WINTER OF DISCONTENT

“Alright fine you wanna be in a band fine. Go ahead. Play every night. Play three times a night! Don't just dick around the same coffee house for five years. Don't dick around with her; or with me. I mean try at something for once in your life, do something about it. But you know what? You better do it now and you better do it fast because the world doesn't owe you any favors”.
Leilanie Pierce – Reality Bites

My friends Joanna and Rob brought over caramel popcorn last night. I'd been craving it, and since Joanna was already stopping by to borrow some DVDs, I suggested it as a trade. I was supposed to be finishing an edit, but we ended up watching Reality Bites instead. It had been ages since I'd seen it, and it was a real trip down memory lane. The movie perfectly captured the era, like opening a time capsule and examining how we lived back then.

It was so refreshing to see how we looked, how we lived, and what we believed in those days. Reality Bites was a seminal film for Generation X in the nineties; I can't think of another movie that so accurately depicted our generation. A recent article in Details magazine argued that our era has passed—that Gen X has peaked, and there's no turning back. We've lived our youth, had our fun, and should be living our dreams by now. It's a scary thought.

The Baby Boomers, the generation before us, are now in charge, and the Millennials, the generation after us, are the darlings of consumerism. That leaves us Gen Xers in a strange middle ground—the lost generation. Have we really lost our edge?

The article stated: "The Baby Boomers are having sex, staying young, retiring in high style… gearing up for their second act. The aggressive Millennials speak with none of the doubt and skepticism that have marked and hampered Gen X. They love stuff. They love technology. They love name brands. They're happy to do what advertising tells them to do… and by doing so, they also command power. We, on the other hand, are the generation defined more by lasts than firsts. Last to produce and hold albums on vinyl, last to type on a typewriter, last generation to read newspapers, last generation to express resistance to corporate servitude, last generation to care in a way about the ‘culture’ part of pop culture.”

So, where does that leave us, the all-knowing? We were the ones who didn't want to be pigeonholed. We didn't want to be part of the status quo. We were all about individuality, which ultimately led us to be exactly what we wanted to be—a scattered generation, forever hesitating before taking the leap. Literacy leads to self-reflection and critical thinking, and those open the door to doubt and skepticism… which aren't exactly helpful when you're trying to get ahead.

Or maybe we never really cared about getting ahead. Perhaps that's what defines our generation. We seem to revel in the perversely liberating thrill of being marginalized. We just want to do things our own way. We define success differently.

Are we obsolete, then? I certainly hope not. Personally, I still have a lot to offer the world. But I won't lower my standards, I won't put myself in a box, and I will continue to fight for my individuality. And if I fail, at least I'll have fought a good fight.

FAVE REALITY BITES QUOTES:

Lelaina Pierce: I'm not going to work at The Gap for chrissake!

------

Troy Dyer: The only thing you have to be by the age of 23 is yourself.
Lelaina: Yeah, well, I'm not sure who that is anymore.

------

Lelaina Pierce: I'd like to somehow make a difference in peoples' lives.
Troy Dyer: And I... I would like to buy them all a Coke.
Lelaina Pierce: And you wonder why we never got involved?

------

Troy Dyer: And I know that scare the living shit outta you 'cause you know I'm the only real thing you got.
Lelaina: Yeah well that ain't real much.

------

Troy Dryer: I'm gonna get a job... I'll soon get my own place to live in.
Lelaina: Sure... that's the American dream of the 90's.

------

Troy Dyer: I'm bursting with fruit flavor.

------

Lelaina Pierce: Hey Sammy, what's your goal?
Sammy: My goal is... I'd like a career or something.

------

Troy Dyer: I am not under any orders to make the world a better place.

------
Troy Dyer: There's no point to any of this. It's all just a... a random lottery of meaningless tragedy and a series of near escapes. So I take pleasure in the details. You know... a quarter-pounder with cheese, those are good, the sky about ten minutes before it starts to rain, the moment where your laughter become a cackle... and I, I sit back and I smoke my Camel Straights and I ride my own melt.