Thanks everyone for supporting my work. This is my very first article, so I apologize if it isn't as well articulated as I'd want it to be. Please give feedback btw!
I found myself a bit distracted by the math on your age and the release of certain movies. It didn’t add up, so I was annoyed that I couldn’t figure out how old you are.
For example, don’t say “It came out between the ages of 12-15.” The movie was definitely release in one specific year, not over the course of 3-years. So just say “It came out in 2014, when I was 12.”
I remember a conversation I had with fellow writers at a scifi convention in the early 2010s. Some women in the group were talking about how they used to like Love Actually but now realized that it was a problematic movie, actually, and they weren't allowed to like it. I don't care about Love Actually but I thought it was sad to see that little light go out of these people's lives.
Love Actually is a movie by and for the British, which explains why it’s so schmalzy. One of the secrets about the British is, for all of their tendency toward dry and cutting humor, they also tend towards excessive sentimentality, especially around Christmas.
That’s also why you’ve got to be careful with labeling things as “Millennial” or “Gen X” or whatever based solely on release year. Love Actually doesn’t tell you anything about any American generation, because it’s not an American movie in any meaningful sense (its relative box office success in the US was almost certainly attributable to its cast containing just about every British movie star working at the time).
"On a side note, I’d also argue that Joss Whedon/Community style comedy (aka Marvel humor) is an example of this trait from the 2010’s, but that’s an entirely different topic altogether."
The decline of the acutely Millennial, snarky, sarcastic, quippy "Uh so that just happened" sense of humor (that was ironically brought about by Gen Xers) is probably actually the best example of the end of Millennial culture's hegemony. All the "Obamacore" media you mention is indeed all remembered very poorly, but I genuinely don't think anything from that period has aged worse than the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I remember being on the ground floor when people were saying it was the best and most ambitious project ever embarked upon in the history of cinema. Today, it's not even a joke. It's treated more like the stench of a fart in a hot, small car that just won't go away. The MCU still has its defenders (somehow), but that Whedon-style of humor has been thoroughly relegated to the worst elements of Reddit's userbase. The best parody of it is definitely Red Letter Media's "Nerd Crew" videos. Highly recommend you check them out if you haven't seen them.
I have to say that, out of all the "Obamacore" media you mention, I think I find Hamilton the most egregious. Lin-Manuel Miranda is probably the most over-hyped musician working today. He's capable of writing good music, there's, like, one single song in Hamilton I actually liked, but he just refuses to write anything outside his one lane and it gets so old so fast that if I ever have to hear anything from that awful musical again it will be too soon.
Also, one last note... when it comes to "The Holiday", I wish you were right, but trust me - you're not. I think that's quite possibly every female I know's favorite Christmas movie. I'm pretty sure my sisters, my mother, my cousins, and my girlfriend watch it multiple times each Christmas season. Which means I have to watch it at least once by proxy.
Great read, though. Looking forward to seeing what else you got coming.
It's impossible to overstate the hunger with which white liberal America ingested any packaging of black expression in 2020, chuckling with approval like Beavis and Butt-Head over anything smelling of torture porn, and propelling no-talent wastrels like Lil Nas X to an interval of superstardom.
I didn't see Get Out, which I mildly regret, only because I couldn't stand the audience. A true reactionary act! I did hold my nose and watch Sorry To Bother You, dodging the buckets of jism spilled by my friend group, and had a genuinely great time. Cringing in anticipation of a didactic anti-capitalist polemic, I hadn't expected it to double as a scathing, cynical takedown of political activism (and a weird love letter to Oakland). One of very few movies which can compare to Repo Man in mordant satire and over-the-top climax, a future VHS cult gem.
The video for This Is America does a good job of communicating a certain vibe. Everyone knew what it was about, without having it spelled out. The "song" can't stand on its own, it's certainly not lyrical or any useful form of hip-hop. But it still sees daily airplay here in Austin, a toe-tapping soundtrack for the Tesla-driving oat milk set's sense of obligate indignation. Safely dangerous content for people who no longer feel entitled to listen to N.W.A or Public Enemy, and don't want to wake the kids in the back seat.
