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November 1994, Week 1

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Subject:
From:
"J. Hoppe" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 3 Nov 1994 18:43:40 CST
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----------------------------Original message----------------------------
 
I guess it depends on what you mean by "Generation X." I thought the film
was about as complex and insightful as an after-School special ("Will
Princess Winona choose 'sensitive' jerk or naive preppy to go to Prom
with?"). But if your view of Generation X is that it (or 'they' or maybe
even 'we'; I think I'm slightly post-Baby Boom myself) is shallow and can
only hold onto concepts that would fit into a half-hour Brady Bunch
episode, then maybe Reality Bites is a good Gen X film.
 
Personally, I prefer "Slacker," so far as I can tell (I haven't seen
"Clerks" yet) the best and most interesting attempt to portray a
wacky disillusioned generation, as opposed to the earlier brooding,
tortured disillusioned generation of Jake Barnes and Sam Spade (I guess
I'm leaving out Kerouac et al. here). If you haven't seen "Slacker," see
it before you write your paper, I'd say.
 
For more on Reality Bites, I _believe_ it was the New Yorker review which
opined that a media-saavy generation like X would never fall for the
obvious, ham-handed attempts the film makes to represent them/sell them
"authentic" images of themselves.  Probably a good point; did the film
make a bundle? I seem to remember it being fairly small beer at the box
office.
 
John Hoppe
 
On Wed, 2 Nov 1994, Lam Kit Yee wrote:
 
> I'm now working on a paper titled "The Generation X". People said that
> "Reality Bites" (co-star Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke) is a typical Gen X
> movie. Do you agree or disagree? Are there any other Gen X movies which
> are useful for my study? Thanks in advance!
>

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