A recent post on the Pop Cult occasioned a salient and topical discussion in the comments.
Author JD Cowan writes:
That’s just it, isn’t it. Nothing is made for younger generations anymore. The average age of Cartoon Network viewers is 29. Disney World is filled with single wine aunts and their friends. Comic Books are made for urban bugmen that live off dehumanization of the other. Video games are glorified movies for people who can’t watch films (or play games) made before 1995. Even YouTube is filled with modern junk criticism of pop entertainment that these middle-aged folks grew up with. And that’s without even getting to the endless dead IP rehash of the past decade+ we’ve been trapped in.
Not only have we been selfishly worshiping at the altar of something that shouldn’t be worshiped, we can’t even let the younger ones have anything to themselves. We like to call Baby Boomers locusts and rave about the day of the pillow, but we’re just as bad at hogging resources. As Rich Evans said, say what you want about Boomers, but they aren’t standing in line and raving about the new Howdy Doody reboot. They could let things end and move on.
The only thing I wonder is how Zoomers (and younger) who grew up without any shared culture at all are going to think when they look back at their own youth in the future. What exactly are they going to remember fondly? Because I’m sure it won’t be us.
To which commenter Wiffle replies:
I am all in for the criticism of Gen X here. My generation especially knows how to criticize Boomers, but it’s not very good at figuring out an alternate path to them. I’m not sure what sort of judgement is reserved for those who know something is wrong but do it anyway. *yikes*
I also agree on the YouTube pop culture channels. In fairness, though, the best of them are reasonably self aware that a middle age man with endless action figures behind him is not the best of themselves or culture.
That said, within the last 6 months, my Boomer Father was very excited to tell me about the “latest” Beatles release. It appear to involve a sketchy demo cassette tape that AI could finally fill in to studio quality. He gushed on about it like it mattered or something.
I don’t know if you’ve watched any recent episodes (within the last 10 years) of PBS’s Antiques Jackpot, er Antiques Roadshow. I remember it being interesting in the early years with much randomness and people learning about fakes. The later years reveal a pattern of “spontaneously” finding at every single stop: a real item from Tiffanies, some previous unheard of minority artist’s modern/ugly painting that was now worth a billion dollars (estimated), a piece of 50’s furniture, a piece of classic furniture, an “Asian” piece, and a sportsball collector’s item. Nobody ever loses money other than in the fill in spots anymore. It’s a rerun on steroids.
Also comics, guitar collecting, and baseball card collecting are all rough equivalents to action figures from the 80’s and 90’s. So yes, the Boomers do keep resurrecting their childhood. And in fairness to Gen X, nobody is collecting Sesame Street junk either.
If I can misquote a PSA from the era, Gen X learned their behavior by watching the Boomers. They just picked a few different items from their own teens and late childhood.
Enter commenter VMDL598:
As a millennial who tends to end up befriending gen z, it would seem that the things they remember most fondly right now are usually minecraft, or minecraft youtubers.
An example of this is the youtuber DanTDM. His heyday was when he would roleplay showcasing mods with a librarian villager dr Trayoruos. (I don’t remember if that’s how its spelled.) if one scrolls into hte comments of any of those old videos, you will see a rather insane number of commenters who are waxing nostalgic about how Dan was his childhood, or how sad they are that those good old days are gone. and that’s just one Youtuber, there’s at least a dozen others that younger folks were infatuated with when they were in kindergarten, and remember fondly now.
A big reason that most Zoomers tend to have this fondness for blocky strangers on a screen over their own relatives, (with commendable exceptions.) is the simple reason that when they were children, their parents, usually neglectful boomers or underage and inexperienced millennials, would simply hand them a tablet or phone to ensure that they would just shut up. the end result was these youtubers becoming the surrogate parents to Zoomers, much like how various pop-culture icons of yor were parental figures to gen Y.
Interestingly, youtube seems to have gone into a ground zero phase at some point, and now with several longstanding and beloved youtubers leaving, including the aforementioned DanTDM, with many giving the reason that could be summarized as, “I must go, my family needs me, and I am not as young as I once was. Thanks for the support, and farewell to you all.” many Zoomers that are not eternally obsessed with the men or women on their screens respond rather positively to the news, with some even stating that they hope to raise and prioritize raising families of their own.
That isn’t to say that there are not a good number of angry SM slobs howling in selfish fury, there are, but the point is, they are few in number, and most get downvoted to the bottom of the comment section, where hardly anyone will see them bellyaching.
I suspect that you are right though on the majority of zoomers not remembering the majority of the older generations fondly, but if I have learned anything, its that they never forget exceptions to the rule. If anything, an older person who treats them as human beings, blinking in confusion whenever they make references you don’t understand, but in the process, introducing them to something funny you discovered yourself, and not making too many comparisons between your generations to form an artificial divide, then you will probably be remembered as an exceptional older person. (most will call you a boomer anyway, but that is largely out of ignorance on how generations work, and ease of communication with one another.)
My comment:
To differ somewhat with JD – really Rich Evans – Boomers may not be lining up for a hypothetical Howdy Doody reboot, but they are shelling out their share of the ticket and streaming subscription money for the latest Disney slop.
He’s dead right that Gen Y are far worse in regard to disordered nostalgia and form the core of the Pop Cult.
And like Wiffle correctly stated, Gen X nostalgia’s fifteen minutes in the limelight went out with Kevin Smith.
About all I can say to the Zoomer comment is that their parents aren’t Boomers. They were raised by Younger Gen Xers and Gen Y.
Which explains a lot.
Tl; dr: JD was also right about the rampant pop idolatry.
Clown World ends when people remember the First Commandment is not a suggestion and resume acting accordingly.
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