What is a millennial ultimately?
The answer appears to be both complex and simple, given that every new generation is called upon to provide a solution to problems that the past generation has been determined to eradicate for their own legacy, but which never quite got there. Somebody, I don’t remember how it was, claimed at one point that the ideas and hopes of the 1960s never quite levelled out as the 1970s began.
In the documentary, THE REVOLUTION GENERATION, actor and activist Michelle Rodriguez (AVATAR, the FAST AND FURIOUS franchise) attempts (as somebody who proudly states at the outset of the film that ‘it is OK to **** up’) to analyse and demystify the concept and ideal behind this generation.
There are contributions from various commentators across the US, including Neil Howe, whose book ‘Generations’ focuses on how archetypes repeat themselves (in cycles of eighty years) in four generational forms, Artist, Hero, Nomad and Prophet, based on four turnings, High, Awakening, Unravelling and Crisis which also highlights how specific moments in history define each form and turning.
The film is a sobering expose of the indirect effect of how previous ideals and generations sell specific hopes and ideals on the next set of hopeful and idealistic individuals. The power and value of education is one such element that throws spanners in the works and out in the open, as it is claimed in the film that many students in the USA have over hundreds of thousands of dollars of student debt that they clearly may not, or will not, be able to pay back.
In turn, this principle thus gives a real pessimistic prospect for anyone who wants to consider an education and leading to a low-wage income that doesn’t exactly set the bar high for getting into that dream future or job, which was the point of millennials and generations past getting into education in the first place.
However, don’t be detached from this documentary if you are looking on the outside in – and not part of the American democratic vote – as there is also an interesting revelation about the ranked choice voting system that places like Australia, Ireland and the UK uses in their own election process which does make you also think about how your vote is cast.
Disenfranchisement seemingly is the order of the day at the moment with regard to how millennials have been given their chance to make a difference to who governs in the USA and the one-person-one-vote mentality seems to have running in the shadows (or is that Shadow Cabinet in the UK?)
Whatever your perspective on what happened in 2016 with Donald Trump’s entry into the White House, this is also an interesting reflection on what the popular vote’s context and process means every four years and there is much to absorb in the future.
Placed in the context today of#MeToo and #Black Lives Matter, it is something to consider about what people are truly entitled to within a structure of belief and faith that is diluted by established political principles.
THE REVOLUTION GENERATION is in turn a balanced and insightful movie that should be seen by all generations past, present and future as a point of reference. Ultimately, it is down to the emotional and political desires of each individual in a vote-friendly world to make up their own minds and not to waste anything that could help them gain the right future for themselves, their families and friends.
The Los Angeles International Film Festival 2021 runs online from 16th – 21st November 2021. For info on selections and tickets etc, please go to:
www.laiff.org
