Reality Bites and Generation X as Spectator

This article is about the life and times of an idea called "Generation X," and, in particul- ar, it is about the articulation of this idea with regard to contemporary visual culture. According to Jim Finnegan, "[N]othing has been assumed to be so thoroughly incorporated, so cliché, as the term Generation X. The common-sense consensus in both academic popular culture studies and subcultural theory, as well as in the 'alternative' youth culture industries themselves, is that Generation X is so passé, so universally un-hip, that even by remarking its passing one risks marking oneself as square beyond repair." It is perhaps because of the rank unhipness of the notion of Generation X that the subject remains almost wholly untouched by those working under the rubric of cultural studies. Subcultural theorists, it seems reasonable to assume, prefer their subcultures to be far more radical, both aesthetically and politically, than the middle-class, white-boy angst that the term Generation X suggests.

This article therefore addresses something of a void within cultural studies. I would suggest this void to be quite a large one, since Gen X was one of the subjects of U.S. public culture during the 1990s. My purpose here is to partially recuperate the notion of Generation X for cultural studies if only because I believe such a project holds valuable lessons for those wishing to apprehend the historical conditions of contemporary subcultural formations. My argument here is that Generation X qua subcultural configuration, itself a construct of various layers (mainstream, niche-targeted, and independent) of U.S. media vectors in the 1990s, is somewhat removed from how subcultures are understood in already-received (what might be called "traditional") versions of subcultural theory. In essence, I suggest that Generation X is more usefully defined as a spectatorship rather than as a group of individuals with common practices and rituals. Through a reading of the emblematic Gen X film Reality Bites, I argue that the subcultural specificity of Gen X subjectivity revolves more around a unique relationship with media—particularly visual media—rather than a visual style (e.g., dress, music tastes, etc.).

Indeed, the purpose here is not to call into question the media's representation of the Xer subculture. The function of disputing media representations of the Xer subculture has been under way for some time within the subculture itself, making an academic retread of this exercise somewhat irrelevant. Moreover, this article aims to use the example of Generation X to question many of the assumptions underpinning such a practice. In this article I will limit myself to analyzing only media representations of Gen Xers rather than conducting any ethnographic research into the "authentic" Gen X subculture itself. The purpose here is not to infer any truths about "actual" Gen Xers from these media representations, however, but to illuminate the historical role that media representations have had in the constitution of the "authentic" Gen X subculture. Following theorists such as Sarah Thornton, I argue that the Generation X subculture is thoroughly dependent on the media—even the mainstream media—for its very identity. Whereas past subcultural theorists have tended to dismiss mass media as a "repressive" mechanism that aims to nullify the radical potential of subcultures, I argue that, in the case of contemporary subcultural formations, the media can just as easily act as a "productive" mechanism. That is, the media helps to generate and proliferate subcultural identity even as it appears to be subjugating and containing it. To demonstrate this point I look to the varying receptions of the Gen X film Reality Bites. To further explore the interconnections between the categories of "media" and "authentic subcultural identity," I go on to give a detailed reading of the film's narrative, which itself serves as a rumination on subcultural identity. It is first necessary, however, to introduce the notion of Generation X.

Generation X, On-Screen and Off

Prior to 1991, no one...