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November 1994, Week 1

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Subject:
From:
Gary Fuchs <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 3 Nov 1994 12:25:09 -0600
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jcstewrt@... writes:
 
> ... Yes all the movies mentioned in the previous response could be considered
>"Gen X" movies.  I also suggest "Say Anything," "Heathers" and the Alpha
>and the Omega of "Gen-X" movies, "The Breakfast Club."  The problems of
>the generation are myriad.  We have our work cut out for us.  About the
>only thing that seperates us from previous generations is our ability to
>watch ourselves and our world self-destruct through the media.
 
I mean not to judge one way or the other, but simply offer an observation. As
someone soon to join the ranks of the antedeluvian (I turn 40 next month), it
strikes me that the last sentence in the above paragraph itself
quintessentially captures the mindset of Gen-X... if, in fact, there even _is_
such as thing as a generational mindset. It must be granted, I think, that
this sentence is infused with (I was going to say reeks of) nihilism.
 
Again, not judging, merely observing... The opinion expressed in this
statement may very well turn out to be true. The increasing levels of
consumption of images by the mass culture -- and the requirement that
this phenomenon happen in order for capitalism to exist -- is in my view
dire and ominous. And these issues are intimately related to all the
discussion of violent imagery sparked by PULP FICTION's release..
 
To all those Gen-Xers out there -- and anyone else -- who might have
missed it, I recommend Susan Sontog's ON PHOTOGRAPHY, published
back in the distant past of the '70s but as relevant now -- if not more so --
than then... Also, David Mura has written a brilliant essay titled A MALE
GRIEF: NOTES ON PORNOGRAPHY AND ADDICTION (published
by Milkweed Editions, Minneapolis), which powerfully addresses many
of these issues in a sexual context, but it seems that his arguments also
hold water very well in terms screen violence and images of violence in
general. I cannot recommend Mura's essay highly enough; to my mind
it is a salient document for the whole SEX AND VIOLENCE IN THE
MASS MEDIA debate.
 
--Gary Weston Fuchs
  [log in to unmask]

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