Mind-blowing thought: the cultural products that define a generation came out in their school and college years, . . . and thus were made by the previous generation.
I was watching broad city the other day- a show that was hugely popular and ran from 2014-2019 and it felt similarly dated. It still has funny moments, and it’s not really an outwardly political show. But there’s a certain worldview that underpins the whole project that just comes across very naive and made the show age poorly.
Calling broad city hugely popular is just lol. It’s a niche surrealist comedy about 2 quirky/grungy millennial New York Jews.
I think the aspect you’re describing that doesn’t fit anymore is its underlying individualism which is at odds with our more collectivist moment.
Broad city is about self-actualization. Two young women trying to find their way. It isn’t explicitly politically conscious and concerned with social justice like everything has to be now.
Broad City is not widely popular but among the type of people who would write for or read the New York Times its “literally me” which is why it was in fact a super hyped show in its heyday. The educated PCM women always fawn over shows about degenerate yet elite-aspirant women. Broad City was just one thats tolerable, compared to Girls or something else hamfistedly cringe like that
Ok actually 50 First Dates and Big Fat Greek Wedding are enjoyable movies that my Gen X parents showed me and I think they have fond feelings for most people. My favorite part about both is the racism: 1) Rob Schnieder playing a Hawaiian dude (how did Rob Schnieder get away with it so many times!!! amazing) and 2) the Greek dad being racist to his daughters anglo boyfriend. I also am a sucker for romance, so Im biased.
I think the worst thing to come out of this decade so far is Kai Cenat, I dont understand this man or his following can somebody please just unplug him from the internet
As a millennial that always resonated more with Gen X culture and had a strong distaste for Obamacore despite lacking a name for it, it’s current mockery has been very validating.
One piece of Obamacore that no one talks about anymore: True Blood. One of the early “prestige TV” innovators in hamfisted political allegory and caricature.
Good post on a topic I have also been considering lately. My university recently made us sit through a talk that included a lot about gender inequality in the surface level sense like terms of wage gap etc.. It felt almost surreal because 8 years ago that messaging was in every single class in middle school. Then somehow it switched and everyone stopped pretending so much.
I’m older than you and when I hear the term Obamacore, these are what pop in my head -
1. Facebook, Twitter - and the general idea that tech will lead to global piece and democracy. Obama even gave an interview where he said something to the effect of him wanting to become a VC after retirement.
2. Shows like Veep, Silicon Valley, Community, 30 Rock - workplace humour in a post-race society.
3. John Oliver - smug self righteous admonition of old school conservatives. Somewhat distinct from Bush era characters like Colbert due to higher production values.
The racialization of everything feels like a post-2015 phenomenon and should be more appropriately called Trumpcore.
The nature if time passing is that the more "blah" stuff gets forgotten, but the classics stay. When people talk for example about how "old music was better" or "movies were so much better back in the day," that's because they're ONLY able to remember the bits that stood the test of time. Political art that is ACTUALLY GOOD can even accomplish that-- "The Great Dictator" was highly political, but if you watch Charlie Chaplin's final speech now, it's as moving as it was in the 1940s. The problem with a lot of what you're talking about here is that it wasn't political art, it was propaganda. Political art doesn't get as much praise when it's new-- it gets a lot of backlash. There's also Laver's Law of Fashion, which I apply to things besides clothing. It'll take about 30-50 years for people to truly know which works produced in the 2010s were classics. It's possible to make some guesses though, and I could easily see "Bojack Horseman" being a true classic that captures the 2010s in 50-100+ years. Same with "Broad City". Both have a little of the political flavor of the 2010s, but they're more character-driven and self-aware.
