What are "Geriatric Millennials?," Hollywood Hates Asians? (Except The Rock), The Return of Oregon Trail, NBA Star "Not Focused on Basketball," (The Five for 05/21 /21)
Is the "microgeneration" a real thing and does it matter?
Hey, welcome to The Five.
It’s a Friday, which means this issue will be focused on culture and commentary.
Come back on Tuesday for five under-reported, vital stories in hard news.
[one]
The term “Geriatric Millennial” exploded on social media this week, thanks two viral posts on Medium (here and here).
If you don’t know what the heck is going on (I didn’t, but that could just be proving the “Geriatric” qualifier on my Millennial status), CNET explains:
Essentially, geriatric millennials act as a bridge. We're young enough to perform like digital natives, but old enough to understand the "old ways" of communication: "Geriatric millennials can read the subtext of an SMS just as well as they can pick up on a client's hesitation in their facial expressions during an in-person meeting. They are neither ignorant of technology nor so engrossed in it that a voicemail inspires fear."
…But does any of this actually matter? The easy answer is, of course, no -- it's all bull****. The generation thing is part marketing/part outrage machine and, for some reason it's only been exacerbated in recent years as the media has ramped up coverage of generation-related stories -- millennials "killing" things is a story genre in and of itself.
On one hand, generational differences do matter personally and professionally…but splitting down into “micro-generations” is little more than clickbait fodder.
[two]
A study of movies from 2007-2019 found that The Rock personally played 1/3 of all lead character roles given to Asians during that time period and only 5.9% of speaking parts went to Asians.
As someone who grew up in rural America and later had the privilege to write about film and TV for years:
A). There’s a reason I watched Bruce Lee movies over and over with my Laotian cousins and neighbors growing up (well, two reasons, the first being Bruce Lee is awesome). Lee was practically the the only Asian in pop culture in the 90’s. And by that point he was dead.
B). I always found it unsettling that people in small towns are often portrayed as racist, stupid, misogynist hillbillies…when in fact I witnessed that behavior far more in my professional relationship with Tinsel Town than I ever did growing up.
[three]
The Brooklyn Nets are in the hunt for an NBA championship, but point guard Kyrie Irving says he’s not focused on basketball.
From the May 15 post-game presser:
I’m not going to lie to you guys, a lot of stuff is going on in this world, and basketball is just not the most important thing to me right now. There’s a lot of stuff going on overseas. All my people are still in bondage across the world, and there’s a lot of dehumanization going on.
So I apologize if I’m not going to be focused on y’all’s questions. It’s just too much going on in the world for me to just be talking about basketball. I focus on this s*** 24/7, most of the time, but it’s just too much going on in this world not to address. It’s just sad to see this s*** going on. It’s not just in Palestine, it’s not just in Israel. It’s all over the world, man, and I feel it. I’m very compassionate … to all races, all cultures, and to see a lot of different people being discriminated against based on their religion, color of their skin, what they believe in. It’s just sad.
We all say we’re human beings, and we care, and we’re compassionate, but what are you doing to help? … My goal out here, my purpose is to help humanity. And I can’t sit here and not address that. I don’t care which way you stand. On either side, if you’re a human being, and you support the anti-war effort that’s going on. There’s a lot of people losing their lives — children, a lot of babies, and that’s just what I’m focused on.
Observations:
A). The pro-athlete-who-thinks-he’s-a-policy-expert is a relatively new cultural phenomenon. I can’t imagine sports superstars of the past, like Michael Jordan, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire or Tony Hawk, going off in a press conference like this. To the contrary, most sports stars of my formative years (90’s-00’s) carefully guarded their images in the pre-social-media era, to maximize sponsorship deals.
B). Politics is not Kyrie’s job, basketball is his job. If you or I acted like this, we would get fired.
C). Irving is 29 years old, single, with no kids and a net worth of $90 million. To his credit, Kyrie donated more than $300K to feed needy families last year, which is less than a third of the $1.5 million he donated for WNBA players to be paid during the pandemic. Irving bought school supplies for 25 Kenyan girls (a necessity), which was a fraction of his donation to the WNBA. It’s not correct to say the Kyrie isn’t charitable, but that he likely doesn’t have a clear picture of the state of the world, if he’s giving (far) more to fellow pro athletes than young girls in poverty in Africa.
Which leads me to the conclusion…
D). Irving appears to let emotion take the wheel in his life, while logic is banished to the back seat. His press conference comments and charitable giving alike point to a man who believes feeling something is the same thing as it being so in the world. The Israel/Palestine conflict is decades old, and (at least from this clip) it doesn’t sound like Irving has done much research to thoroughly understand the topic, and what solutions have been attempted and failed. But he feels it deeply, and Irving apparently equates an outburst on a hot mic with a well researched theory on what could solve the generational conflict.
[four]
The classic 1980’s education video game Oregon Trail, enjoyed by many a younger Gen Xers and Elder (sorry, GERIATRIC) Millennials, is getting a more historically accurate reboot, with the hopes the original players will revisit the game with their children.
NPR reports:
University of Nebraska historian Margaret Huettl has Lac Courte Oreilles tribal ancestors. She researched old photos and drawings for accurate depictions of different tribes' clothing and style. "Initially, all of the Native people [in the revamped game] had braids," Huettl says. "And I think we suggested, maybe they don't all have to have braids."
