Millennials! Who are we? We are the generation born from 1990 to 2000. For awhile, we were known as Generation Y, because no one really knew what to call us. Nothing really defined us, but then, with the new millennium, they decided on the name Millennials. I, for one, think that name rocks! It's cool and different and no one else has ever been known as that before. I knew the 90's were awesome, but this just makes them better!
In past generations, there have been significant situations or moments in history to define those born in that time. The best known is pretty obvious, The Baby Boomers! They are a well known generation, however, the generation that came after them aren't so well known. They are simply called Generation X. It's pretty lame (no offense guys), but I mean, your parents were The Baby Boomers and your kids are the Millennials. Not having a defining title is pretty rough, I think. Anyway, like I said, most generations had something happen to define them, however Generation X really didn't have anything big and significant that was worth naming them after.
Many people thought the same of the Millennials, that was why we were known as Generation Y for so long. However, the new millennium isn't much to be known for, but, in Chuck Klosterman's article, he tried to change that for Gen. X and tried to define Generation X with a pop culture phenomenon, which was the StarWars Trilogy. That is actually a pretty cool thing to be known for actually. Too bad that's not what they are actually called. So in keeping with the pop culture theme, what popular culture event has happened that could defined the Millennials?
Well, I think there are a few obvious options that could define the current generation pretty well. However, there is one that is near and dear to my heart. Cue the African music! In 1994 Walt Disney Animated Studios released the now Disney classic, The Lion King. This movie was basically my whole world growing up. I watched it probably 5 to 10 times a day! My mom would stick it into the VCR (remember those?!) and I'd sit there mesmerized by the films wonder and amazing animation. Then when it was over, she'd rewind it and I'd watch it again. I can quote this movie beginning to end perfectly. The Lion King earned $987,483,777 worldwide at the box office. It is the 18th highest grossing film, the 2nd highest grossing animated film of all time worldwide and the highest grossing film of the Walt Disney Animated Studios [The Lion King: Wikipedia].
Now, the reason I believe this movie should define a whole generation is simple. It is one of the best known Disney movies ever and it was part of a time known as the Disney Renaissance, which was a period when Disney animated films brought back Disney's credibility using well-known stories. The movies in the Disney Renaissance were, The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, and Tarzan. However, if singling The Lion King out isn't really something you are comfortable with, then we can just call it The Disney Generation. Because many Disney classics and masterpieces were created in this time period [Disney Renaissance: Wikipedia].
So, here we are, with vision of Scar killing his brother and saying those famous words, "Long live the King!", Arial leaving her home to find true love, Mulan defying her "place" to save her father and in the end her country, and several other classic characters shinning in their respective movies. I am now in the biggest Disney movie mood, it's crazy! Go Disney Generation!
In class we read and learned about reality television shows and what they do to the people on them. We learned that the people on the show eventually start to slip into archetypes which are pattern or behavioral set that people fall into. Chuck Klosterman is the one who mentioned this in his article about reality television shows.
Basically, Klosterman said that people were becoming archetypes because of the situations they were put into with the shows. He also said that the producers of the shows try to have visible cultural differences so that it's very easy for people to pick out the differences about the group of people in the shows. So if a gay man was on the show, he would always be seen talking about being gay or if a black man was on the show, he'd always be seen talking about racism or being black and the difficulties or something like that. And come on, in real "real life" people like that don't always talk about those things. They are real everyday people who talk about class, grades, jobs, t.v., friends, family, sports, food and everything else. It's actually quite annoying when you think about it.
I do think this is a really good point Klosterman brings up, which usually I'm a bit against his thoughts because it seems like he just likes to rant and yell about everything. But I mean, at least with this idea, he's pretty on point; whether he agrees with it or disagrees with it is another story. In my own opinion though, I don't like that shows do this. I mean, I've been pulled in by reality television more than once and I was even on the "Jersey Shore" bandwagon, but only for like half a season and then it ended. But still, I got caught up in it and this isn't even the first nor the last time. I agree that the people on the shows fall into these types but I guess I don't understand why this has to be. I'm sure I'd watch a reality show about ACTUAL people instead of scripted or people just being stereotypical.
This is a very touchy subject to talk about. I've had many conversations that turned ugly when the word "racist" comes in. In class we listened to the song "Accidental Racist" by Brad Paisley and LL Cool J and then watched news reports about the song. One was of a circle of people yelling and complaining about it and the other was the View ladies squawking about the song and eating chips.
The song is basically about the Brad saying that he just wants to put all the past racism and hate behind him and move on and try to be friends but also not come off as racist to the black people that he meets. LL's part is about not being sure if he can trust what Brad is saying, but also that he'd like to put it behind him too and move on and try not to live in the past. There were a few lines about forgiving the iron chains and forgetting the gold chains, that a black anchor or spokesperson didn't like in the CNN clip. He sort of freaked out about it and in my opinion kind of played the race card and didn't really take the real message from the song. The ladies from the View, however, agreed with the song and said it was a good mix of both sides and a way to try and mend the tough strands of the situation of racism. This is where I stand on the matter.
I can understand how people might get up in arms about the song, but I mean hey at least Brad and LL are trying! They aren't just sitting by and letting all the issues and touchy topics engulf them. They embraced their situation and tried to at least get the message out that to put it behind them. I totally agree. I honestly feel that both sides play the race card WAY too much anymore. History is a powerful tool and something everyone should learn from, but that's just it. We need to learn from it and fix it for the future and if all we do is dwell on it and cherry pick out situations to further our thoughts and sides on the matter then we'll never get anywhere and there will always be hate. I for one do not need anymore hate in my heart. And the world certainly doesn't need it either.
There were a lot of generalizations made in the song and people didn't really agree with them because they said not many "real" people wear chains around their neck and such. And I can understand that, but I mean, that is just basically taking the song at face value and not really understanding the deeper meaning to the song. I mean, it's country music, so they can't have deep unknown metaphors about racism in their songs, they have to give clear examples so the listeners can understand what's going on. I just think that people are basically being racist about the song when it's trying to say that they shouldn't be.
We need to learn from our mistakes, realize all that has gone on in the generations since and get past it all so that we can work towards a peace filled world. This calls for a line from my favorite movie, The Lion King, "Hakuna Matata."