Liked your post, but I think you’re pretty off the mark with your thesis. I’m a millennial (born ‘91) and none of the things you mentioned are widely considered cringe by or have aged poorly in the opinion of millennials. I think you’re picking up on a generational divide. Maybe all that stuff is cringe to Gen Z and nonsensical more or less to people of older generations, but that’s exactly how we millennials feel about the cultural products of other generations. The example you gave of Pewdiepie (apologies if I misspelled that) left me bored and not laughing at all. I wouldn’t say I didn’t get it. In fact, the problem was that the joke was grossly obvious from the start and not well executed. The delivery didn’t strike me as effective at all. To be clear, the idea of the video had potential, it just seemed like it was poorly executed. This is my extremely millennial take on it. I don’t mean to bash it, I just don’t personally find it funny at all and have difficulty seeing the appeal. On the other hand, the dumb Batman comedy sketch (not a parody in my view) is golden and even classic (amongst millennials at least). I’ve watched it many many times and still laugh at it, and so do my millennial compatriots. Ditto for almost all college humor. We millennials still love it and aren’t ashamed of it. Same with the movies you mentioned. I hope you’re right about “wokeness” becoming cringe, but Hamilton actually just slapped, even in the opinion of millennials like me who don’t consider themselves to be very progressive and are critical of “woke” causes and attitudes. The music was great and it was actually a super creative artistic achievement—so compelling that even if you rolled your eyes at the stunt of the racial casting, you still enjoyed it and couldn’t help but to. Again, I don’t mean to claim that millennial culture will be or should be appreciated by future generations. I just want to point out that most millennials do not agree with your assessment that our culture has aged poorly. We still like it and we still feel like we have uniquely discerning taste. 😉 But the generations before millennials, especially Gen X, their culture has aged terribly. Especially comedy and action films. Watch The Gods Must Be Crazy, Annie Hall, or the original Mad Max for examples. I’m joking of course, but we millennials really do mostly find that stuff ultra cringe. But guess what, our Gen X parents still love it and strongly disagree with us—just like I disagree with your claim that millennial culture has aged poorly. So in summary, yes, trends change quickly, but they can be very sticky for people in the generation that spawned them. Thanks for the thought-provoking post. It’s very interesting to hear what a Gen Z thinks of Millennial culture.
I mean a lot of millennial culture has aged very well in my book. Epic Rap Battles of History is still great. Just that much of it really hasn’t I guess.
Hamilton is awful. Sorry, it reads like a comedy sketch but takes itself seriously, and the results end up being kind of insufferable.
Also, the original Mad Max is a great movie- and I don’t mind Annie Hall, but that’s boomer culture. Gen X culture would be early/mid 1990s to the late 2000’s.
This is long, so ignore if you don’t have the time. I hope you’ll keep posting! Really enjoyed the piece.
My response:
Glad Epic Rap Battles are still appreciated. On a side note, I’m REALLY glad that people nowadays (at least people you are familiar with or maybe the wider populace if you’re right) are starting to see what garbage Adam Ruins Everything was. I like the genre, but in my book it was basically 100% political propaganda masquerading as myth busting.
Super interesting to hear how differently Gen Z views Hamilton. You’re totally right that the people who made it did NOT want you to laugh at it haha. Assuming my views on how millennials still view it and your views on how Gen Z views it are correct—I don’t think there are like survey data to resolve what people in general think now—it’s pretty wild how something seemingly so profound to one group of people can become insufferable to their immediate successors.
Finally, it’s interesting to hear that you think the original Mad Max was good. And we may have a different view on how to categorize works into generational cultures. I identify early 2000’s as my millennial culture still. Especially for music. My parents definitely do not listen to music from later than 1990, but then, they were born right at the beginning of the Gen X range. Also the films I mentioned are all popular with my parents but not their parents. So I categorized them as Gen X. But on reflection and with a little googling, it does seem that Annie Hall is generally considered an exemplar of Boomer culture. So I’ll concede your point there.
Again, thank you for the fascinating read. Please keep writing. I’ll be keeping an eye out for future posts.
The 2000’s rom-coms you talk about are not pure Gen X; most Gen Xers of that time were already starting families or had teenagers and probably didn’t go to the movies that often. It was definitely young-ish Gen Xers (born ‘77-‘80) and older millennials (born in the 80’s) powering most of those movies back then.
Agree -- as an elder millennial (born 1984), I disagree with many of the author's points. Lots of "everyone", "most people", etc -- but this is likely the author's peer set, not truly the wider population. I finally saw Hamilton last year, and agree with Levi here -- the music, songs, etc slap (lol). Great insight into Gen Z tho, keep up the writing.
