If people don’t like the generational labels I can put my initial sentiment this this way:
I hope that the bulk of Americans voting and setting the political and economic agenda from 2020 through 2047 will be taking a different attitude toward politics than the bulk of Americans who voted and set the political and economic agenda between 1980 and 2007 (e.g. most of whom these movies were marketed toward). The latter group did a piss-poor job.
Honestly, though, it’s six-of-one, half-a-dozen of the other and it’s not like anyone will be unaware of what’s actually being discussed.
I love that movie. Not only because hidden behind the fluff are some serious proto-feminist social and political messages, but because of Astrud Gilberto singing the Girl from Ipanema.
The video in the original post has a very brief nod to the fact that the AIP flicks were shlocky attempts to exploit the popularity of one of the original beach movies, Where The Boys Are (1960), which dealt with some issues of social change in a fairly progressive way for its time, and also had some pretty dark scenes.
That one was always going to be more serious, it was based on a novel by an accomplished writer (twice nominated for the Pulitzer)
It also had better main actors. As much as I love the beach movies, I can’t stand Annette Funicello (both the actress and the character she portrays). By contrast, Paula Prentiss is great in WTBA and every other role she ever had, and her chemistry with Jim Hutton is wonderful.
The thing is, young people become older people with the passage of time. If you look at the 1976 election, those of us aged 18-29 voted 54% Carter, 46% Ford. (Data from the Roper Center.) The difference probably would have been even higher except that the war was over, Ford was relatively likable, and Carter was an unknown quantity who was pretty in-your-face with what at the time seemed like extreme evangelical Christianity.
So, Millenials can chastise Boomers all they want about the election, but shouldn’t be too surprised if their cohort is the one being yelled at in 40 years for exactly the same reason.
Yeah, all of this grumpiness about boomers is the sad realisation that the hippies did not win. My parents were born at the beginning of the Baby Boom, and though they are liberal, progressive, Democratic voting types, I saw most of my friends’ parents were like the Wheelers in Stranger Things: church-going Republicans and Jaycees. For every Woz we got, we got ten middle manager wannabes whose big desire was not to change the world, but to keep living in their routines and maybe strike it rich, but not take any risks.
I have no idea about how my generation will be, but I don’t have high hopes. There are only one or two classmates I maintain contact with, the rest I severed ties because I will not consort with Trump voting assholes.
EDIT: in case it isn’t crystal clear, I grew up in the Midwest (Iowa instead of Indiana), in a middle class setting. Probably upper middle class in hindsight, but of the penny pinching sort. No wonder I not only fled the Midwest, I fled the continent and resettled in Europe.
Thank you. You nailed what really bothers me about blaming a huge group of people for all of our sociopolitical problems, when it’s really a small subset of the group (and others not even part of that group) running the show. I’m astonished at how willingly people go along with it, defend it, excuse it, and try to justify it.