One major teaching moment for Trudgen was about bows and arrows. He definitely wanted them.
"There are a lot of popular games out there, Tomb Raider and Last of Us, and like these big games — where bow and arrows are sick," Trudgen says.
But historian Huettl explained that if you were a Native American trapper at the time of the Oregon Trail, you were more likely to have a rifle, so bows and arrows are an outdated stereotype.
"That wasn't our intention at all, obviously," Trudgen says. "We were just coming to it sort of as a naive 'bow and arrows are cool' angle."
David Lewis teaches anthropology and ethnic studies at Oregon State University, and he's a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde — territories where many settlers ended up.
"They [tribes] were excited initially for all the new products — the guns, the metals and fabrics and things like that," Lewis says.
But, he says, the real Oregon Trail wasn't a positive story for Native Americans. The settlers kept coming, and the government forced tribes into bad deals — treaties that gave away their best land and forced their people onto reservations where many died.
"That settlement of Oregon then was initially just a theft of land," he says. "By and large, the experience of Native people was one of continual loss for the first 70 or 80 years."
Indigenous people didn't become U.S. citizens until 1924. Lewis says they had no rights.
It's hard to encapsulate all of that into a video game. But historian Huettl says the designers were serious about getting it right. The prairies she knows well are beautiful in the game.
One of the main intellectual battles in the public space over the last three years is about how to teach history, particularly as Nikole Hannah-Jones’ New York Times funded 1619 Project has risen in popularity in public schools even as more and more historians point out gaping holes in the historical accuracy (long read on that via The Atlantic) and as Hannah-Jones herself has stated…is not historically accurate.
When I asked my high school history teacher why the textbook justified Sherman’s March to the Sea during the Civil War (in which Atlanta was burned, private homes were destroyed, the private property of poor, non-slave owning farmers was looted and women were raped) the teacher simply told me “it’s in the book” and so I should be ready for the test. (Side note: all those things are war crimes). 1619 seems to be a rebuttal to that flawed teaching method, albeit one that’s allegedly swung too far the other way at the cost of historical accuracy.
Oregon Trail should be one of those rare moments in pop culture when everyone should be able to agree…because the game strives to present the events with historical accuracy, and allows the player to draw their own conclusions.
[five]
Let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup:
Friends: The Reunion releases a week from today. First trailer here.
Apparently it’s a good week for brining new life to beloved sitcoms. No official word on a Parks & Rec reboot or reunion, but P&R fictional character Andy Dwyer (portrayed by Chris Pratt) will finally see “Bye Bye Lil Sebastian” (an ode to the fictional death of a miniature horse) released on vinyl. And cassette. In real life. You can buy them here.
Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead released on Netflix today. One one hand, you’re probably already decided on whether or not you’ll watch a heist movie featuring a zombie tiger. On the other, if you’re skeptical, my friend Dan Buffa’s review for KSDK St. Louis might just convince you to give it a shot.
The first trailer for the big screen adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen dropped this week, a blockbuster musical of Hamilton proportions with a soundtrack that’s pretty Greatest-Showman-esque. This is sure to be a huge hit, with a cast that includes Julianne Moore and Amy Adams. But the decision to cast 27 year old Ben Platt (who won the 2017 Tony Award for best actor in a musical) is already getting torn to shreds on social media…because Platt looks so odd in the part. It’s not uncommon for actors in their twenties to play teens, but usually those actors look younger, not like 30something assistant bank branch managers. Platt’s vocals made DEH a hit, but he was first cast for the broadway show way back in 2014, when he was just 20 years old.
With a built in fan base of the stage show and soundtrack, DEH is surely aiming for the 2021 awards season, but Platt’s presence in the trailer almost comes off as parody, like when the sitcom 30 Rock featured 50something comedian Steve Buscemi as a private eye trying to infiltrate a local high school.
If you’re a “Geriatric Millennial” like me, you likely have strong elementary school memories of reading R.L. Stine under the covers. Stine penned horror-light-for-the-under-16-crowd series Goosbumps and Fear Street, which might be called the Harry Potter of the early 90’s. Netflix announced the Fear Street series will be adapted into a trilogy of movies, spanning in time from 1666-1994. The books were “PG horror” but the movies are rated R.
MUSIC: NEEDTOBREATHE are back with a new single featuring Carrie Underwood. Lana Del Rey dropped three songs. Disney channel alum Olivia Rodrigo sets herself up as the next big pop star with her debut album Sour. Mat Kearney’s new album January Flower released today (despite what the title emplies, ha). 90’s alt-rock darlings Garbage return with two new singles (here and here). Rapper J. Cole (YouTube), Americana phenom Tyler Childers (YouTube) and pop diva Pink (Amazon Prime) all released music documentaries this week. Lil Baby & Kirk Franklin’s “We Win” from the Space Jam 2 Soundtrack, feels like the first big pop hit of the summer. Rural TN rapper nobigdyl. announced a collaboration album with Mogli the IceBerg and Jon Keith, first take a listen to the first single. Soul vocalist Teddy Swims’s Unlearning album is out, as is (drunker, more rural sounding) Missouri native Nathaniel Rateliff’s new single. And last, but not least, British singer/songwriter Masie Peters (one of the best Gen Z songsmiths) has a new album in the form of the soundtrack for Season 2 of the Apple+ original Trying.
Until the next one,
-sth