The present of Gen X

Third time’s the charm as I finally was able to get the cover image downloaded. As you can see I am keeping with a theme here as Joe Cool is quite an apt symbol for myself. Hey, a man can dream, can’t he?

(Two things I need to note before I start my main article. First, happy Picnic Day to all those of you in Australia and if you are not, add the film “Picnic at Hanging Rock” to your Netflix queue. Trust me on this one. And, I have to mention that yesterday was the fifteenth anniversary of the birth of the world wide web. For those wondering, I’ve been on for twelve of those fifteen years and have gone from watching the Hamster Dance to the Peanut Butter and Jelly song to neverending YouTube clips. What a world…)

Anyway, while waiting to get my haircut I was reading this issue of Details from last April and in it they asked whether time had passed Generation X by. They did pose the hypothetical of “Has Generation X jumped the shark?” It’s a very good question and one that I, as one of the last ones standing for the fabled 13th Gen, really should address.

From a pop culture standpoint, Generation X is definitely an afterthought. The Baby Boomers are still a big focus as they start retiring and twenty years after thirtysomething I get to see articles on how fifty is the new thirty. You know, all of those headlines like “Baby Boomers find life after work”, “The Boomers raid the social security system” and my favorite “Will you just go away already?” (Ok, I can dream). But since they are a generation that always focused on themselves it doesn’t surprise me that their media focuses on their state.

Their kids, either Gen Y or the Millenials depending on how you want to define them, have also taken control of the airwaves. They are the generation of Brittney and Paris and yes, even my beloved Lindsay. They are a generation where you can be famous just for being famous, where everyone can and should be a star and where there is no shame in selling out. Hell, that’s the entire point.

And that is why Gen X is seeming to fade into the background. We don’t sell out. We’d rather fade away than sacrifice what we hold dear to ourselves. Pearl Jam hasn’t retooled themselves for a TRL appearance, even though they’d sell a ton more discs if they did. You don’t see Richard Linklatter or Kevin Smith doing big summer movies; they’d rather film two separate takes on what life is like within the fast food industry. And by staying true to yourself you tend not to get a lot of press.

Here is my best example. Right now, the place to be if you are in Gen Y is on MySpace and you look at the average page there and it just screams “Look at me! Look at me! Aren’t I cool?” That seems so opposite from the Gen X viewpoint, where anyone doing that would be immediately called a poseur. Instead you get things like this blog, which is simple and holds no great hope for becoming famous by just existing. It’s just one person stating what is on his mind and if anyone feels like reading it, awesome.

Or think of it this way, could you imagine American Idol on the air in 1993? I mean, people absolutely hated the band Bush and Gavin Rosdale at least had some level of musical ability. Kids singing karaoke poorly would have been the dumbest thing in the world. Now it is the biggest entertainment franchise in the world due to a generation that prides fame over talent.

But has Generation X jumped the shark? Did we just have a few years in the sun that started when Nirvana asked us to come as we are and ended when Kurt left us? As the focal point of American culture that is probably the case. But typically when you say jumped the shark you mean that there is no more talent or skill or drive and that isn’t the case. We just don’t bring our own camera crews with us. There is still great art being made by my generation, we’re just quiet about it. Our movies are introspective, are music is lyrical and our goals are to find meaning and contentment in a challenging and often disappointing world. None of these things sell platinum records or fill up the googolplex. But it does make for a very satisfying life and I’m happy for that.