I mostly liked the article, which is why I clicked the heart, giving you the benefit of the doubt. Here's where we part ways: I do not believe that the George Floyd protests being more popular than the Gaza protests is due to millennial cringe. There are several important differences:
1) The George Floyd video was more widespread and was not actively suppressed. TikTok is being banned because of the Gaza footage it allowed. You can also see Gaza footage on Instagram, for now, while TikTok is still competitive. As soon as TikTok gets the plug pulled, the videos and streams on other sites will dwindle.
2) The mainstream, center left media stood ten toes down behind BLM. Brands supported BLM. Why? It didn't threaten the military industrial complex. Gaza does raise questions that are many things, but they cannot be written of as idpol millennial cringe. If anything, the conservatives rushing to call the protests antisemitic is their version of pulling the identity card , especially with the focus on language ("from the river to the sea").
3) In the 60s, the civil rights protests were initially more popular than the Vietnam protests, which also primarily began on campuses. A simple reason: Vietnam and Gaza by necessity require critiquing American empire. The other two have/had pockets that are critical of America, but were more easily co-opted by those who wanted to improve America, or hold America to the promise of the Emma Lazarus poem.
When Trump wins, I predict the center left media will try to pin Gaza on him and there will be more widespread media support of the campus kids. By that point, I hope they see through it, especially because they are not just mad about Gaza, but class inequality, feeling unrepresented by politicians, etc. Otherwise, if they do fall for the media flip, expect Obamacore to reach new levels.
Thanks everyone for supporting my work. This is my very first article, so I apologize if it isn't as well articulated as I'd want it to be. Please give feedback btw!
This is really well done as a first article, you're hitting it out of the park on the first go.
I found myself a bit distracted by the math on your age and the release of certain movies. It didn’t add up, so I was annoyed that I couldn’t figure out how old you are.
For example, don’t say “It came out between the ages of 12-15.” The movie was definitely release in one specific year, not over the course of 3-years. So just say “It came out in 2014, when I was 12.”
Good otherwise!
Trying to maintain some privacy here sir 😂
I remember a conversation I had with fellow writers at a scifi convention in the early 2010s. Some women in the group were talking about how they used to like Love Actually but now realized that it was a problematic movie, actually, and they weren't allowed to like it. I don't care about Love Actually but I thought it was sad to see that little light go out of these people's lives.
Love Actually is a movie by and for the British, which explains why it’s so schmalzy. One of the secrets about the British is, for all of their tendency toward dry and cutting humor, they also tend towards excessive sentimentality, especially around Christmas.
That’s also why you’ve got to be careful with labeling things as “Millennial” or “Gen X” or whatever based solely on release year. Love Actually doesn’t tell you anything about any American generation, because it’s not an American movie in any meaningful sense (its relative box office success in the US was almost certainly attributable to its cast containing just about every British movie star working at the time).
I dislike Love Actually because it’s a schmaltzy and bad movie. I don’t understand how anyone could find it problematic though.
Everything is problematic for some people. Even frigging Let It Snow has been deemed “unsafe” and “toxic”. Tumbler/Reddit Brained.
I think you are what used to be called a hipster, and hipsters didn’t like any of the things you are assigning mass appeal to in the 2010s, either.
I’m not.
Of course you’re not, you defy categorization.
Hipsters were primarily a Millennial American thing
"On a side note, I’d also argue that Joss Whedon/Community style comedy (aka Marvel humor) is an example of this trait from the 2010’s, but that’s an entirely different topic altogether."
The decline of the acutely Millennial, snarky, sarcastic, quippy "Uh so that just happened" sense of humor (that was ironically brought about by Gen Xers) is probably actually the best example of the end of Millennial culture's hegemony. All the "Obamacore" media you mention is indeed all remembered very poorly, but I genuinely don't think anything from that period has aged worse than the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I remember being on the ground floor when people were saying it was the best and most ambitious project ever embarked upon in the history of cinema. Today, it's not even a joke. It's treated more like the stench of a fart in a hot, small car that just won't go away. The MCU still has its defenders (somehow), but that Whedon-style of humor has been thoroughly relegated to the worst elements of Reddit's userbase. The best parody of it is definitely Red Letter Media's "Nerd Crew" videos. Highly recommend you check them out if you haven't seen them.
