Oct 18, 2007

Three Movies That Defined My Generation

A recent thread at the mothership convinced me to write this, so here goes:

I'm young (29), but some things make me feel like an old-ass man, especially a lot of shows and movies that have come out as of late.

But if I had to choose three movies that defines MY generation . . . that's kind of tough, especially since I have to pick just three. I know it's a magic number, but it's kind of limited, you know?

I guess I'll start with Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I was a little kid when this movie initially came out in theaters, but as a young teen, this movie spoke to me like no other movie had before at the time. A recent conversation a lot of us mods had in the super extra secret room we have around here really made me appreciate the movie even more. The protagonist wasn't a label, that is, he wasn't a nerd, a geek, a jock, a preppy, a goth, a class clown, a slacker, a drama student, et. al. He was simply Ferris, a guy who pretty much has his life together, or at least had the semblance to realize what life is supposed to be. He doesn't worry, he doesn't panic. He's not trying to get laid or find a girlfriend because, well, he already has a girlfriend. He knew that if you took life too seriously, you'll spend all your time worrying. Good advice, and something that stuck to me to this day.

Another movie that I felt defined my generation is Clerks. Dante is literally stuck in hell, or in this case, a convenience store and has problems from the word go. He has to work a shift on his day off and has to deal with strange customers ranging from an anti-smoking advocate and a guy searching for the perfect dozen of eggs to a pot-smoking duo and a guy "walking the lizard" and dying in a bathroom, a girlfriend who loves him but confesses something that makes him uncomfortable, an ex-girlfriend who recently broke up with her boyfriend, and his best friend Randall, who goes out of his way to distract Dante from the day at hand. In essence, it's kind of the reverse of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. A "Dante Hicks' Day In" if you will. Considering Kevin Smith was a fan of those John Hughes films, I wouldn't be surprised if he had even considered that title. The message in this film is essentially the same as in Ferris, only you see what happens when people, in this case Dante, worry.

If you ever get the chance, watch both films back to back one day, and you'll see what I mean.

I think the final film that defines my generation is The Matrix. This film is pretty much the one that connects my generation to the 21st century, presenting something that is true today: we're all connected to computers, and the lives we presently live on the internet is only an illusion. Anybody that makes a presence on the internet, whether it's forums, websites, blogs and vlogs, and other forms of the new medium could attest and adhere to that general message. It also had the message that we shouldn't truly depend on our connection to computers all the time because the machine could one day turn its back on us. Okay, that's out there, but still, people still don't completely trust their computers.

What three movies defined your generation? No, I'm not asking what are your three favorite movies, but rather which ones defined you and your generation.

4 comments:

John Pannozzi said...

This is off-topic, but what happened to your scratchbuilding of Cartoon Network, Jeff? You promised it would come on October 1, in time for CN's 15th anniversary. I just can't help but feel a little betrayed by it's inexplicable (and unexplaned) disapperance. Are you still going to do it?

Ellen Yu said...

Oh boy...what a hard question.
Movies that defines my generation are sometimes movies I just don't watch, such as American Pie.

Three movies that might define my niche of a generation:

Harold and Kumar...I just love the humor of breaking stereotypes.

Cashback
Really new artsy flick that catches the constant syndrome of being a artist. Yes, the main charcter is a male who sort of violates women by stopping time and drawing them, but really artists get used to naked people lol. Much better than Art School Confidential...that movie was a ridiculous downer.

And Austin Powers...
For most of my high school years as the trilogy came out, this was the movie people talked about. The first movie is classic. I could dump the other two.

hehe I'm 21. I feel like I practically missed the 80's.

Jeff Harris said...

John - I was writing it when something kind of hit me. This network is in desperate need of attention, and the more I saw the plan, the more depressed I got. And when the anniversary came and went, highlighted by the premiere of Goosebumps, I got a little more disgusted with the network so much that I didn't want to read and write about them for about a week. That's what prompted me to write the whole "Pissing on the Birthday Cake" article originally planned for Toon Zone but exclusive to Thoughtnami instead (I kept it here because I didn't want to upset the mothership too much).

Then the Kids' WB takeover by 4Kids kind of grabbed my attention because that solidified my whole belief that Time Warner is THE MOST POORLY RAN ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY ON THE PLANET. The problems within Cartoon Network extends with the whole Time-Warner company. All these recent hirings and firings aren't going to amount to anything since they're hellbent on maintaining the status quo.

It got frustrating to me. But the Scratchbuilding article will be up next week. I think I can stomach the article now.

Ellen - Loved Harold and Kumar, liked Austin Powers. Never seen Cashback. I might have to look into that one when I get the chance.

E.A. said...

I agree with all of your selections, Jeff.

Brain-dead tonight. Will think more deeply about your post in a little bit!