The ambivalence came from both fear of failure and fear of success, which might force him toward a place in a world he was already rejecting and present him with too many choices. Success led inevitably to materialism, he was sure, and that was not something he sought. Thus he was the first in a tradition of new American rebels that would include James Dean and Jack Kerouac. Essentially, the dissidence of Brando and the other rebels was social rather than political. By staying outside traditional straight society, they projected how much they were misunderstood.
