Twenty-five years ago, when "millennials" were still the focus of marketers, a film aimed at capturing the spirit of a different era was released.
Unfortunately, this film called "Reality Bites" (Reality Bites) did not achieve great commercial success in 1994 and the box office was dismal.
But 25 years later, it reflects a distinctive label of Generation X-"The Forgotten Generation".
film "love" generation X
In recent years, generation X has been excluded from cultural topics, because the media is keen on millennials, and businessmen like baby boomers with purchasing power.
-Note:
X generation: people born in 1965-1980;
millennials: people born in 1981-1996;
baby boomers: people born in early 1946 to the end of 1964 after World War II.
But in the late 80s and early 90s, the film industry "in love" the X generation, because this generation is becoming teenagers or young people in their 20s, many of them produced or about them Movies have become fanatical darlings, such as the classic youth movie "The Breakfast Club" (The Breakfast Club) and the love movie "Before Sunrise" (Before Sunrise).
"Love Before Dawn" stills
In fact, before 1991, Generation X did not have an exact name.
With the publication of the Canadian writer Douglas Coupland's novel "Generation X ─Tales for an accelerated culture" (Generation X ─Tales for an accelerated culture), the concept of "Generation X" officially appeared.
In this book, young people in their 20s are described as highly educated, underemployed, cynical, and dissatisfied generation. They live in the shadow of baby boom parents and are full of rebellious spirits.
Although they didn't have an official title until the early 1990s (1991), many people have grown up, and the film industry is trying to capture the vibrancy of this new group.
The aimless generation?
The director of the 1985 film "Breakfast Club", John Hughes (John Hughes) belongs to the baby boom generation.
In the film he directed, five middle school students with rebellious personality have different family backgrounds and personalities, but they have one thing in common-problems with their parents, they want to live a world different from their parents.
"Breakfast Club" stills
Three years later, the campus crime film "Heathers" (Heathers) was released. The film
turned the high school campus competition into a real bloody sport, and starred the generation X poster girl Winona Ryder. She once sighed to her mother, "I think I was born in the wrong time."
"Sister Gang" stills
Children in this era, the divorce rate of parents is rising and both parents are busy with their own work, many people can only solve their life problems by themselves.
In 1990, "Time" magazine published an article entitled "Twenties" in which it examined the post-baby boomers (also known as "Generation X") and asked them whether they were "lazy, late mature, or lost?"
In the same year, Richard Linklater (Richard Linklater) premiered his $3,000 film "Slacker" (Slacker), which turned the so-called "pointlessness" of Generation X into an art form. The
movie records a day of a group of young people living in Austin, Texas. The scene changes from one role to another, never staying in one role for too long.
"Urban Ronin" poster
This movie later became a popular movie, and the box office in the UK alone exceeded 1 million pounds (about 1.6 million US dollars). Linklater has always refuted Slacker as being lazy.
he said:
"In my life, when a Slacker is a very productive period, although it is not in the eyes of others."
In the next 5 years, he made two more classic Gen X movies, "Dazed and Confused" (Dazed and Confused, 1993) and "Love Before Dawn" (Before Sunrise, 1995).
Both films were shot within a day. Richard Linklater was not the only one who used this method of shooting. At that time, many X-generation directors tried to use this method to capture the life and emotions of this generation.
"Youth and Frivolity" stills
film "Empire Records" (1995) tells the day of the staff at the record site;
and the director Spike Lee's "The Right" (The Right) Thing, 1989) tells the story of a block in Brooklyn on a sweltering summer; the same is true for the debut film "Clerks" (Clerks, 1994) directed by
Kevin Smith (Kevin Smith), which is inspired by Ronin, the film tells the daily life of two convenience store employees.
"Crazy Clerk" poster
generation seems to have a lot of time. James Lyons, a film lecturer at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, said:
“There is a view that their parents’ generation, the baby boomers, has all the greatness they are striving for. Career-civil rights, feminist rights, gay liberation... Without these problems, Generation X has no reason to unite in the same way. They don't know what to do or where to go."
friends, singles and unemployment
Before the concept of "friends" became mainstream, the emergence of friends as a new "family form" was also a common theme.
