The Cinema Of Generation X

When Steven Soderbergh exploded onto movie screens with sex, lies, and videotape in 1989, it represented more than the arrival of an important new director--it heralded the arrival of an entire generation of important new directors. Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction), Kevin Smith (Dogma), David Fincher (Fight Club), M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense), Ben Stiller (Reality Bites), Michael Bay (Pearl Harbor), and dozens of others are all members of Generation X, the much talked about but much misunderstood successors to baby boomers. This book is a critical study of the films directed by Gen Xers and how those directors have been influenced by their generational identity. While Generation X as a whole sometimes seems to lack direction, its filmmakers have devoted their careers to making powerful statements about contemporary society and their generation's role in it. Each section of the book deals with an aspect of Gen X filmmaking, including the influence of popular culture, postmodern narrative devices, "slackerdom" and the lack of direction, disenfranchisement and nihilism, the ever-evolving role of technology, gender issues and sexuality, the question of race, the influence of older filmmakers, and visions of the future.

Screening Generation X: The Politics and Popular Memory of Youth in Contemporary Cinema examines popular representations of Generation X in American and British film. In arguing that the various constructions of youth are marked by major cultural shifts and societal inequalities, it analyzes the iconic 'Gen X' figures ranging from the slacker, the teenage time traveller, and third wave feminists, to the oeuvre of Molly Ringwald and Richard Linklater. This book explores the important cultural work performed by films that mediate the experiences of Generation X and critiques the ongoing marginalization of the youth who struggle to find their identity and a voice in increasingly unstable times. Specific analyses of such films as Pump Up the Volume, The Breakfast Club, Heathers, Donnie Darko and Waking Life are used to illustrate the research.

Resituating the term in its neglected (sub)cultural context, this work offers a critical assessment of the 'Generation X' phenomenon and its relation to the fashioning of different identities within and against the mainstream. Topics include punk subculture, the Internet, and alternative music.

American Smart Cinema examines a contemporary type of US filmmaking that exists at the intersection of mainstream, art and independent cinema and often gives rise to absurd, darkly comic and nihilistic effects.

Screening Generation X: The Politics and Popular Memory of Youth in Contemporary Cinema examines popular representations of Generation X in American and British film. In arguing that the various constructions of youth are marked by major cultural shifts and societal inequalities, it analyzes the iconic 'Gen X' figures ranging from the slacker, the teenage time traveller, and third wave feminists, to the oeuvre of Molly Ringwald and Richard Linklater. This book explores the important cultural work performed by films that mediate the experiences of Generation X and critiques the ongoing marginalization of the youth who struggle to find their identity and a voice in increasingly unstable times.

Even for the casual viewer, the Netflix series Stranger Things will likely feel familiar, reminiscent of popular 1980s coming-of-age movies such as The Goonies, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Stand by Me. Throughout the series, nods to each movie are abundant. While Stranger Things and these classic 1980s films are all tales of childhood friendship and shared adventures, they are also narratives that reflect and shape the burgeoning cynicism of the 1980s. In Ode to Gen X: Institutional Cynicism in "Stranger Things" and 1980s Film, author Melissa Vosen Callens explores the parallels between iconic films featuring children and teenagers and the first three seasons of Stranger Things, a series about a group of young friends set in 1980s Indiana. The text moves beyond the (at times) non-sequitur 1980s Easter eggs to a common underlying narrative: Generation X’s growing distrust in American institutions. Despite Gen X’s cynicism toward both informal and formal institutions, viewers also see a more positive characteristic of Gen X in these films and series: Gen X’s fierce independence and ability to rebuild and redefine the family unit despite continued economic hardships. Vosen Callens demonstrates how Stranger Things draws on popular 1980s popular culture to pay tribute to Gen X’s evolving outlook on three key and interwoven American institutions: family, economy, and government.

The pioneering anthropologist Sherry B. Ortner combines her trademark ethnographic expertise with critical film interpretation to explore the independent film scene in New York and Los Angeles since the late 1980s. Not Hollywood is both a study of the lived experience of that scene and a critical examination of America as seen through the lenses of independent filmmakers. Based on interviews with scores of directors and producers, Ortner reveals the culture and practices of indie filmmaking, including the conviction of those involved that their films, unlike Hollywood movies, are "telling the truth" about American life. These films often illuminate the dark side of American society through narratives about the family, the economy, and politics in today's neoliberal era. Offering insightful interpretations of many of these films, Ortner argues that during the past three decades independent American cinema has functioned as a vital form of cultural critique.

The research, writing and analysis in the pages of this work show the story of how Generation X grew-up during one of the greatest periods of technological, social, political, economic and educational change in US history. Included in that story is how the greater percentage of them grew-up in the church, but then walked away en masse. Today, Generation X is the smallest percentage of Main Line and Catholic Church membership, while the overwhelming majority of church membership is made up of an aging population of Baby Boomers and Silent Generation folk. In ten year's time, what will be the state of the church when many of the current membership has passed on to eternal life, or are no longer able to do what it is that they're doing today? Generation X could well be the answer to much of the solution. Generation X is generally at a more comfortable place in their lives and are asking the questions about the meaning of their lives while considering issues of mortality. Yet at the same time, they're having now to care for parents, grandchildren, and for many Gen Xers, their own children still. They're busy and committed, but they're also spiritually hungry. Having had a relationship at one point in their lives, they're not completely foreign to what the church can be, but the ball is really in the church's court. How the church chooses to respond to Generation X could mean life, or church closure. It's a conversation that needs to take place, and that conversation begins here.