The real Gen X, who knew?
Posted on January 15, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized
And here I thought Gen X started in 1965. But according to Joshua Glenn who writes for Brainiac, we had it all wrong. However, once we get past the generational miscalculation, Mr Glennn has some very interesting observations. Here are some of the highlights, to read the entire post, which is quite lengthy click here. Special thanks to my good friend Jay Hargis at HR Cleanup for turning me on to this post. Enjoy!
BRAINIAC’S GUIDE TO AMERICA’S RECENT GENERATIONS
1904-13: [I’m open to suggestions]
1914-23: Greatest Generation
1924-33: Postmodernist Generation
1934-43: Anti-Anti-Utopian Generation
1944-53: Boomers
1954-63: OGX (Original Generation X)
1964-73: PC Generation
1974-83: Net Generation
1984-93: Millennials
1994-03: Too soon to say
In their teens and 20s in the Seventies (1974-83; not to be confused with the ’70s), and in their 20s and 30s in the Eighties (1984-93; not to be confused with the ’80s), the Original Generation X is cynical, ironic, skeptical — which is not the same as directionless, nihilistic, or depressed! OGXers had a front-row seat for the Reagan Revolution, during which they saw “liberal” become a pejorative term, as many Americans recoiled from the various liberation movements (sexual, feminist, gay, ethnic) of the Sixties and Seventies. The Boomers had Roe v. Wade; OGXers got the anti-abortion backlash and the keeping-my-baby meme. The Boomers had the Apollo moon landing; OGXers got the Challenger explosion. Too young for Woodstock but not Altamont, just old enough for Watergate and the energy crisis, not to mention Three Mile Island, in 1990 Time Magazine dubbed their youngest members “twentysomethings” (i.e., directionless, nihilistic, and depressed); and their oldest members were lumped in, strictly because of demographic considerations (which is foolish), with the Boomers. Whom they tend to resent and despise! No wonder two of their (non-American) cohort — Billy Idol (’55) and novelist Douglas Coupland (’61) — independently popularized the anti-label “Generation X.”
The OGX is a generation that has brought us post-punk and cyberpunk, hardcore and hip hop (I borrowed their moniker from Ice-T’s “Original Gangsta,” did you catch that?), DIY and zines (before they were called zines), “Seinfeld” and “The Simpsons,” “Master of Puppets” and “Pulp Fiction,” “Slacker” and “Do The Right Thing,” sardonic “charticles” and impossibly convoluted and footnoted prose. Howard Stern, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Arsenio Hall, Rosie O’Donnell, and Conan O’Brien are OGXers; so are the Hollywood Brat Pack and the New York one. Also: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer; Jonathan Franzen, Rick Moody, and David Foster Wallace; Al Roker, Katie Couric, and Matt Lauer; and Madonna, Prince, Bon Jovi, and Michael Jackson. Plus: Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee.
This generation of latch-key kids and children of divorce were the first American adolescents to be informed — incessantly, and persuasively, by TV shows and Hollywood movies — what it’s like to be an adolescent. “Lost in Space,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” “Happy Days,” “The Brady Bunch,” “The Partridge Family,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Taps,” “Risky Business,” “Little Darlings,” “Bad News Bears,” “The Outsiders,” “Rumble Fish,” “21 Jump Street,” “Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club,” “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “Pretty in Pink,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Joanie Loves Chachi,” “Family Ties,” “Eight is Enough,” and “One Day at a Time” all cast OGXers as… themselves, sorta. When Situationist Guy Debord (a member of France’s Postmodernist Generation) wrote that “the individual’s gestures are no longer his own; they are the gestures of someone else who represents them to him,” this is the sort of alienation he meant. Debord wrote that in 1967, when the oldest OGXers were 13, and the youngest 4 — and all glued to the TV.
I’m a year late for this version of Gen X (since I was born in ‘64), but these are my people. How about you? Relate to any of this?
Until next time…
[tags] America’s Generations, Boomers, Gen X
This age group has also been referred to as “Generation Jones” as well. Most people tend to lump us in with Boomers, which is inaccurate.
The way I look at it is that males of this generational group were too young to be drafted in the 70’s. That’s probably the most defining moment of the split between this generation and the Boomers.
On the other end, I’d say if weren’t old enough to have voted for Reagan, then you belong in the next generational group.
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Thanks for the comment Frank.
Being born in ‘64 I’ve always been considered a ‘boomer’ which is silly really, since,as you state, I couldn’t have voted for Reagan.
I’ve recently added a post on your generation — 1964-73 — which also happens to be mine. I call us “PCers,” as you’ll see. Stands for Personal Computers and Political Correctness. Two defining phenomena…
I agree, those are both a good fit. Thanks for the comment.