Portrayal of Generation Y in the Media

Today we talked about what it means to be a member of the Millennials or "Generation Y". Dr. Hill pointed out that often, when there is a decline in a behavior among younger generations like newspaper-reading, journalists or lazy scholars will point to some intellectual or moral degradation among young people. In fact, this has probably been said about every generation before us "since people wrote things down" (to quote Mr. Wildridge) and instead usually just means that the young generation has changed in some unforseen way -- like turning to the internet or Jon Stewart for their news instead of Broadcast or print media.

This got me thinking about what other things people might get wrong about our generation. How is "Generation Y" portrayed in the media? Often, it's not positive. Here in an article called "The Entrepreneurial Generation", William Deresiewicz describes us as post-emotional and enterprising. In a tough economic climate, we've adapted to be able to sell ourselves -- and that means being nice, polite, and charmingly self-deprecating.

"...If they think you’re criticizing them, they won’t want to buy what you’re selling.That kind of thinking is precisely what I’m talking about, what lies behind the bland, inoffensive, smile-and-a-shoeshine personality — the stay-positive, other-directed, I’ll-be-whoever-you-want-me-to-be personality — that everybody has today.... They say that people in Hollywood are always nice to everyone they meet, in that famously fake Hollywood way, because they’re never certain whom they might be dealing with — it could be somebody who’s more important than they realize, or at least, somebody who might become important down the road. Well, we’re all in showbiz now, walking on eggshells, relentlessly tending our customer base..."

Does our generation feel like that to you?

Todd and Victoria Buccholz describe people our age as "sedentary and risk-averse" in their article, "The Go-NoWhere Generation". "Perhaps young people are too happy at home checking Facebook," instead of getting drivers incenses or jobs the authors offer. Because of the difficult times we've faced in our more formative years, we've become a "why bother" generation. Unfortunately, the authors offer an old school solution: they prescribe a road trip and some Springsteen tunes. While this would definitely rejuvenate me to get back on track and remind me to take more risks in life,, this doesn't seem like a solution for many people.

Some favorites of mine include Zadie Smith's " Generation Why" and Mark Greif's "What Was the Hipster?"

They are longer, but certainly worth the read. Though I don't agree with everything these authors are saying, at least they spend a longer time attempting to map out this complex generation. To borrow words from Edward Said, surely a great deal of "demagogy and downright ignorance" is involved in presuming to speak for a whole generation of peoples.

Do you know of recent examples of someone trying to characterize our generation in the broadcast media? What do you think of journalists negative portrayal of us? Are we all the things they say we are?

The Colbert Report and more discursive integration

In last week's class, we discussed where 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' fits into the spectrum between hard and soft news.  Baym (2005) argued that the Daily Show was more complex and an example of discursive integration in a new media era of entertainment.  I would argue that Stephen Colbert's "Colbert Report" is also a difficult program to classify.  Like the Daily Show, Colbert uses satire and humor to bring to light important political and social issues in America.  Where they do differ, is the methodology of satire used by each program.  We saw that Jon Stewart likes to poke fun and bring himself into a dialogue with those he criticizes.  As Baym describes, Stewart speaks with the voice of the "outraged individual who, comparing official pronouncements with his own basic common sense, simply cannot believe what he- and all of us- are expected to swallow" (p. 266).  On the contrary, Colbert seems to embody the exact perspective or mentality he is criticizing.  While Jon Stewart criticizes from a different perspective, Colbert creates a a politically conservative caricature and in turn becomes what he is (oftentimes brutally) scrutinizing.  Colbert sometimes even steps out of his show and into the real world, whether that's testifying in Congress (in character), or comedically creating his own SuperPAC.

When in character, Colbert oftentimes likens himself to Bill O'Reilly, or as he refers to him as, "Papa Bear".  In Colbert's interview portion of the show, he personifies a typical "Crossfire"-like attitude to the discussion, and attempts to derail his guest's argument.  The results are oftentimes brilliant.  While they may seem silly at times, they usually are extremely witty and intelligent moments of television.

I watched this interview with actor Mark Ruffalo a week ago, and felt that it was one of Colbert's best.  Here, he plays his usual rude self when talking to a "Hollywood liberal elite".  After  a few minutes he eventually gives Ruffalo the opportunity to make his case, which he does so quite effectively.  Ruffalo makes his points against the practicing of hydraulic-fracturing, or "tracking" by energy companies.  I would encourage everyone to take a few minutes and watch the interview.  It is funny, silly, scary, and sobering all within a 7 minute span, and is everything the Colbert Report is about.  This is another example of discursive integration-- where the interview is educational, entertaining, and in its own category of broadcast media journalism.