Article. Generation X: Searching for an Identity?

King, Lynnea Chapman Generation X: Searching for an Identity?
Post Script - Essays in Film and the Humanities Go to Journal Record
19:2 (Winter 1999-Spring 2000) Go to Journal Issue, p. 8-18


*Lynnea Chapman King*

*Long before the 1980s punk band ''Generation X'' was formed and
long before Douglas Coupland <#COUPLAND1991> penned his novel
/Generation X/, the generation which has alternately been labeled by the
media as ''Slackers,'' the ''Why Bother? Generation,'' the ''Cocktail
Generation,'' and the ''Invisible Generation'' was anointed, due to the
demographic shift in the birth rate in the mid-to-late 1960s, the ''Baby
Bust Generation.'' Over thirty years after the initial recognition of
the baby bust generation as a demographic mass, scholars and cultural
historians, as evidenced in popular and scholarly books and articles
dealing with the generation, still seek to definitively label the
generation, positing an entire cadre of tags for this group of young
people, including, in addition to those listed above,
''twentysomethings,'' ''twentynothings,'' the ''Boomerang,'' ''MTV,''
and ''New Lost'' generation. The name by which these young people should
be called is not the only point of contention, however; in an attempt to
define more precisely this generation, scholars, both academic and
popular, have alternately suggested various dates as boundaries for the
beginning and end of the generation. Douglas Coupland <#COUPLAND1991> ,
whose 1991 book /Generation X/ applied the title which remains most
commonly used, claims that the birth years of the generation are ''the
late 1950s and 1960s'' (jacket notes); Bill Strauss and Neil Howe
<#HOWEETAL1993> , in /13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail/, propose
1961 to 1981 as the correct dates (12-13); Rob Owen <#OWEN1997B> , /GenX
TV: The Brady Bunch to Melrose Place/, argues for 1965 to 1975 (5); and
Geoffrey Holtz <#HOLTZ1995> , in /Welcome to the Jungle: The Why behind
Generation X/, states that for his purposes, the dates are 1960 to 1980
(2). Standard reference sources, too, do not agree as to the defining
dates of the generation: Owen notes that the ''November 1995 edition of
/Webster's New World Dictionary/ defines Generation X as 'the generation
of persons born in the 1960s and 1970s, the children of the Baby boomers
...''' while ''The 1996 edition of the /Random House Compact Unabridged
Dictionary/ says Generation X is 'the generation born in the United
States after 1960,' whereas the /Random House Webster's College
Dictionary/ defines GenX as 'the generation born in the United States
after 1965''' (2). Notably, even members of Generation X, by their own
admission when asked ''what is Generation X,'' replied ''Someone born in
the mid-to-late 1960s, perhaps as late as 1972,'' ''Those under 30,
above 20,'' and ''People my own age, between 17 and 30'' (R. Owen
<#OWEN1997B> 3-4). Like the scholars who fail to definitively determine
its birth dates, the generation itself is equally unable to come to a
consensus regarding defining dates.

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The date debate perseveres and the various names of Generation X
continue to be bandied about even now, but the initial demographic
distinction of the baby bust generation originated as a logical
successor to that generation which was formed at the close of World War
II. Beginning in the mid-1940s, the returning home of service men and
women caused a drastic increase in the birth rate, earning their
children the title of ''Baby Boomers,'' later known as the ''Me
Generation.'' The baby boom, comprised of 75 to 80 million children,
continued through the early-to-mid-1960s, when these ''boomers'' grew
from adolescence to young adulthood. Logic would dictate that this
inordinately large body of young adults would cause the population rate
to rise exponentially as they began families of their own; surprisingly,
this was not the case. A unique combination of cultural factors joined
to affect the attitude of an entire generation, if not nation, towards
starting families.

The factors contributing to this shift in social attitude towards
childbearing included the advent of the birth control pill, which led
''one fourth of women of reproductive age [to rely] on the pill'';
additionally, during the seventies, ''over a million Americans a year
had themselves surgically sterilized'' (Holtz <#HOLTZ1995> 19). The
number of women entering the workplace continued to rise, from 20
percent to 47 percent between 1960 and 1980, along with a corresponding
rise in the force of the women's rights movement and the free love
movement (Strauss and Howe <#HOWEETAL1994> 325, 306-307). These combined
factors contributed to the rapid decrease in the birth rate, as those
individuals born in the post-war era chose to have fewer children or not
to have children at all.

