The generation that people belong to has long been a topic that can have a rather polarizing effect. If you’ve ever heard “back in my day” or “well, when I was your age”, you know what we’re talking about. Chances are good that most of you reading this fall into generation Y, also known as Millennials. But, we can’t forget about the Boomers or Generation X, either. If life imitates art, and vice versa, then truly movies can be looked at as a commentary of the time. Here are some of the movies that defined generations.
Baby Boomers make up the generation that seems most at odds with Millennials these days. Born between 1946 and 1964, Boomers kind of have a reputation for thinking they know best. At the time, maybe they did. They were healthier, wealthier, and more active than any generation that had come before them. Though today Boomers tend to be known for their “old fashioned” ideals, it’s important to remember at one time, many Boomers were a big part of the counterculture. Boomers were out there bucking social norms.
Theirs was the time of free love, hippies, war protests, drugs, and rock and roll. When it comes to film, perhaps none does a better job of encapsulating the era as Easy Rider. The movie follows two bikers as they make a cross country trip. The pair are seeking spiritual truth, and end up seeing some not so pretty sides of society in the process. There’s also a drug deal to complete, because, well, the 60’s. The film was a big hit at the time, and is considered an important counterculture film.
Generation X was over it all pretty early on. Over what exactly? Well, everything. Born between 1961 and 1981, they were over their Boomer parents’ high ideals and impossible expectations. Gen X learned sarcasm early and used it liberally. They are a generation that found it really hard to believe in anything, and the nihilism is strong with this generation. As well as the cynicism.
Many Gen Xers also largely raised themselves, with parents who were seemingly concerned with status and consumerism, and always at work. Gen Xers may not have known who they were or who they wanted to be growing up, but they knew they don’t want to take after their parents. The Breakfast Club captured the identity struggles, awkwardness, and societal otherness of the time. As well as the “who cares” attitude. Definitely one of those films that defined generations.
Millennials are generally considered to be people born between the years of 1981 and 1996. This generation saw the birth of the internet as they were coming of age themselves. The Information Age meant that Millennials were comfortable with the blossoming of technology, and grew up with social media. Myspace, Facebook, Instagram, for better or worse, social media is a part of our generational landscape.
The Social Network pretty much sums up our world in a nutshell. Or at least, our beginnings of exposure to a world where distance was erased by the internet, and social media presented a new kind of social status. See us. Hear us. Accept us. Even as Millennials begin to take the reins in toning down our social media presence, this movie still resonates. It also showcases this generation as being one that isn’t so concerned with what they’re expected by others to be, than with what they expect themselves to be.
