MovieChat Forums > Reality Bites (1994) Discussion > Gen X flack

Gen X flack

posted 11 years ago by jrtomasso
8 replies | jump to latest

I gotta say, even though Gen X gets a lot of criticism, a lot of the angst that was prevalent and that was in rock and roll (I don't say "grunge" because it was a b.s. term labeled by the media to market it) at the time was very real as it was a reflection and attempted exorcism of young adult's existential crisis of living in the shadow of the great baby boomers who lived through such a remarkable and historic time. Their great war wasn't Viet Nam, but a spiritual war of the self. Just because people sing about themselves and their problems doesn't automatically make them self-absorbed whiners. If so, then you might as well say that about all those who sang the blues back in the day. And you might say, "well they had real problems to sing about." Well, "real problems" is subjective. And everything is relative; one man's blessing is another man's burden. No matter what a person's situation in life, everyone has the right to try to heal themselves through art and music.

I mean yeah, by '94 there were a lot of posers just following the trend so they can be cool, but there was some great music made in the early 90's, that can't be denied.

[–] Monster-17 11 years ago

Reality Bites is perhaps the worst embodiment of Gen X ersatz. The movie reeks of self-importance and hipster posturing. Gen Xers were affluent young suburbanites whose whole mantra revolved around not selling out, yet they’re now in their thirties and forties and are total sell outs.

Gen X was spoilt brats. They moaned about parental misunderstandings and personal complexities, but they were actually pampered fools. Gen Y has it hard. It’s a demographic that has been misleadingly sent to fight wars and exists in a totally depressed job market. While Gen Xers buy houses and start families, Gen Y is left in the cold. The prospects for Gen Y are bleak and unfair. Sure, Gen X accuses Gen Y for being superficial, sporting meaningless tattoos, listening to crap music and watching even crapper franchise movies, but Gen X is doing the same thing.

Perhaps Gen Y has a better relationship with parents and lives at home longer than what was previously permissible, but they are also the kids changing the world. They’re innovators, inventing the next billion dollar dot.com start up from their mother’s basement or developing the future of social media.

Gen X angst is merely an affectation. Gen X was entirely an elaborate platitude. Sorry for my frankness but that’s what I believe.

[–] jrtomasso 11 years ago

Actually now that I think about it, you're probably right. As time goes on I'm starting to see more of your views.

[–] art-snob 11 years ago

Every generation has had innovators. From Steve Jobs and Bill Gates (Babyboom) to Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Gen X) to Mark Zuckerberg (Gen Y). Of course, they all didn't "invent" their products but took an existing product/idea and made it more user-friendly and available to a mass market. While Gen Y can take most of the credit for making social media accessible, Gen X gets credit for earlier online innovations like Amazon, Yahoo!, Google (already mentioned) and Youtube. Gen X doesn't always get the credit they deserve for what they brought into the world of technology.

[–] zziiyy 11 years ago

The point of the movie is to make fun of that self-importance. This isn't an instruction guide to life.

And, I'm sorry, but the boomers ruined it for us, too. The difference is we still moved out and got a job instead of living with our parents until we were 28. Because we actually worked. We didn't feel content to sit around until the perfect job came up for us. I actually read a comment the other day from a millenial how she lives at home because, she's not going to work in some corporate law firm. Oh no. She's going to wait until the precious perfect job comes along that completely aligns with her sensibilities. Then, during the first few months, she will get frustrated because all of the partners at the firm don't listen to her and realize she knows everything. That's millenial.

Gen X is not like Gen Y at all. Gen X broke the rules. Gen Y just bitches about them, and think they know way more than they do.

[–] cmtmj2006 11 years ago

Totally agree. The boomers did away with the prospects that they enjoyed given to them by their parents, the true greatest generation. GenY believes they should be entitled to everything without having to work for it.

[–] HowYaLikeDemApplesWill 9 years ago

Funny, I didn't think this movie made fun of the self-importance of the Gen Xers...I thought it glorified them.

It was, after all, written by a 19 year old USC film student.

Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] generationofswine 10 years ago

Oh get off it.

Gen X was spoilt brats. They moaned about parental misunderstandings and personal complexities, but they were actually pampered fools.

We raised ourselves while mom & dad were at work, & then we watched mom & dad get laid off from the jobs they cared more about than raising us.

Suburbanite or not, it's really hard to be pampered when you're doing your own laundry & cooking your own meals as a child.

While Gen Xers buy houses and start families, Gen Y is left in the cold.

Give it a rest, we got hit by Reaganomics just as hard as Gen Y did. The difference is that we largely aren't conservative or Libertarian & we know how to figure things out on our own because we had to ALL of our lives.

But, you know, kudos to Gen Y for being innovative enough to make millions by giving themselves another outlet for selfies.

[–] duklec 9 years ago

I'm one of those GenY-ers living at home with my parents, and the thing is: I work 40 hours a week at 15 an hour, AND I have an IT service I work in the evenings. Yet, I still don't make enough to pay for: rent, food, utilities, health insurance, a car (so I can get to work), gas (I drive 75 miles a day in order to get to work and back, not counting my side business), and car insurance. And that's not counting any other expenses that life decides to throw at you. So to claim I'm just lazy and self entitled is just wrong.