A sign of the attitudes of the times, Paul Ehrlich's 1968 book /The
Population Bomb/ forecast a very dim future for the United States if the
population boom were not brought under control. Ehrlich presents

a number of overpopulation-induced scenarios ... a riot-torn US in
the early eighties, with citizens starving to death because of food
shortages ... one and a half billion people perishing worldwide from
disease, starvation, and a pandemic-related 'civil disorder' ... a
1980 UN-mandated 'International Survival Tax' of 8 percent of
America's GNP. (Holtz <#HOLTZ1995> 13)

This overpopulation concern was echoed by magazines, historians,
demographers, and sociologists who challenged the nation, as the title
of a /Newsweek/ article stated, to ''Make Love, Not Babies,'' and the
nation did exactly that.^1 <#1> The final factor affecting the birth
rate was the rise in the abortion rate, which led Strauss and Howe
<#HOWEETAL1994> to dub this generation of children ''the most aborted
generation in American history'' (Strauss and Howe <#HOWEETAL1993> 324).
These factors combined contributed to the resultant decline in child
bearing, producing the approximately 45 million GenXers, a decrease of
about 30 million children from the 75-80 million baby boomers.^2 <#2>

An additional factor affecting the young generation was the frequency
with which their parents were divorced. Strauss and Howe <#HOWEETAL1993>
note that a ''child in the 1980s faced twice the risk of parental
divorce as a Boomer child in the mid-1960s'' (324). These aspects of the
early years of Generation X--the birth and divorce rate--combine to
present a portrait of the home life of the generation. Outside of the
home, additional factors affected the environment in which the near 50
million Xers matured: the educational reforms of the 1970s, the
increasing crime rate, the impact of drugs on young children and teens,
and the climbing number of teenage pregnancies contributed as well to
the perspective with which the generation faced those years all
adolescents find difficult.

As the young Xers matured and became more cognizant of the society in
which they lived, the political atmosphere of the early-to-mid 1970s
became a factor in their lives. Bruce Tulgan <#TULGAN1995> , in
/Managing Generation/ X, notes that ''Xers were born during a period

^*1* Geoffrey Holtz <#HOLTZ1995> cites numerous popular and scholarly
sources of the time which promoted this call for childlessness. These
sources include, among others: N. Kasindorf ''Make Love, Not Babies:
Childlessness; Views of the Nathan Freedlands.'' /Newsweek/ 15 June
1970: 111. Kurt W. Back, /Family Planning and Population Control.
Population, Environment, and the Quality of Life/, ed. Parker G. Marden
and Dennis Hodgson. ''Licensing: For Cars and Babies.'' /Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientist/. November 1970. 15-19.

^*2* Like most statistics about the generation, even the number of baby
busters is open to debate and is intrinsically tied to the designated
birth years of the generation. Those who designate a broader span of
birth years, such as Geoffrey Holtz <#HOLTZ1995> and Strauss and Howe
<#HOWEETAL1993> , 1960 to 1980 and 1961 to 1981 respectively, number the
busters as 75 and 79 million strong. However, those who designate a more
narrow span of birth years, Craig and Bennett <#BENNETTETAL> , and
Nathaniel Wice, for example, present a more conservative number, 50 and
46 million, respectively.


p.9

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of steady decline in American global power (kicked off by the Viet Nam
War and punctuated by the Iranian hostage crisis)'' (22), and Geoffrey
Holtz <#HOLTZ1995> adds to this list of political events influencing the
generation:

the terrible crimes at Mylai and the Watergate scandal that brought
down a president ... the revelations of extensive spying for the
enemy by John Walker, Jr., and Aldrich Ames ... The savings-and-loan
scandal, as well as the ABSCAM, Wedtech, HUD ... affairs established
that no government official was above suspicion. The two Reagan
administrations alone saw more than 240 of their high-level
appointees investigated or indicted for criminal or ethical
misconduct. (195-196)

While each of these events individually may have had little effect on
Generation X, the national political situation as a whole impacted the
future political perspectives of these young people. Further
complicating the political situation in America was the fact that the
very highest level of government which had long been viewed as the
ultimate protector of the people experienced a series of
widely-publicized tribulations.