Cameron Crowe's "Singles" (Singles, 1992) is a romantic comedy that tells the story of a group of young people in their 20s living in the same apartment building in Seattle. It is the most common One of the movies associated with Generation X.
Cameron Crowe is a baby boomer himself. He described the film as "a story of a group of unrelated singles, forming a family", but he insisted that he never set out to define a generation.
However, with a soundtrack themed on pearl jam, music garden, honey syrup and pumpkin, and the release of the film just in time to catch up with the grunge rock (Grunge Rock) pop, Seattle, where the story took place, became the most watched American city.
"Single Family" poster
If "single" is the trend of the times, then other movies also know what to do.
When Helen Childress was 20 years old, a producer read the script she wrote in college and signed with him-Helen wants to write a story about young people in their 20s The screenplay of life. This script was later made into a movie, which is "Four Graduates".
Lyons said:
"In real life, people are clearly aware of the ideas of Generation X... So Hollywood tries to dig out the emotions of this generation."
graduates and is unemployed? Can shoot!
plaid shirt and cool soundtrack? Can shoot!
Parents are divorced, who can understand your struggle? Can shoot!
These may all seem to be related to Generation X, but Helen draws on his own real experience, which makes "Four Graduates" feel more real.
"Four Graduates" poster
So far, with the US economic recession in the early 1990s, Coupland's image of the highly educated and underemployed Generation X has become more and more real.
In the film "Four Graduates", Winona Ryder (Winona Ryder) plays the role Liliana is filming a documentary about her friend's life after graduation;
Ethan Hawke CharacterRoy is a typical cynical Gen X. When Liliana said she wanted to change people's lives, Troy said he "want to buy them a bottle of Coke."
But without the features mentioned above, how are these movies different from other movies?
Lyon also thinks so,
"The cynical and ironic characteristics of Generation X are quite obvious. The movies of the next generation do not have such obvious characteristics. In addition, the films of Generation X are more sincere."
They need to be renewed. Being scrutinized
However, there is a movie about Generation X that decided to show youth culture in the most primitive way, without any irony.
Larry Clark's "Semi-Mature Teenager" (Kids, 1995) tells the lives of a few teenagers in a day in Manhattan. The film involves sex, drugs, rape, HIV transmission and gang violence. This low-cost film has a documentary feel, with many actors shooting directly from the streets of New York. Harmony Korine, the screenwriter of
, was only 19 years old at the time. He once said that he didn’t think he could make a movie like "Semi-Mature Boy" today. If he could, it would be in the digital age. A completely different film. The girl in
, Jenny, spent the time of a movie traveling through New York, looking for a partner with whom she had a romantic relationship not long ago, and told him that she was infected with HIV. If it is today, she can send him the message in a few seconds.
When watching these movies again today, what they did was as compelling as what they did not have.
You may find strange pagers or brick phones, but not the Internet, social media or smart phones. Some parts of
seem to be redundant now. For example, in "Love Before Dawn", if the story is today, then Jesse and Selena will follow each other on Instagram instead of agreeing to meet at the same place a year later.
However, although there may be many differences in the lives of millennials, they and Generation X can still connect with each other. As Lyons said,
"Film like "Urban Ronin" and "Four Graduates" will indeed be co-produced with millennial students, especially the idea of extending puberty."
"Four Graduations" Life" stills
However, today's awakening generation may struggle with some factors. In "Four Graduates", Troy is portrayed as a romantic artist, his bad behavior is part of his charm, and today, he would be considered "scum".
When the 90s came to an end, Generation X began to be revisited. Time magazine, which once portrayed them as a "lost" generation, produced another cover for them-"Lazy? Almost none", it wrote, "The so-called Generation X is actually full of enterprising spirit."
They may be a group of cynics, but Gen X is more entrepreneurial and creative than any film about them, even if no one wants to talk about them now.
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