Heroes and Those Damn Kids On My Lawn
By Ned Resnikoff - Sep 23rd, 2008 at 3:35 pmVia The Editorialiste, New York Times television critic Alessandra Stanley uses her review of a silly yet momentarily diverting TV serial as an opportunity to jump down the throats of everyone in my generation:
And Generation Y has more special abilities than any previous one: these are people who came of age taking the Internet, BlackBerries, cash machines, Facebook and iPods for granted. They also take the taking for granted. They are the most coddled, indulged and overprotected generation ever. Swaddled in safety and self-esteem, they have all been assured that they are special. They don’t rebel against their parents or even seek independence; they welcome an electronic umbilical cord that stretches through high school and college and even the post-graduate return to the empty nest. On “Heroes” those filial bonds stretch beyond the grave: even after his father is dead, Hiro (Masi Oka) still receives his fatherly advice via prerecorded DVD.
Funny–you wouldn’t even know she’s reviewing a TV show until you got to the last sentence of that paragraph. Actually, most of the review is given over to anti-generation Y (or Q, if you’re David Brooks) vitriol, which raises the question: What the hell, New York Times? Have you officially given up on attracting a younger demographic, instead opting to forcefully push them away? Some people just want to read a review.
As for the substance of Stanley’s critique: It seems like there will always be people of any generation who like to believe that theirs is the awesomest ever, and the one that succeeds them will be full of shiftless narcissists–but that would be just a little bit easier to swallow in this case if it hadn’t been Stanley’s generation that wielded the lion’s share of political power during an era that saw a disastrous war, a global climate crisis, and the seeds of an economic meltdown. For all this talk about young people being coddled and indulged, it’s our generation that’s going to be dealing with the ramifications of all of this long after Stanley’s moves to Florida and starts playing bingo.
I love how a critique of a television review can immediately turn so political. Great last paragraph. During this whole financial crisis, everyone that is my parents age keeps saying to me, “Well, I feel most sorry for you and the following generation.”
Gee, thanks Pop.
nice post.
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:13 pmThe only issue I take with anyone, critic or otherwise, pointing out that my generation IS, in fact, a bit stunted by overprotection is that they consistently neglect the fact that THEY caused this. Every single thing this critic lists is a direct result of parenting and is supported by a general social consensus that this is how children should be raised.
That said, this woman clearly needs another outlet. A TV series review is hardly the appropriate venue for such an unproductive rant.
September 24th, 2008 at 12:43 pm