The presidency itself has undergone a reputational shift during the
lifetime of this young generation, and ''few Xers can even recall a time
when politics was not contextualized by corruption (Nixon), humiliation
(Carter), surrealism (Reagan), ineffectiveness (Bush) or disappointment
(Clinton)'' (Tulgan <#TULGAN1995> 26). Adam Chase, story editor for the
NBC sitcom /Friends/, a show which itself has been deemed a reflection
of Generation X, notes a ''loss of political idealism just as many Xers
were born. 'Kennedy was shot and then Nixon happened, an era of the
president as God, someone who is a little more than human, was very much
over''' (R. Owen <#OWEN1997B> 9). In more recent years, the Gulf War,
TravelGate, the Whitewater Investigations, and a string of high-level
independent investigations authorized by Attorney General Janet Reno
have combined with past political events to further affect the
generational experience with politics. These events involving
high-ranking individuals, institutions, and the nation as a whole span
the several decades of the GenX experience, prompting generational
scholar Diana Owen <#OWEN1997B> to state ''gen-Xers have lived their
entire lives in an environment in which damning messages about
government and its leaders are the norm'' (89). The importance, or
conversely insignificance, of the fallibility of the president and
corruption in politics continues to be a topic of debate at the turn of
the century, and the final repercussions of such a debate on the
political perspectives of the generation and the nation at large are yet
to be determined.

The effects of the overall generational experience of GenX can be
clearly identified in the twenty- and thirty-somethings of the 1990s.
Compelled by the combined influences

*(l-r) slater (rory cochrane), pink (jason london) and (sasha jenson)
are three pillars of learning in richard linklater's examination of the
seventies high school experience,* */dazed and confused,/* *a grammercy
pictures release.*

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of family, divorce, and politics to mature at a young age, Xers are
well-known for their penchant for trivia from their younger years, as
demonstrated in the literature and film created by members of the
generation themselves. Additionally, due to the financial climate of the
1980s, many Xers have been vocally opposed to the materialistic boomer
culture of the generation which preceded them, although not necessarily
always opposed to the benefits of this materialism.

While this generation struggled with materialism and its social and
ethical repercussions, simultaneously they found themselves in a
quandary regarding their economic future. As the oldest members of
Generation X began to graduate from college, they discovered that the
job market, which had been amenable to young adults in decades past, was
no longer friendly, as the boomers who held positions desired by Xers
were 15 to 20 years away from retirement.^3 <#3> Concern about
employment opportunities was widespread among members of Generation X;
the economic future of Xers was not projected to improve but instead
worsen, a projection acknowledged by the generation itself, as
''Two-thirds believe they will have to work harder than earlier
generations simply to enjoy the same standard of living'' (Strauss and
Howe <#HOWEETAL1993> 330). The recognition of this shift in attitude
towards the American dream ranged from the Xers themselves to the
highest political office in the nation: President Bill Clinton noted in
a 1992 campaign speech that

Millions of young people growing up in this country today can't
count on that dream. They look around and see that their hard work
may not be rewarded. Most people are working harder for less these
days, as they have been for well over a decade. The American Dream
is slipping away along with the loss of our economic leadership.
(''The Economy'' par. 6)^4 <#4>

In fact, because of the growing national debt and the needed increases
in taxes to compensate for this debt, it is estimated that in the
lifetime of an average Xer, a male will pay $157,200 more in taxes than
he will receive in federal benefits, and a female will have a lifetime
tax loss of $82,500 (Schier <#SCHIER1997> 129). Factors such as these
contribute to the slower rate at which young adults are marrying,
purchasing homes, and having children.

To combat the economic difficulties potentially in store for their
future, members of Generation X could, it would seem, become more
politically involved in order to forestall the current economic trend.
However, due to their political observations throughout childhood,
adolescence, and young adulthood, they instead have historically chosen
not to assert themselves politically; specifically, despite the efforts
of the MTV Rock the Vote campaign, which was aimed at Generation X, and
the presidential candidates themselves who promoted political
involvement on the part of young people, ''only three-fifths of gen-Xers
claimed to have voted in 1992,'' and ''two years later, in the 1994
off-year election, for every member of Generation X who reported going
to the polls, two others admitting to staying home'' (Bennett and
Rademacher <#BENNETTETAL> 29). These figures, which could be interpreted
as apathy on the part of Xers, should be tempered by the fact that there
is traditionally a lower participation rate among young people, a rate
which rises as people grow older (Bennett and Rademacher <#BENNETTETAL>
26), making it difficult to know exactly what the future of politics
holds, especially as related to this generation.

