Popular Culture Review Vol. 14, No. 1, February 2003 | Page 15

Fifties Juvenile Delinquency Films

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have any connection to male rebellion. Hellcats is a good example of this por
trayal of the female JD. Yet, like Blackboard Jungle, Hellcats also frames the
problem within a discourse of conformity.
In Hellcats the girl gang is an independent entity within itself. The Hellcats
are not in any way subservient to men or to the male gangs at the school. While the
Hellcats associate with boys, they appear to be the dominant gang at the school.
Connie does not defer to any authority. On Joyce’s first day in home economics
class, Connie and the other Hellcats mock the male substitute teacher, driving him
out of the classroom in frustration. Connie approaches Joyce by telling her “I’m
the boss’’ and “I make the rules here.’’ Connie’s dominance is one of demanding
complete conformity to her rules. The rules of the Hellcats represent an opposition
to the middle-class values of Joyce’s world, but. like the rules of her parents, are
no less conformist. At her first meeting with the Hellcats, Connie tells Joyce that if
she doesn’t join the Hellcats, she won’t have any dates or any friends. She also )