I have to say that, out of all the "Obamacore" media you mention, I think I find Hamilton the most egregious. Lin-Manuel Miranda is probably the most over-hyped musician working today. He's capable of writing good music, there's, like, one single song in Hamilton I actually liked, but he just refuses to write anything outside his one lane and it gets so old so fast that if I ever have to hear anything from that awful musical again it will be too soon.
Also, one last note... when it comes to "The Holiday", I wish you were right, but trust me - you're not. I think that's quite possibly every female I know's favorite Christmas movie. I'm pretty sure my sisters, my mother, my cousins, and my girlfriend watch it multiple times each Christmas season. Which means I have to watch it at least once by proxy.
Great read, though. Looking forward to seeing what else you got coming.
Thanks a lot, you’re right that a lot of this humor is partially Gen X in origin too.
It's impossible to overstate the hunger with which white liberal America ingested any packaging of black expression in 2020, chuckling with approval like Beavis and Butt-Head over anything smelling of torture porn, and propelling no-talent wastrels like Lil Nas X to an interval of superstardom.
I didn't see Get Out, which I mildly regret, only because I couldn't stand the audience. A true reactionary act! I did hold my nose and watch Sorry To Bother You, dodging the buckets of jism spilled by my friend group, and had a genuinely great time. Cringing in anticipation of a didactic anti-capitalist polemic, I hadn't expected it to double as a scathing, cynical takedown of political activism (and a weird love letter to Oakland). One of very few movies which can compare to Repo Man in mordant satire and over-the-top climax, a future VHS cult gem.
The video for This Is America does a good job of communicating a certain vibe. Everyone knew what it was about, without having it spelled out. The "song" can't stand on its own, it's certainly not lyrical or any useful form of hip-hop. But it still sees daily airplay here in Austin, a toe-tapping soundtrack for the Tesla-driving oat milk set's sense of obligate indignation. Safely dangerous content for people who no longer feel entitled to listen to N.W.A or Public Enemy, and don't want to wake the kids in the back seat.
" Get out" was nothing more than a modern day blood libel. It reminded of the " Der Jude Suss" propaganda videos.
Mind-blowing thought: the cultural products that define a generation came out in their school and college years, . . . and thus were made by the previous generation.
I was watching broad city the other day- a show that was hugely popular and ran from 2014-2019 and it felt similarly dated. It still has funny moments, and it’s not really an outwardly political show. But there’s a certain worldview that underpins the whole project that just comes across very naive and made the show age poorly.
Calling broad city hugely popular is just lol. It’s a niche surrealist comedy about 2 quirky/grungy millennial New York Jews.
I think the aspect you’re describing that doesn’t fit anymore is its underlying individualism which is at odds with our more collectivist moment.
Broad city is about self-actualization. Two young women trying to find their way. It isn’t explicitly politically conscious and concerned with social justice like everything has to be now.
Broad City is not widely popular but among the type of people who would write for or read the New York Times its “literally me” which is why it was in fact a super hyped show in its heyday. The educated PCM women always fawn over shows about degenerate yet elite-aspirant women. Broad City was just one thats tolerable, compared to Girls or something else hamfistedly cringe like that
Ok actually 50 First Dates and Big Fat Greek Wedding are enjoyable movies that my Gen X parents showed me and I think they have fond feelings for most people. My favorite part about both is the racism: 1) Rob Schnieder playing a Hawaiian dude (how did Rob Schnieder get away with it so many times!!! amazing) and 2) the Greek dad being racist to his daughters anglo boyfriend. I also am a sucker for romance, so Im biased.
I think the worst thing to come out of this decade so far is Kai Cenat, I dont understand this man or his following can somebody please just unplug him from the internet
As a millennial that always resonated more with Gen X culture and had a strong distaste for Obamacore despite lacking a name for it, it’s current mockery has been very validating.
One piece of Obamacore that no one talks about anymore: True Blood. One of the early “prestige TV” innovators in hamfisted political allegory and caricature.
Good post on a topic I have also been considering lately. My university recently made us sit through a talk that included a lot about gender inequality in the surface level sense like terms of wage gap etc.. It felt almost surreal because 8 years ago that messaging was in every single class in middle school. Then somehow it switched and everyone stopped pretending so much.