Often compared to the Lost Generation of the early twentieth century,
Generation X is unusual because it appears to have no galvanizing issue
upon which to base its generational identity. The Lost Generation, birth
years circa 1894-1904, rallied around World War I and the Roaring
Twenties; the Silent Generation, circa 1925-1945, experienced the
depression and World War II as a group; the Baby Boomers protested
Vietnam and observed the repercussions of the

^*3* Whether this shift in the job market was actual or perceived is
questionable. See /13th Gen/ 108-113, Strauss and Howe <#HOWEETAL1993>
330, Holtz <#HOLTZ1995> , 139-153, and ''The New Generation Gap'' 291.

^*4* The fact that Clinton made this speech during a campaign aimed
largely at voting Generation Xers may bring this conclusion into
question. Additionally, while this decline in standards of living was
projected, given the current thriving economic situation in America, it
is difficult to maintain that this will be the case for Generation X as
a whole. This determination can only be made definitively in retrospect.


p.11

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civil rights movement and Watergate. Generation X, however, has not
experienced events of this scope and impact. The very oldest Xers may
remember Vietnam and Watergate on television, but were not sufficiently
mature at that time to develop opinions on the matter. Operation Desert
Shield and Storm, for various reasons, failed to provoke strong
feelings, either positive or negative, on the part of most of the
nation, including Xers. The technological revolution of the 1980s and
1990s definitely impacted society, including or even especially members
of Generation X, and perhaps in some ways contributed to the commonly
held views of the generation via the Internet, but again, it did not
galvanize Xers to the degree that past events have for previous
generations.

Prior to the designation of this generation as ''X,'' and as the young
adult busters were initially making their way out of college and into
the business place, the media made the inevitable comparison between the
busters and the boomers at this same point in life. As noted, whereas
the boomers experienced events which contributed to a sense of
generational identity, such as the civil rights movement, the Vietnam
conflict, Woodstock, and Watergate, the busters had no corresponding
events or issues which bound them together. While twentysomethings
themselves may not have recognized this fact, others did: ''baby busters
are still struggling to establish a generational identity. They have yet
to introduce a new art form or cultural movement of any significance, as
the boomers did before them through rock music and pop art'' (Angier
<#ANGIER1989> 237-238). /Fortune/'s Alan Deutschman <#DEUTSCHMAN1990>
concurred, but expanded the lack of generational identity to include the
fact that ''they haven't been analyzed and targeted as a separate
consumer market by Madison Avenue--or explained to themselves by
Hollywood. Nobody has made a /Big Chill/ or /thirtysomething/ about
their generation'' (47). This situation would soon be rectified,
however, as GenX marketing was just around the corner when Deutschman
<#DEUTSCHMAN1990> penned his comments in 1990, and the factors which
would simultaneously explain, label, and define the generation, as well
as revolutionize society's view of the busters, would debut less than a
year later.

In the spring of 1991, Canadian twentysomething author Douglas Coupland
<#COUPLAND1991> published his first novel, /Generation X: Tales for an
Accelerated Culture/. The novel revolves around three characters, Andy,
Claire, and Dag, three twentysomething individuals living in southern
California who, according to the jacket notes, ''In search of the
drastic changes that will lend meaning to their lives, they've mired
themselves in the detritus of American cultural memory.'' Reflecting on
their upbringing and the relationship between their past and their
futures, their musings, ponderings, and occasional actions, however, did
much more than lend meaning to their own fictional lives: they served as
life patterns for many baby busters and provided a convenient stereotype
for the generation in the eyes of the world. The generation which
previously had no galvanizing cultural movement or even a generational
identity had now been named and thoroughly described for the benefit of
not only its members, but society at large. In turn, Coupland's
<#COUPLAND1991> novel served as a forerunner for the subsequent events
which would continue to affect the buster reputation in 1991 and the
following years.

One of these events came from budding film director Richard Linklater,
in Austin, Texas: the independent film /Slacker/. Using $23,000 of his
own funds and money solicited from friends and family, Linklater filmed
/Slacker/ on the streets of Austin. He used locals for talent and a
script carefully crafted to appear spontaneous as the camera wanders
around the city, chronicling the hundred-odd individuals who make
slacking their primary occupation (Horton 77-78). According to
Linklater, whose film had much to do with the changing societal
perception of the busters/Xers,

Slackers might look like the left-behinds of society, but they are
actually one step ahead, rejecting most of



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society and the social hierarchy before it rejects them. The
dictionary defines slackers as people who evade duties and
responsibilities. A more modern notion would be people who are
ultimately being more responsible to themselves and not wasting
their time in a realm of activity that has nothing to do with who
they are or what they might ultimately be striving for. (Kopkind
<#KOPKIND1993> 178)



