Did anyone else notice that in the early 2000s, James Dean was pushed more than usual? Perhaps it was just me, but back in the day when I was a teen, my world revolved around the one and only, the iconic ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ actor. Perhaps it was because I loved the fashion and whatnot of the ‘50s, or maybe it was that he looked like a former childhood crush, Luke Perry. Whatever it was, the allure of Dean got me hooked, and to this day, he remains one of my biggest crushes. He’s without a doubt one of the most beautiful men to have ever existed, and ‘Harper’s Bazaar’ agrees as he was named one of the hottest men of all time by them, and we’re going to go over the entire list – but first, let’s get back to my favorite rebel.
There isn’t an exact memory stored to point me towards what led me to James Dean. If I had to guess, it was catching ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ on AMC as a teen, and instantly being like, well, well, well…what’s going on here? I’ve always been a fan of teen movies, so to see one from the first sort of era where teens were, well, teens, it was fascinating, and I do remember loving the movie instantly. Today, it’s still one of my top 10 in the genre. Not just because Dean’s Jim Stark is gorgeous, but because of the three teen angst points of view presented via Stark, Judy, and Plato. If you’ve never seen it, please check it out on Amazon Prime, if you have a subscription – or I’m sure your local library will let you check it out for free! Yes, utilize your local libraries. Anyways, back to James Dean.
I fell in love, but it was the early 2000s, and my home was void of an internet connection, so I couldn’t hop on and quickly learn every fact about him. This is why I have several books on my shelf about his short life. Yeah, unfortunately, my love never made it to 1955 as he was killed in a tragic car crash. Before that, though, he managed to make his mark in three wonderful movies. ‘Rebel’ is my personal favorite of the trio, but don’t count out ‘Giant’ or ‘East of Eden.’ All three showcase just what a star he was, and left us all to wonder just how far his career would’ve gone had he not passed so soon.
That’s the thing about James Dean as a crush. The same for those who love Marilyn Monroe, River Phoenix, Selena, and all the others who left this world too soon. They are permanently preserved in our minds, never aging, never given the chance to let us down. So we place those crushes on pedestals because in our minds, they are forever wonderful. They are the crushes whose impact can never really be tarnished in your heart, unless the internet works to dig up something insane about them. For the most part, though, a lot of those who were gone too soon stay safe from that. So I think having those few perfect images of Dean ingrained into my teenage mind made me love him. He was the personification of teen angst, something I leaned towards a lot growing up. I mean, you can’t be a teen during the rise of emo music and not have that angst flowing through your veins, right?
Dean was the epitome of that, and at 14-15 years old, it was all I needed to fall in love with this man who passed long before I was even a thought, and four years before my mom was even born. ‘Harper’s Bazaar’ placing James Dean on their hottest men of all time list was not shocking to me. I would’ve been more shocked to see him absent for so many men in Hollywood have tried to adopt his cool guy vibe. Some have succeeded like the aforementioned Perry, as well as James Franco (that’s a pass for me), and it was announced in 2025 that ’13 Reasons Why’ star Brandon Flynn would be portraying Dean in a biopic about an alleged gay love affair. Yeah, you’re not a Dean fan unless you’ve read countless accounts about him loving men, which, I wish he could’ve been open about, as no one should ever have to hide who they are.
So, kudos to ‘Harper’s Bazaar for including Dean. He was a great choice for their hottest man alive list, but did they get it 100% correct? We’ll continue this discussion elsewhere…
Crushgasm 
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