Vogue Archive: Molly Haskell's 1988 Essay on James Dean and the Cult of Youth

Molly Haskell's essay 'Rebel with a Shrine' originally appeared in the September 1988 issue of Vogue. The piece examines the enduring cult of James Dean, who died in a car crash on September 30, 1955, and whose legacy now includes a museum in his hometown of Fairmount, Indiana. Haskell recalls how Dean's three major films—East of Eden (1955), Rebel Without a Cause (1955), and Giant (1956)—electrified teenage audiences and established him as a patron saint of youth. She argues that Dean's androgynous image blurred boundaries between male and female, adult and child, and that his raw emotional honesty challenged the postwar emphasis on appearances and moral rectitude. The essay contrasts the conformist family values of the 1950s with the generational chasm Dean embodied, and notes his influence on later actors like Kevin Costner and Harrison Ford. Haskell also recounts the fanaticism surrounding Dean, from scavengers dismantling his Porsche to the planned shrine, and reflects on his offscreen persona, including the famous incident when he gunned his motorcycle outside Pier Angeli's wedding to Vic Damone. The piece originally appeared in Vogue and is republished as part of the magazine's archival series.