The 1952 Elia Kazan-directed film East of Eden is a family melodrama of mammoth proportions. Based on John Steinbeck’s novel of the same name, the film stars James Dean, the epitome of Hollywood Fifties as the satanic, loner Caleb “Cal” Trask. Richard Davalos plays the role of the respectable, principled brother Aron. Adam, the patriarch of the Trask family is a hard, self-righteous pastor who moved from the East Coast to build a life with his family and start a lettuce farm in Salinas, California. The birth of their twin sons causes a rupture between him and his wife. She leaves him to raise the boys on his own to run a brothel and prosper through her own business ventures.
I didn’t realize that this film was significant from of what I am normalized seeing on social media, reality television, the storytelling of today’s meta digital age. Perhaps my lack of understanding of the significance of the film is because of the generation I grew up in. Admittedly, I had to watch just as many Youtube documentaries as the film’s two hour length to grasp a deeper understanding of the film and novel’s historical significance.
Still from East of Eden. Left to right: Cal Trask (James Dean), Aron Trask (Richard Davalos), and Adam Trask (Raymond Massey)
I found that Elia Kazan’s adaptation of Steinbeck’s novel paved a new way of expressive means in spite of the conservative, hostile reality of the Cold War that even infiltrated Hollywood. The idyllic post-war period of the Fifties made it nearly impossible to show emotionality in men. The intergenerational conflict between Cal and his father is a vulnerability that American audiences saw for the first time. The volatility that Kazan brings to Steinbeck’s quotidian story between sons and father depicts a sensitive portrayal of male emotions. For me what is interesting is the marginalized group are the German immigrants. There is one scene that stood out for me is when the town of Salinas accuse a German man that is a regular of the town and questions his national allegiance during a time of war. The townspeople turn into a mob but Cal steps in to defend the man.
Left to right: still of characters Cal and Aron
Coming from the theater, Kazan elevated Steinbeck’s novel to a stylized portrayal with dramatic angles, intense closeups, and contrasting lighting to heighten the effects of the story. The cinematography of the film becomes like a “witness and judge” perspective. The dynamic between the twin brothers represent the two rival Biblical brothers in the Book of Genesis, the sons of Adam and Eve. Cal and Aron could not be more opposite.
Left to right: still of characters Cal, Aron, and Abra
Both brothers competing for her affection of Abra, played by Julie Davis, and Adam. While Cal leans toward his estranged mother, Aron dutifully follows his father.
Still of the character Cal (James Dean)
East of Eden shifted the representation of youth. Their feelings, mixed or complicated mattered. The identities and sensibilities were changing. The story touched upon the primal instinct of competition in people through heightened emotions of love and hate. James Dean fills that teen angst and affect that the viewer empathetically feels for him as well. Not a far cry from his later role in Rebel Without A Cause.
Left to right: still of the characters Cal (James Dean) and Adam (Raymond Massey)
When Cal’s mother loans him money for his father to develop his failed business, Adam rejects it knowing that it came from his estranged wife. The sequence where Adam rejects Cal’s money unfolds into a tragic breakdown. Cal is devastated. He becomes ridden with painful sadness trying to grab his father for affection. When Adam rejects Cal’s need for affection, he runs away. This scene captured the core of the story’s climax through a dramaturgical approach. The epic film saga that is East of Eden touches upon the universal theme of inner family turmoil that was new for me to watch, coming from an oversaturated media generation and age of nonstop screen content.
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