When Reality Bites was released in 1994, it spoke directly to the disillusioned slackers of Generation X, but does it have anything to say to today's youth?
The generation following the baby boomers felt overshadowed by the example set forth by their predecessors. They were dubbed the “baby bust” generation since there were comparatively significantly fewer births after the boomers’ time. The young people of this time did not hold the same values as their parents. They wanted different things out of life, but felt powerless to affect change. The moniker Generation X was first applied to this age group by Charles Hamblett and Jane Deverson in their book of the same name in 1965. Later Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland popularized it in his Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture and used it to describe anyone who was considered “twentysomething” (another term coined by Gen Xers) in the years 1987 to 1991.
The Script
By the time Helen Childress started her script for Reality Bites, the term Generation X was a regular part of world’s vocabulary. Childress was in the Filmic Writing Program at USC when she started working for Jersey Films. She soon left school to concentrate on finishing her screenplay.
Plot and Characters
Reality Bites was Ben Stiller’s feature directorial debut and starred hot young actors Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke. It featured the stories of a group of young adults who had graduated college and found that their place in the world was not as well defined as it was for their parents’ generation. Lelaina Pierce (Ryder) is a filmmaker capturing the trials and tribulations of her friends with her camcorder while trying to find meaningful work in the industry. Her roommate Vickie Miner (Janeane Garofalo) is a free spirit being stifled by a job at the GAP. Broody Troy Dyer (Hawke) moves in with the girls “temporarily” after he loses his job at the newsstand for daring to ask the question, “Are employee snacks subsidized?” The group is completed by Sammy Gray (Steve Zahn) who is coming to terms with his homosexuality and trying to get his parents to understand. When Ben Stiller’s character, Michael Grates, a young executive at a music video station, starts dating Lelaina, her values are called into question and her relationships with her friends become much more complicated.
Inspiring Anthem
With a soundtrack boasting classic rock, an original written for and performed by Hawke’s character and the soon-to-be forever associated with Gen X Lisa Loeb song “Stay”, the movie became an anthem for young people trying to make their way in the world. It inspired them to navigate the murky waters of romantic entanglements, parental expectations and uncertain career prospects.
The Next Generation
So can today’s youth learn anything from the 1994 film? A repeated viewing of the movie proves that its message still comes through strong and undiluted. Today’s twentysomethings are just as jaded as the ones the movie originally targeted. The world has become no less confusing and challenging and young people are still searching for ways to deal with the pressures surrounding them. Issues like sexual orientation and STIs are still prevalent, while the values of the young people dealing with them have remained unchanged. More than a dozen years later, the themes explored in Reality Bites still hold importance for the viewing public. The writing, acting and directing are all as sublime as they were on the first viewing and the music takes us back to the mindset we were in circa the mid-1990s.
