Lethal weapon?
