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James Dean
Has been idolized, memorialized, patronized and supersized. Why can't the world get enough? We seem to revere those who die in stardom to degrees that defy rational thought.

The fish that got away is always a better story. It is true that James Dean was a good actor, I would even say great. But let's not forget that there have been many a rival with I dare say an equal share of talent, charisma and sex appeal, who have lived too long or matured too much or just not gotten the lucky breaks at just the right time. To piece together this phenomenon, to reconcile the mystery of such gargantuan celebrity we need to study not James Dean alone but indeed Americana.

I believe that if James Dean had lived into his 30's he would have destroyed a great deal of his own celebrity.

I believe if he had lived long enough to fall from grace as most celebs do inevitably, this would have been far better for the culture of youth. Just as I believe if Evil Kenival had been an insurance salesman I might still have my front teeth today.

We love to adore, we love to worship, it is how we are wired. We are waiting for some luminary to be sainted or some great philanthropist or artists work to be anointed with those words "his works and deeds shall live posthumously and be immortalized".With those entities that we deem to be beyond reproach our focus is magnified. When one has passed beyond the boundaries of mortality they become simply irresistible. James Dean became the perfect Icon for restless youth of the 50's looking for someone to emulate and to worship. To emulate someone when there is even the most remote possibility of that person knowing and being flattered is not as cool. Death made him perfect. James Dean was also a more appropriate target for the affection of awkward or misguide youth. It seemed that a whole generation was drifting from tradition and ecclesiastical notions searching for it a new doctrine which people like Dean and Brando were improvising.

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