Minding the Generation Gap

Hey All,

Once upon a time, the notion of a Generation Gap was cause for social and political concern by the dominant generation. The Baby Boomers must have seemed such a hedonistic, amoral horde to the Greatest Generation, the survivors of WWII, as their progeny rioted in the streets, imbibed in free-love and mind-altering substances to their hearts' content, and threatened political upheaval while turning culture inside out.

As we the turned the corner of the last century, the oncoming generation has become more of a target for demographic analysis and potential profit than a threat to the status quo. This is the nature of a Capitalist System, to be sure, but was it so obvious in the generations before or was the generation preceding the Baby Boomers too fearful their progeny would put a lasting end to all they cherished as a culture?

Since the arrival of the Baby Boomers, preceding generations seem not so fearful of their replacements, there seems to be proportionally much less drastic change, much less that challenges The Establishment of the predecessor. Granted, each generation sees it as their duty to rebel against the prior, but one wonders whether the envelope has been stretched to its limits long, long ago.

Toward the late 1980s and early 90s I grew very excited by the growing trend of what many call Modern Primitivism--the body piercing, the tattoos, and surgical implantation. The beauty found in the grotesque these younger people relished astounded me. But I was a bit deflated to see so little challenge or opposition put forth by the elder age group. Parents didn't care that their sons were getting lanced through the scrotum or pronghorns implanted in their foreheads.

"Its his means of expressing himself."
"But he looks like something from a Circus Sideshow!"
"Yeah, there's good money in that..."

When I was a senior in high school a single earring (in the left ear, mind) was the extreme in youthful rebellion. My father wouldn't have it, "Not while you live under my roof," he'd blare out. He saw an earring as an anti-establishment statement. I also pondered whether it would publicly bring into question the sexual preferences of his only son. Talk about threatening The Establishment. So, two weeks before I left home for college, I pierced my ear and walked around with a tiny band-aid on my ear hopping my Dad would not notice. I even tried to remove the stud before the allotted period needed for the piercing to heal for fear I would be found out. My sister eventually spilled the beans, and I was made to suffer terrific guilt for my actions.

While scouting his alma mater (and my future), we visited his original fraternity house. Imagine my joy when we discovered each and every member of the frat house had his ear pierced with at least one small (and comparatively conservative) silver plate or diamond stud.

I was both elated and disappointed. Elated because my act of rebellion had found validation in a tier of my father's culture, and simultaneously disappointed because my act of rebellion had found validation in a tier of my father's culture. Rebellion, counter-culture, I discovered, quickly became a commodity.

I think Dad was just concerned people on the street would see me as a fag. I'm sure that he was confindant not ALL the fellows in the SAE house were queer... Just trendy. And trends are commodities in the modern marketplace. Damn. I'd sold out before I'd even stepped up the auction block. How much did that suck?

Steven Heller, editor of the Village Voice states, "When I was a teenager the term Generation Gap made it to the cover of Life magazine, and there seemed to be a truly profound schism between what the pre-World War II adults believed and practiced and how we baby boomers acted. Our aesthetics, tastes and styles were totally different and so foreign to our parents-indeed, downright alien. Now the generations seem to blend together. Our music is similar to the next generation's music; our tastes in film, literature, art and design are almost indistinguishable, save for the personalities behind them. Sure, there are codes and languages that are unique to this or that age group, but for the longest time I have not heard the term Generation Gap."

It has been argued that now, with the advancements of personal interface technology like iPods, Cell phones, and cyber enviroments like myspace and YouTube, a gap has begun to yawn once more.

John Carlin, president of cutting edge advertising firm, Funny Garbage, states, "I think this is why it's important to bandy around terms like Generation Gap. Not as a marketing tool but as a demarcation of how things are changing in the lives around us. It is hard for us freaky geezers to feel healthy and adjusted in the imperfectly fabricated world we live in. It is hard to find equilibrium in a constantly changing, perpetually accelerating environment made up more of information than feelings. So, if the younger generation sees patterns rather than things, hopefully they will use this new sense of reality to fashion new and exciting forms of expression. I can't wait."

So, with the advancements of technology as comes the speed of assimiliation as distinquishing characteristics of, say, Gen X vs Gen Y. Well, that's okay, some things you need to take your time with...

But when did the evolution of a species from one generation to the next become about selling products? Where is the intent to rebell, the drive to distinquish one era's trends and methods from another. Maybe it always was about comodification and I just wasn't paying attention, I was too busy trying to figure out how the hide my earring, enough AAA batteries in my pocket for the Walkman, and dye my hair without staining the sink.

More Later,
Coletrane

Sources
The New Generation Gap: An Exploratory Conversation with John Carlin , Steven Heller, Village Voice, May 22, 2007