*campbell scott, kyra sedgwick, matt dillon, sheila kelley, bridget
fonda and jim true in* */singles/**. ©1992 warner bros.*

The term ''slacker'' became instantly synonymous with Generation X
following the release of the film, and despite the fact that it grossed
only 1.3 million dollars at the box office, the media continued to apply
the attributes of the characters from this cult film to the generation
at large (Relyea <#RELYEA1993> 77). In the wake of the film, members of
Generation X were equated with Slackers and were characterized
alternately as ''unmotivated and directionless'' (Worrell <#WORRELL1995>
4), ''aimless'' (Leydon F3), ''apathetic'' (Denby <#DENBY1985> 58) and a
new generation that doesn't quite know what to do with the torch that's
been passed it. Poised midway between the campus exit and the welcome
mat to those crusty institutions ... that want to package and validate
their lives, these rebels opt neither to rehabilitate the society
they've inherited nor to plot its demolition. What they do is only what
the mainstream regards as close to nothing. (Relyea <#RELYEA1993> 74)

The baby busters, then, not only had a new name, ''Generation X,''
and a corresponding guide to Xer living in Coupland's <#COUPLAND1991>
novel, but it also had a nickname, ''slackers,'' and the location and
faces in Austin, Texas, to further pattern themselves after.

In the wake of Coupland and Linklater, a series of books and films were
created in the now ongoing attempt to establish a self-proclaimed
identity for the generation. Individuals contributing to this identity
included Alison Anders (/Gas, Food, Lodging/, 1991), Noah Baumbach
(/Kicking and Screaming/, 1995), Cameron Crowe (/Singles/, 1992), Kelly
Rory (/Sleep With Me/, 1995), Kevin Smith (/Clerks/, 1994), and Ben
Stiller (/Reality Bites/, 1994). Additionally, Coupland followed
/Generation X/ with /Shampoo Planet/ (1993), /Life After God/ (1995),
and /Polaroids from the Dead/ (1996), and Linklater directed /Dazed and
Confused/ (1993), /Before Sunrise/ (1995), and /subUrbia/ (1997).
Combined, these fictional representations reinforced the ''slacker''
image in many ways and answered the call for a generational
self-awareness and a cultural identity for the millions of young people
who had formerly been known as baby busters.

Reactions to this new generational image began to emerge from both the
younger and older generations. From the boomer perspective, an October,
1991, review of /Generation X/ by /People/ magazine refers to the
Generation X cohort as the latest installment of ''Disaffected youth
rebelling against establishment smugness'' and, following Coupland's
lead, identifies twentysomethings as Xers who ''believe that all the
good stuff is taken, leaving them to coast along in 'McJobs' ('low pay,
low status, low

p.13

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future') toward a future of 'Lessness''' (Neill and Matsumoto
<#NEILLETAL> 105). The newly-labeled Xers responded as well, championing
the angst-ridden tenets of Coupland's novel and Linklater's film. In an
''open letter to the boomers from the next generation,'' Daniel Smith
Rowsey <#ROWSEY1991> writes in a 1991 /Newsweek/ ''My Turn'' column:

... more and more of us twentysomethings are underachievers who loaf
around the house until well past our college years. ... We are the
stupidest generation in American history, we 20-year-olds. ... You
did this to us. You prized your youth so much you made sure ours
would be carefree. ... It's not that I'm angry at you for selling
out to the system. It's that there won't be a system for /me/ to

*richard linklater directs giovanni ribisi in* */suburbia/**. photo
by deana newcomb. ©1997 castle rock entertainment.*

*amie care and giovanni ribisi in* */suburbia/**. photo by deana
newcomb. ©1997 castle rock entertainment.* sell out to, if I want
to. The money isn't there anymore because you spent it all. ...
Perhaps you really have created a nation of mush-heads who will
always prefer style over substance, conservative politics and
reading lessons. (10-11)

Combined, the Generation X films and novels, and the media's reactions
to these works served to solidify the generational image for all
involved. This generational image is surprisingly uniform, given the
variety of locations, authors, and directors from which they come. A
comparison of several of these films demonstrates that the GenX
characters wrestle with the issues which have become common to the
generation and seek to situate themselves within the larger context of
American adult society. In /Reality Bites/, Lelaina, in her bid to begin
her career and a meaningful relationship with the young executive
Michael, is mirrored in /subUrbia/'s Sooze, /Sleep with Me/'s (Rory
1995) Sarah, /Grosse Pointe Blank/'s (Armitage 1996) Debbie, and /Before
Sunrise/'s Celine, all women who overcome the ''slacker'' attitude of
the men around them to proceed with their own lives;

