***"Rebecca Reviews" examines contemporary books, films, television shows, and other cultural products through the lens of the generational saeculum. These are not sponsored posts; I purchase each item with my own funds and there are no affiliate links here. The opinions expressed on this blog are entirely my own. Regardless of my recommendation, please do your own research and decide what you're comfortable consuming.***
What if nostalgia is an expression of grief?
In the Disney+ series "WandaVision", the former Avenger Wanda Maximoff (aka The Scarlet Witch) is grieving the horrific murder of her one true love, the syntheziod Vision. Overcome by emotion, her magical powers burst forth from the foundation of their unrealized future home in Westview, New Jersey to create The Hex: an altered-reality state in which real-life residents of Westview are forced to be puppets in Wanda's fantasy. Within this fantasy she recreates Vision, births twin sons, and casts all as characters in succeeding decades of television sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 2010s.
American television programs, we learn, have always been a form of delightful escapism for Wanda. Despite the trauma of growing up in a war-torn Eastern European nation, having her parents killed by a bomb, being experimented on by the government, and seeing her brother and lover killed in front of her eyes, Wanda lives on... somehow. When her elaborate denial and escapism finally fail her, Wanda receives the maxim of her shadow-Vision: "What is grief, if not love persevering?" Nostalgia has been a helpful bridge from mourning the past to accepting the present.
THE SPACE BETWEEN
Though Generation X is repeatedly shamed for its unadulterated nostalgia by other generations, I think this shame is misplaced. Generation X lives on a bridge, a liminal space between two behemoth generations (Boomers and Millennials). Neglected in youth and ignored in adulthood, nostalgia is our Hex/Westview: a place we can live with the things we love, forsaking the disappointment of our elders and the scorn of our juniors.
Matthew Hennessy's Zero Hour for Gen X: How the Last Adult Generation Can Save America from Millennials (Encounter Books, 2018 & 2020) is particularly adept at capturing the outside/in-between nature of Xers. The book's central premise is that as the last analog and first digital generation, Generation X stands in the gap with a unique understanding of the implications of an all-digital world, and has both the ability and responsibility to manage its manifestation. As Hennessy terms it, the "internet of things" (a world of nest, ring, and Alexa) is rife with opportunity for invasion of privacy, debasement of thought, and ultimately, social control.
WHY MILLENNIALS MATTER
As the Wall Street Journal's deputy op-ed editor, Hennessy brings his journalistic training and talent to bear in support of this premise. He cites numerous sources from historian David McCullough to technology critic Nicholas Carr (both Pulitzer Prize winners), as well as his own Generation X life experiences in this eclectic blend of memoir and social commentary. Zero Hour is an enjoyable read. Hennessy has a light, even writing style reminiscent of WSJ, The Atlantic, and other such publications. His criticisms of Millennials are blunt, but not harsh: he blames much of their risk-averse nature on their helicoptered upbringing, much of which coalesced during the post 9/11 tragedy. In his words, the extreme protectionism that arose came at "precisely the wrong time" (p. 57).
Of course, it had to happen that way. While he references Strauss and Howe's research on generations (p. 56), Hennessy doesn't appear to see that Millennials are necessarily militant or conformist. Their embrace of technology (p. 55, 75) and disgust with free speech (p. 62-66) are both part of what makes them "general issue", and a necessary ingredient in bringing the Crisis Era to a head. Stanford University economist and author Thomas Sowell has famously said, "There are no solutions. There are only tradeoffs." If Millennials truly understood the price of their demands, they would not be able to play their role. And because they are in need of leadership, that's where Generation X comes in.
NO SLACKING
Hennessy paints a broad yet compelling portrait of the Generation X upbringing. Surrounded by 60's & 70's music and television reruns, riding bicycles without helmets, hearing adults harangue on the Vietnam conflict, celebrate the Bicentennial, and complain about gas prices. And then, the Unraveling: a Third Turning in which Generation X children witnessed the grittiness of urban decay, the Cold War, Rodney King riots, Bill Clinton's sex scandals, and burgeoning social justice in the O.J. Simpson trial (p. 15-22). Hennessey's description of 9/11 is probably the best I have ever read, and his summary is dead-on: "[...] the military and intelligence services were just as confused as the general public about who--or what--the next target would be. It was complete chaos. Nobody knew what was coming next" (p.33).
And now September 11, 2001 is twenty-one years in the past. Generation X, whose formative years arguably ended with that tragedy, are now 40- and 50-something adults. We watched our rights melt away in the wake of Homeland Security and our analog, brick-and-mortar world fade with the rise of digital technology. Faced with a moral crisis, it's up to the jaded, seen-it-all Generation Xers to take the lead and... do what exactly?
"Pump the brakes." "Save America from Millennials." "Do something."
It's a familiar call to arms. Jeff Gordinier's X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking, another book on the "slacker generation", makes a similar exhortation, imploring creatives to get involved in culture at large and not just give up, fade into the background, and succumb to materialism. I appreciate the sentiment, but I think it overlooks the importance of the ordinary, less glamorous work that most Generation Xers have been doing for a long time: working steady jobs, serving in the military, paying taxes, and raising families. It's hard to show up for your kid's Little League game while also attending a protest at City Hall. With stagflation, the extra hours at work providing for your sandwiched family probably preclude a run for political office or becoming a cultural "influencer." And don't forget the many Generation Xers who have died in military conflicts or of suicide. Life has been hard on us. The "benign neglect" of our upbringing has given us a lot of trauma.
We need to grieve.
But grief is an active thing. Nostalgia is allowing Generation X to work out in its own mind the values it will cherish and bring forth to the future. It is giving our generation time to share these things with our children. And it is allowing us to choose our time to act, because everybody knows that a slacker doesn't show up until the very last minute. Thankfully, the last minute is never too late, because there's a season for everything.
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Have you read Zero Hour for Gen X? Do you have a suggestion for a "Rebecca Reviews" post? Let me know your thoughts here or send me an email at Rebecca@rebeccamartell.com.