5) Mean Girls
This film is probably the most realistic in terms of high school behavior recently. Don’t believe any of those crap Disney Shows. Girls are mean. Mean to parents, teachers, enemies, and even their own friends. “But there have been bullies for decades, what makes this movie so special?” Well, Mean Girls demonstrates that today’s bullying is not stuffing someone in a locker or spreading a nasty rumor. It’s much more evil. It’s befriending someone, knowing their vulnerabilities, and then using it against them. This form of bullying destroys all forms of trust and forces people to build up emotional walls for protection. And people wonder why millennials only look after themselves. Unfortunately, while this film down have great one-liners like “on Wednedays, we wear pink”, it’s a sad demonstration of where our youth’s bullying culture is headed.
4) Hunger Games
Who has to fight to the death and compete in the Hunger Games? Teenagers. Why? Because no one likes them. Seriously, why young people? Why not the elderly? They’re going to die soon anyway. Why not babies? That would actually be frickin’ hilarious. Young people fight in the Hunger Games, because older generations views them as disposable. They contribute nothing and have the biggest mouths. And they’re moody.
What does this battle for survival teach millennials? In order to survive, form alliances. From playgroups to little leagues to high school, the relationships you build during your youth help shape who you are. As much as you want to be independent, never forget those that can help get you there. And don’t forget to help them out either. I’m talking about reciprocity.
3) Superbad
Chubby guy-Skinny guy partnerships always make for laughs ( Abbott & Costello, Chris Farley & David Spade, Kenan & Kel, etc). Superbad is no different. Chemistry is spot on. Comedic timing works perfectly. What makes Superbad so great is the notion of being reckless. Having that one epic night where nothing else matters. You can’t remember anything that happened before or after it but you know that night has changed the rest of your life forever. For some millennials, this day is when they graduate high school, their first college party, when they turn 21, when they turn 25. For others, it’s a random night out of the year that somehow turned boys into men. If you haven’t had that epic night yet, well then you just haven’t lived.
2) Inception
The one movie that mindf***s the f***ing f*** out of you. Essays, Infographics, Masters Thesis, were developed just help you understand the plot. The kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun was all-of-a-sudden cool again, or maybe cool for the first time. So why was a movie about dreams so impactful on our generation? Because it proved we didn’t know s*** about life. Never had a movie made us think critically on a deeper level before Inception. You sat down, you watched a movie. Good, bad, funny, not funny, scary, not scary, whatever. But then you moved on. Now, Leo and company made you ponder about things you haven’t ever pondered about. Are your ideas your own? Are we all living in a dream state? How slowly can that van fall before crashing into the water?
1) The Social Network
Talk about defining a generation. The Social Network demonstrates the turning point to which Gen-Y becomes “Gen Y”. Entrepreneurship (Mark Zuckerberg), Entitlement (the Winklevoss twins), Only looking out for one’s personal interests (Sean Parker), every stereotype about millennials is demonstrated in this movie. For a movie about facebook, the overall tone is considerably dark. Movies about young people typically display a vapidness or superficial undertone about its main characters, but not here. Here, our generation is given substance. Substance and style, of course.
Bonus- Apocalypse/Zombie. The list of Armageddon movies within the past decade is alarming. Wikipedia noted 59 apocalypse movies from 2000-2009, and already 39 movies into this decade. According to Hollywood, we will be taken out by mother nature, disease, aliens, the Devil, or zombies. Why are we so obsessed with the world ending? Perhaps, these movies serve as a warning. Right your wrongs now because this crap could have been prevented.
Basically, the world is going to end, and it’s all our fault.
JD blogs at A Semi-Delicate Balance
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