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Lelaina's parents and stepparents are the equivalents of numerous GenX
families, as described by Jessie and Celine in /Before Sunrise/, Sooze
in /subUrbia/, and Steve in /Singles/; similarly, /Reality Bites/'
Vickie searches for happiness through sexual abandon, like /Gas, Food,
Lodging/'s Trudi; and Troy Dire, also in /Reality Bites/, has possibly
the most common character in GenX films--the disillusioned, brooding,
philosophical male, who makes his statement to society by simply
dropping out of it completely; his GenX film brothers include
/subUrbia/'s Jeff, /She's the One/'s (Burns 1996) Mickey, /Before
Sunrise/'s Jessie (also played by Hawke), /Singles/' Cliff, /Clerks/'
Dante, and /Kicking and Screaming/'s (Baumbach 1995) Chet. The overall
impression left on society by these films and novels is supplemented by
GenX statements in other media as well. Beck's hit single ''Loser,''
with its lyrics, ''I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me,'' and the
television show /Friends/, with its twentysomething characters who wade
through life and relationships in much the same way as their film
counterparts, contribute to the larger Generation X image. The
combination of these characters and themes universally present in the
Generation X films of the early 1990s served to present an image of the
generation to society which was based not on the novel or film of one
individual, but on the collected individual statements of the GenX
filmmakers and novelists of this period.

Generation X films of the 1990s can be loosely separated into two
categories: the post-college films of 1991-1995, in which the Xer image,
especially on the part of the men, is that of slacker; and the
professional / reunion films of 1996-1997, which depict Xers as more
mature, in careers of some sort, and yet still a little unsettled about
their place in society. Specifically, the reunion films which include
/Grosse Pointe Blank/ (1997), /Beautiful Girls/ (1996), and /Romy and
Michele's High School Reunion/ (1996), in the

*for their 10-year high school reunion, misfit duo romy (mira sorvino,
right) and michele (lisa kudrow) show up pretending to be rich and
successful businesswomen. photo by mark fellman. ©touchtone pictures.*
tradition of all reunion films, focus on the issues of ''who we were
then, how far or little we've come, and what's ahead of us.'' Xers
remain Xers, however, with the ever-present issues of the earlier films:
family, commitment to relationships, and comparisons to boomers.

The image of the generation as presented by both categories of GenX
films is consistent from beginning to end, displaying a united front to
society in terms of how Generation X views itself, which is ironic in
light of the fact that members of the generation are a very fragmented
portion of society, due to age, race, employment, background, and
attitude. Regardless of these

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facts, however, GenX films dovetail with each other, as if all were
mirrors, and one aspect of this uniformity stands out from the collected
GenX genre: the complete lack of ethnic diversity and representation in
these films. From the early 1990s Generation X films through the later
professional and reunion films, Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians are
grossly underrepresented.

The cause for this middle-class, ''white bread'' depiction of the
generation may rest in the very act of labeling which has been a part of
the generational experience from the very beginning. Despite the
recognition that Generation X is ethnically diverse, the discussions of
the generation present in articles and books tend to acknowledge the
ethnic representation and then proceed with a monochromatic treatment of
the cohort as if the diversity itself did not exist. Additionally,
though millions of young adults refuse to accept the GenX label, the
media and even members of the generation persist in continuing with the
title, regardless of the factions which do not care to claim the name.
The nature of generational studies is to generalize, and in doing so,
those individuals who are the minority, due to ethnicity or personality,
are swept up in or left out of the GenX package for convenience sake.
That this application of the GenX title is a matter of convenience is
recognized by minority filmmakers as well: Allen Hughes, codirector of
/Menace II Society/ (1993), comments that

the media isn't aiming [the Generation X label] at us. Our film had
the same demographics as /Reality Bites/, but they didn't call it a
Generation X film, they called it a damn gangsta film. Call it
racist, or whatever, but we don't count when it comes to Generation
X. (Giles <#GILES1994> 66)

These ethnic films are instead deemed ''identity films,'' a term which
may serve to further marginalize the women and minorities who create
them, rather than to establish an identity apart from the mainstream.
Another example of a potential Generation X film which is not deemed as
such is Spike Lee's /Do the Right Thing/ (1989), which, due to its date
of release, could be categorized as the very first GenX film but instead
falls into the identity film category. Mookie, the main character played
by Lee himself, deals with the same issues that Troy Dire (/Reality
Bites/), or Jessie (/Before Sunrise/), or Mickey (/She's the One/) does,
career, commitment to a relationship, and discrimination from the boomer
businessman in his neighborhood, but film scholarship does not typically
recognize this excellent and very appropriate film as GenX because of
its racial affiliation.

