Sulking with Lisa Loeb on the Ice Planet Hoth

List

The writer says first the media was able to accurately defined an entire demographic with all the traits being true or false. With this statement we can then make sense of all the writers similies toward the movie. (151)

We are told that the Gen Xers are whiny by the media, we can then make the connection between Luke Skywalker being the first Gen Xer because of his whiny attitude. (152)

In a later part of the writing Chuck Klosterman explains that in a scene of the movie Darth Vader informs Luke Skywalker that he has to make an important decision. Luke can either keep battling the dark force which he is most likely to end up losing to, or compromise his ethics and join the "bad" guys. This passage connects to the decision many Gen Xers made as the graduated from college.

Summary:

The passage "Sulking with Lisa Loeb on the Ice Planet Hoth" was written to show a similarity to the movie "The Empire Strikes Back" to Generation X. The author Chuck Klosterman uses many different scenes from the movies to relate to the media's pundits whether they were positive or negative. The passage also contained other movies and famous celebrities of the Generation X era. Chuck Klosterman gives his opinion on everything as well.

This article was definetly a in your face kind of writing style. I really enjoyed it because I felt as if the author was really talking to you. The examples the author used were really good from the different scenes to the character personalities he adressed. All of his reasoning was well backed too. The author hits all of the positive attributes of Generation X as well as all of the negative attributes. Another thing I liked about the reading was the fact that the author picked a movie just about everyone has seen and can relate. This comes in handy when he is trying to explain his reading. Overall I really liked this reading because of the "In your face" writing style the author uses.

"What I like about You"

List:

Appeals to Gen X:
Using actress Jennie Garth from Beverly Hills 90210
Brief demo of robot and wave dance moves from the 80s
Gen X Nostalgie

Appeals to Gen Y:
Boybands
Personal Tech
Wheels(Rollerblades, Skateboards)

When trying to devise a new smash hit sitcom series WB decided to use the generation gap between Gen Y(1979-1994) and GenX(1965-1983) as the theme of the show and jokes. They placed two sisters seperated by ten plus years in the same house. 16 year old Holly is sent to live with her 28 year old sister Valerie after their father has left to go over seas. The producers also incorporate an African American friend to instill balck originated music and style to attract a wide variety of viewers.
The show "What I Like About You" is a good attempt at trying to reach a broad range of viewers. Setting the show in a city like New York City is already a good location to incorporate a wide range of diversity and culture. Since Gen Y is more used to diversity I think it was a good idea to give Holly a black friend. It also helps in bringing in black viewers. The producers picked a good theme for the show with it involving the generation gap between Gen X and Gen Y. It allows for a lot of comedy due to misunderstandings. The network hopes to draw some male viewers by using attractive actresses, but I think the plot will keep the show from reaching a lot of male viewers. Overall it is a good attempt to reach a broad range of viewers.

Generations

Comparison List of iGeneration to the Greatest Generation

iGeneration has never been in a major world war.
iGeneration has never had to deal with the threat of communism.
In the iGeneration there has been far greater increase in electronic devices such as mp3 players.
The iGeneration has had the advance of the mobile phone.
The Greatest Generation has lived through an after war rebuilding process.

Summary:
The iGeneration can be defined as the people born within the times of 1986 to 1999. It was given September 11th as its endpoint to cap off the era. The iGeneration has been considered the most technologically advanced generation yet. The generation has made the use of personal computers, video phones, and mp3 players popular. Therfore giving it the reputation as being a big technology generation. This generation is also called the Internet Generation or Myspace Generation.

The Greatest Generation can be summed up to be best described as being a young G.I. generation. Most of the people in this generation served in World War 2 and then again in the Korean War. They were a wartime generation but were also part of the reconstruction that followed the two wars. Generation Y and the iGeneration are considered the same generation. Both of the generations are trademarked for their advances in electronics both personal and industrial. The cutoff for this generation is September 11th. Generation Y and the iGeneration have not been exposed to a major world war making them different than the Greatest Generation.

Belonging To A "Generation"

List:
Common Age Location
Common Beliefs and Behavior
Perceived Membership in a Common Generation

Straus and Howe write about the distincitons and qualifications of a generation. The writers try to best explain a way to set limits on when one generation begins and when one ends. Some of the factors they use for this are birth time, age of reproduction, and of death. While distinguishing the boundaries of a generation they also interpret the job of each generation. The article also goes on to explain the factors and definiton of a peer personality.

The article expressed ideas and theories of what makes a generation. I agree with their thoughts of what makes social categories. They give good examples such as religion, income, and race. Straus and Howe used good examples to mark their unofficial generations with the GI and Silent generations. Another part of the article that I agreed strongly with was the roles of each generation. I think they defined each role well and placed it in the appropriate age group. The authors also made a good point with how they believed each generation reacts to a major event such as a war. They explained that each generation would assume their job or position based on their age. For example a middle age adult would take a leadership position while late age adult would give advice and provide stewardship. Overall I think the article was well written and had some credible names mentioned in it giving it some accuracy.