When Dawson’s Creek came out, in ehm ehm 1998, I truly loved it. I was the same age as the main characters, they were asking themselves some of the same questions I was asking myself, I didn’t have the same life as they did, not at all, but I could see something of myself in them and in their endless conversations. And so did my classmates, I remember a guy starting questioning his sexual orientation after Jack came out. My mom used to watch TV shows with me, from Friends to Dharma & Greg (I have been addicted to TV show since the 90s), but she didn’t like Dawson’s Creek, they talk too much, she used to say. Well, now I think she wasn’t wrong, they do speak a lot (well I think she was also uncomfortable with how much they speak about having sex for the first time, but that’s another story). Now that I am closer to her age than to my age back then, I feel myself reacting to TV shows in a similar way. That’s when I realised that I am a boomer (besides in technology or social media-related moments).
At least I am not one of those boomers who think that the new generation is worse than the previous ones, and that they have no values. Quite the contrary, I like the new generation. Disclaimer: I live surrounded by boomers, I have zero contact with teenagers, I base my knowledge solely on TV shows.
I react in the same lame way my mother was reacting in front of homosexual characters when I watch Sex education, which has non-binary characters and a mom who has casual sex; I am happy they are free(er) to express themselves and be who they are. My mom (who was born in the mid 40s) was giggling of joy when she was saying someone was gay, probably because in the 90s she could finally say it out loud.
Similarly, I am thrilled when I notice differences between Gossip Girl 2021 and Gossip Girl 2007; Julien is a bully just as Blair, but she apologies for it, because her self-confidence is strong, whereas Blair she would have never admitted her mistakes publicly, even less apologised for being a bully. My boomer inner self wants to believe that self-confidence differentiates the new generation from mine. A friend recently told me that her 16-year-old goddaughter doesn’t have social media. Are they wiser, stronger?
Speaking of bullyism, I recently watched Al Rawabi school for girls, a Jordanian TV show (thanks Netflix for not showing US products only) on bullyism at a girl school and its tragic consequences. It touched me, it brought up some sad memories from high school. I don’t know you, but I did not enjoy my high school years, mainly because of bullies. I wasn’t a victim of bullyism myself, but it was around me and I did suffer from some mild bullyism, if we can say that. Maybe what made me suffer the most was to see friends choosing bullies, choosing to spend time with them at school. Not that I ever did something to defend or stand up for victims, so I am not blameless. I changed school, contrary to Mariam, who decides to stay. Back then, when classmates found out I was going to change school, the mother of a classmate who was a victim of bullyism, ask my mother why I was not staying, instead of fleeing. Even now, I don’t understand the point of staying, I don’t see it as fleeing when you choose not to see a bully every day, be it a classmate or a boss. What do we need to demonstrate, and to whom? I believe life is too short to force ourselves to live around mean people that we could avoid seeing (says the wise boomer, when I was a teenager I chose to change because I was too miserable).
Going back to TV shows, there are moments when I don’t understand the new generation (as it is portrayed in them), like when I watched The Chair. Is it fair to sacrifice a person, to ruin their life because they did a mistake, without really giving them a change to explain themselves, learn and change? Is it fair than a person bears the burden of a whole generation? Can and shall we save individuals from paying the price for the whole category they belong to? TV shows make us reflect on our society, they spur debate. This is the main reason why I like TV shows so much; they are a mirror of society and of (some of) their social changes.
Blabbering of a millennial 