The Generation X film canon, complete with ethnic and gender
shortcomings, concludes with those reunion films of the later 1990s, as
the film industry moved on to providing the next generation with films
dealing with young adult and generational identity. And what has become
of the GenX writers, directors, and actors? Following their foray into
the GenX films of the early-to-mid 1990s, Generation X filmmakers have
moved on to projects unrelated to the generation. Richard Linklater
wrote and directed /The Newton Boys/ in 1998, a film about Texas
bankrobbers, which was not associated with Generation X, aside from the
fact that Ethan Hawke, GenX film veteran, had a role in the film. Ed
Burns, of /The Brothers McMullen/ (1995) and /She's the One/, appeared
in the war film /Saving Private Ryan/, also in 1998, moving from Xer
film to the height of mainstream popularity, starring opposite Tom
Hanks. Ben Stiller, following /Reality Bites/ in 1994, directed
multi-million dollar comic Jim Carey in /The Cable Guy/ (1996), a
definitive move away from the angst of Generation X. These directors,
among others, are no longer in the business of making statements about
or for Generation X, nor are they particularly interested in having GenX
statements made about them; as an assistant to Richard Linklater
commented, he is trying to move beyond the GenX issue in his new film
(phone interview). The implications of this move away from the GenX film
are yet to be determined.

While the study of film originated simultaneously

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with the invention of the cinema itself, maturing generations as
markets, films created for them, and the study of these films has only
emerged in the last 40 years. Only two young generations, the boomers
and busters, have fully experienced this media and marketing frenzy in
its entirety, although a third generation is now moving to the fore of
the nation's consciousness. As it peaks and begins to recede, another
and another will follow, and the examination of generational films will,
too, continue.
**

*Natalie Angier*
*DATE: *(August 1989)

''25 and Taking Over: The High-Expectation, Low-Sweat Generation.''
/Mademoiselle/: 215, 234, 236, 238.

*DATE: *1996

/Beautiful Girls/. Dir. Ted Demme. With Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon,
Mira Sorvino, Uma Thurman, Rosie O'Donnell, and Martha Plimpton. Miramax.

*DATE: *1995

/Before Sunrise/. Dir. Richard Linklater. With Ethan Hawke and Julie
Delpy. Castlerock.

*Stephen Earl Bennett*
*Stephen C Craig*
*Eric W Rademacher*
*DATE: *1997

''Generations and Change: Some Initial Observations.'' /After the Boom:
The Politics of Generation X/. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
Inc., 1-19.

*DATE: *1995

/The Brothers McMullen/. Dir. Ed Burns. With Ed Burns, Jack Mulcahy,
Mike McGlone, Connie Britton, and Maxine Bahns. Fox Searchlight Pictures.

*DATE: *1996

/The Cable Guy/. Dir. Ben Stiller. With Jim Carey and Matthew Broderick.
Columbia Tristar.

*DATE: *1994

/Clerks/. Dir. Kevin Smith. With Brian Halloran, Jeff Anderson, and
Marilyn Ghigliotti. Miramax Films.

*Douglas Coupland*
*DATE: *1991

/Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture/. New York: St. Martin's
Press.

*Douglas Coupland*
*DATE: *1992

/Shampoo Planet/. New York: Pocket Books.

*Douglas Cuopland*
*DATE: *1994

/Life after God/. New York: Pocket Books.

*Douglas Coupland*
*DATE: *1996

/Polariods from the Dead/. New York: Pocket Books.

*DATE: *1993

/Dazed and Confused/. Dir. Richard Linklater. With Jason London, Rory
Cochrane, Adam Goldberg, and Anthony Rapp. Gramercy Pictures.

*David Denby*
*DATE: *(February 1985)

''Snap, Crackle, and Pop.'' /New Yorker/ 18: 95-96.

*Alan Deutschman*
*DATE: *(August 1990)

''What 25-Year-Olds Want.'' /Fortune/ 27: 42-48.

*DATE: *1989

/Do the Right Thing/. Dir. Spike Lee. With Spike Lee, Danny Aiello,
Ossie Davis, John Turturro, and John Savage. 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks.