I’m older than you and when I hear the term Obamacore, these are what pop in my head -
1. Facebook, Twitter - and the general idea that tech will lead to global piece and democracy. Obama even gave an interview where he said something to the effect of him wanting to become a VC after retirement.
2. Shows like Veep, Silicon Valley, Community, 30 Rock - workplace humour in a post-race society.
3. John Oliver - smug self righteous admonition of old school conservatives. Somewhat distinct from Bush era characters like Colbert due to higher production values.
The racialization of everything feels like a post-2015 phenomenon and should be more appropriately called Trumpcore.
I disagree because the racial-ization of everything started prior to Trump. More specifically with Trayvon Martin.
The nature if time passing is that the more "blah" stuff gets forgotten, but the classics stay. When people talk for example about how "old music was better" or "movies were so much better back in the day," that's because they're ONLY able to remember the bits that stood the test of time. Political art that is ACTUALLY GOOD can even accomplish that-- "The Great Dictator" was highly political, but if you watch Charlie Chaplin's final speech now, it's as moving as it was in the 1940s. The problem with a lot of what you're talking about here is that it wasn't political art, it was propaganda. Political art doesn't get as much praise when it's new-- it gets a lot of backlash. There's also Laver's Law of Fashion, which I apply to things besides clothing. It'll take about 30-50 years for people to truly know which works produced in the 2010s were classics. It's possible to make some guesses though, and I could easily see "Bojack Horseman" being a true classic that captures the 2010s in 50-100+ years. Same with "Broad City". Both have a little of the political flavor of the 2010s, but they're more character-driven and self-aware.
Liked your post, but I think you’re pretty off the mark with your thesis. I’m a millennial (born ‘91) and none of the things you mentioned are widely considered cringe by or have aged poorly in the opinion of millennials. I think you’re picking up on a generational divide. Maybe all that stuff is cringe to Gen Z and nonsensical more or less to people of older generations, but that’s exactly how we millennials feel about the cultural products of other generations. The example you gave of Pewdiepie (apologies if I misspelled that) left me bored and not laughing at all. I wouldn’t say I didn’t get it. In fact, the problem was that the joke was grossly obvious from the start and not well executed. The delivery didn’t strike me as effective at all. To be clear, the idea of the video had potential, it just seemed like it was poorly executed. This is my extremely millennial take on it. I don’t mean to bash it, I just don’t personally find it funny at all and have difficulty seeing the appeal. On the other hand, the dumb Batman comedy sketch (not a parody in my view) is golden and even classic (amongst millennials at least). I’ve watched it many many times and still laugh at it, and so do my millennial compatriots. Ditto for almost all college humor. We millennials still love it and aren’t ashamed of it. Same with the movies you mentioned. I hope you’re right about “wokeness” becoming cringe, but Hamilton actually just slapped, even in the opinion of millennials like me who don’t consider themselves to be very progressive and are critical of “woke” causes and attitudes. The music was great and it was actually a super creative artistic achievement—so compelling that even if you rolled your eyes at the stunt of the racial casting, you still enjoyed it and couldn’t help but to. Again, I don’t mean to claim that millennial culture will be or should be appreciated by future generations. I just want to point out that most millennials do not agree with your assessment that our culture has aged poorly. We still like it and we still feel like we have uniquely discerning taste. 😉 But the generations before millennials, especially Gen X, their culture has aged terribly. Especially comedy and action films. Watch The Gods Must Be Crazy, Annie Hall, or the original Mad Max for examples. I’m joking of course, but we millennials really do mostly find that stuff ultra cringe. But guess what, our Gen X parents still love it and strongly disagree with us—just like I disagree with your claim that millennial culture has aged poorly. So in summary, yes, trends change quickly, but they can be very sticky for people in the generation that spawned them. Thanks for the thought-provoking post. It’s very interesting to hear what a Gen Z thinks of Millennial culture.
I mean a lot of millennial culture has aged very well in my book. Epic Rap Battles of History is still great. Just that much of it really hasn’t I guess.
Hamilton is awful. Sorry, it reads like a comedy sketch but takes itself seriously, and the results end up being kind of insufferable.
