Film
Tough Guys Like Sunsets Too
Author S. E. Hinton is best known for her debut novel The Outsiders (1967), which is considered to be the first true
example of young adult literature, as it was the first novel to both be about being a teenager and to be marketed specifically towards them. Hinton wrote multiple young adult novels through the 1960s and 1970s, with all of them focusing on an open and honest portrayal of the issues facing working-class teenage boys. This subsection of adolescents have often been stereotyped as tough guys and troublemakers, both in fiction and in real life. Hinton’s honest exploration of their thoughts, feelings, and vulnerabilities breaks away from that, and offers a realistic view on the struggles of adolescence. The 1980s saw the production of four film adaptations of Hinton’s novels, coinciding with a rise in the popularity of teen films. These four films—Tex (Tim Hunter, 1982), The Outsiders (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983), Rumble Fish (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983), and That Was Then... This Is Now (Christopher Cain, 1985)—stand out from other ‘80s teen films because of how they explore the conflicts of masculinity and vulnerability for working-class adolescent boys, which is rarely seen in film, particularly in such detailed focus. Bringing these stories to the big screen introduced a new way of representing troubled youth in cinema, just as Hinton’s novels did for literature in the ‘60s. The exploration of masculinity and vulnerability found in these films is easiest to recognise in The Outsiders. The film focuses on a gang of teenage greasers, which immediately identifies the characters as lower-class boys who are considered delinquents by society. As the youngest member of the gang, Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell) holds onto an innocence that the other greasers don’t have. He enjoys poetry and appreciates the beauty of sunsets, although he would never talk about that with anyone in his gang apart from Johnny (Ralph Macchio), who also comes to find beauty in them. When upper-class Cherry (Diane Lane) asks why a nice guy like him would hang out with a troublemaker like Dally (Matt Dillon), Pony sticks up for his friend and reminds her that, even though he doesn’t get up to trouble, he’s a greaser too. In contrast to Ponyboy, Dally is always seen as a tough thug, even by the other greasers. He accepts this, and even plays into it. He harasses Cherry at a drive-in and takes pleasure in her annoyance. When Cherry asks that Dally “be nice and leave us alone” he responds with “I’m never nice”. While Cherry certainly believes this, and Dally probably believes it about himself, many of his actions show otherwise. Dally cares deeply about his gang, and is shown to be particularly protective of the younger members, Pony and Johnny. After Johnny kills someone to save Pony from drowning, Dally does everything in his power to keep them safe and out of jail, telling Johnny “You get mean in jail. I don’t want to see that happen to you like it happened to me”. This suggests that Dally knows that his actions have cost him his youthful innocence—something he still sees in Johnny and Pony. Johnny’s death represents a final loss of innocence for Dally, making him believe he has nothing else to live for. His inability to express his emotions causes him to instead act recklessly, ultimately leading to his death when he points an empty gun at the police and is shot dead. In a letter that Johnny wrote to Pony before this tragedy, he says “The way you dig sunsets Pony, that’s gold. Keep it that way, it’s a good way to be. I want you to ask Dally to look at one. I don’t think he’s ever seen a sunset”. This line represents the contrast between Pony and Dally. Pony manages to keep his identity as a greaser while still appreciating the goodness of the world. Dally isn’t just a thug, but society’s insistence that he is forced him to toughen up, and, in doing so, abandon the ability to be emotionally vulnerable. Johnny’s letter suggests that if Dally could have stopped being so angry at the world and appreciated its beauty, he wouldn’t have died. Something as simple as admiring a sunset could have saved him.
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