*DATE: *9 October 1998

''The Economy: Clinton Campaign Speech.'' Philadelphia, PA. 16 April
1992. Online. Internet. Accessed. Available: http://www2.usgs.
gov/public/nii/econposit.html

*DATE: *1992

/Gas, Food, Lodging/. Dir. Allison Anders. With Brooke Adams, Ione Skye,
and Fairuza Balk. Cineville, Inc.

*Jeff Giles*
*DATE: *(June 1994)

''Generalizations X.'' /Newsweek 6/: 62-72.

*DATE: *1996

/Grosse Pointe Blank/. Dir. George Armitage. With John Cusack, Minnie
Driver, Alan Arkin, and Dan Aykroyd. Buena Vista Pictures.

*Geoffrey Holtz*
*DATE: *1995

/Welcome to the Jungle: The Why behind Generation X/. New York: St.
Martin's Griffin.

*Neil Howe*
*Bill Strauss*
*DATE: *1993

/13^th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?/ New York: Vintage Books.

*Neil Howe*
*Bill Strauss*
*DATE: *1994

''The New Generation Gap.'' /The GenX Reader/. Ed. Douglas Rushkoff. New
York: Ballantine Books, 1994. 290-296.

*DATE: *1995

/Kicking and Screaming/. Dir. Noah Baumbach. With Josh Hamilton, Olivia
D'Abo, Carlos Jacott, and Eric Stoltz. Trimark Pictures.

*Andrew Kopkind*
*DATE: *(1993)

''Slacking Toward Bethlehem.'' /Grand Street/ 11.4: 177-188.

*Michael Neill*
*Nancy Matsumoto*
*DATE: *(14 October 1991)

''X Marks the Angst.'' /People/: 105-106.

*DATE: *1998

/The Newton Boys/. Dir. Richard Linklater. With Ethan Hawke, Dwight
Yokum, and Julianna Marguilies. 20th Century Film Corp.

*Diana Owen*
*DATE: *1997

''Mixed Signals: Generation X's Attitudes toward the Political System.''
/After the Boom: The Politics of Generation X/. Ed. Craig, Stephen C.,
and Stephen Earl Bennett. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
85-106.

*Rob Owen*
*DATE: *1997

/GenX TV: The Brady Bunch to Melrose Place/. The Television Series. New
York: Syracuse UP.

*DATE: *1994

/Reality Bites/. Dir. Ben Stiller. With Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, and
Janeane Garofalo. MCA.

*Lane Relyea*
*DATE: *(1993)

''What, Me Work? Lane Relyea Talks with Richard Linklater.'' /Artforum
International/ 31.8: 74-78.

*DATE: *1997

/Romey and Michele's High School Reunion/. Dir. David Mirkin. With Miro
Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow. Touchstone Pictures.

*Daniel Smith Rowsey*
*DATE: *(1 July 1991)

''The Terrible Twenties.'' /Newsweek/: 10-11.

*DATE: *1998

/Saving Private Ryan/. Dir. Steven Spielberg. With Tom Hanks, Ed Burns,
and Giovanni Ribisi. Dreamworks.

*Steven E Schier*
*DATE: *1997

''Hazards Lie Ahead: Economic Prospects for Generation X.'' /After the
Boom: The Politics of Generation X/. Ed. Craig, Stephen C., and Stephen
Earl Bennett. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 127-144.

*DATE: *1996

/She's the One/. Dir. Ed Burns. With Jennifer Aniston and Ed Burns. 20th
Century Fox.

*DATE: *1992

/Singles/. Dir. Cameron Crowe. With Bridget Fonda, Campbell Scott, Kyra
Sedgwick, Matt Dillon, and Bill Pullman. Warner Brothers.

*DATE: *1991

/Slacker/. Dir. Richard Linklater. Detour Film Productions.

*DATE: *1995

/Sleep With Me/. Dir. Kelly Rory. With Meg Tilly, Eric Stoltz, and Craig
Sheffer. MGM.

*William Strauss*
*Neil Howe*
*DATE: *1991

/Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069/. New York:
William Morrow and Company, Inc.

*DATE: *1997

/subUrbia/. Dir. Richard Linklater. With Posey Parker, Steve Zahn, and
Giovanni Ribisi. Sony Pictures Classics.

*Bruce Tulgan*
*DATE: *1995

/Managing Generation X: How to Bring Out the Best in Young Talent/.
Santa Monica: Merritt Pub.

*Kris Worrell*
*DATE: *(27 January 1995)

''For Dazed Director, Outside Loop is Comfort Zone.'' /Atlanta
Constitution/: 4:1.



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