Also, the original Mad Max is a great movie- and I don’t mind Annie Hall, but that’s boomer culture. Gen X culture would be early/mid 1990s to the late 2000’s.
This is long, so ignore if you don’t have the time. I hope you’ll keep posting! Really enjoyed the piece.
My response:
Glad Epic Rap Battles are still appreciated. On a side note, I’m REALLY glad that people nowadays (at least people you are familiar with or maybe the wider populace if you’re right) are starting to see what garbage Adam Ruins Everything was. I like the genre, but in my book it was basically 100% political propaganda masquerading as myth busting.
Super interesting to hear how differently Gen Z views Hamilton. You’re totally right that the people who made it did NOT want you to laugh at it haha. Assuming my views on how millennials still view it and your views on how Gen Z views it are correct—I don’t think there are like survey data to resolve what people in general think now—it’s pretty wild how something seemingly so profound to one group of people can become insufferable to their immediate successors.
Finally, it’s interesting to hear that you think the original Mad Max was good. And we may have a different view on how to categorize works into generational cultures. I identify early 2000’s as my millennial culture still. Especially for music. My parents definitely do not listen to music from later than 1990, but then, they were born right at the beginning of the Gen X range. Also the films I mentioned are all popular with my parents but not their parents. So I categorized them as Gen X. But on reflection and with a little googling, it does seem that Annie Hall is generally considered an exemplar of Boomer culture. So I’ll concede your point there.
Again, thank you for the fascinating read. Please keep writing. I’ll be keeping an eye out for future posts.
Good examples of Gen X culture that have aged poorly would be all the 2000’s romcons I cited later on.
Ahh, I had thought you were citing those as examples of millennial culture. I see now, my mistake.
The 2000’s rom-coms you talk about are not pure Gen X; most Gen Xers of that time were already starting families or had teenagers and probably didn’t go to the movies that often. It was definitely young-ish Gen Xers (born ‘77-‘80) and older millennials (born in the 80’s) powering most of those movies back then.
Agree -- as an elder millennial (born 1984), I disagree with many of the author's points. Lots of "everyone", "most people", etc -- but this is likely the author's peer set, not truly the wider population. I finally saw Hamilton last year, and agree with Levi here -- the music, songs, etc slap (lol). Great insight into Gen Z tho, keep up the writing.
I mostly liked the article, which is why I clicked the heart, giving you the benefit of the doubt. Here's where we part ways: I do not believe that the George Floyd protests being more popular than the Gaza protests is due to millennial cringe. There are several important differences:
1) The George Floyd video was more widespread and was not actively suppressed. TikTok is being banned because of the Gaza footage it allowed. You can also see Gaza footage on Instagram, for now, while TikTok is still competitive. As soon as TikTok gets the plug pulled, the videos and streams on other sites will dwindle.
2) The mainstream, center left media stood ten toes down behind BLM. Brands supported BLM. Why? It didn't threaten the military industrial complex. Gaza does raise questions that are many things, but they cannot be written of as idpol millennial cringe. If anything, the conservatives rushing to call the protests antisemitic is their version of pulling the identity card , especially with the focus on language ("from the river to the sea").
3) In the 60s, the civil rights protests were initially more popular than the Vietnam protests, which also primarily began on campuses. A simple reason: Vietnam and Gaza by necessity require critiquing American empire. The other two have/had pockets that are critical of America, but were more easily co-opted by those who wanted to improve America, or hold America to the promise of the Emma Lazarus poem.
When Trump wins, I predict the center left media will try to pin Gaza on him and there will be more widespread media support of the campus kids. By that point, I hope they see through it, especially because they are not just mad about Gaza, but class inequality, feeling unrepresented by politicians, etc. Otherwise, if they do fall for the media flip, expect Obamacore to reach new levels.
What's hilarious is Vox did a hit piece making the parallel argument from the left that Hamilton and Parks & Recreation have become dated cringe.
Link to the videos?
https://www.vox.com/22641501/hamilton-parks-rec-harry-potter-cringe-obama-era-pop-culture
Just an article
"electoral collage" is an interesting turn of phrase. I'm not even convinced it's a typo.