This hits hard. Feels like I'm just waiting for someone to figure out the non-corny way to show phones and the internet on film but I wonder if the reason it always feels so cringe on screen is because we know it's cringe irl. It's embarrassing and we feel like we should be interacting in a different, better way.
Agreed, and I think just because it feels embarrassing doesn't mean it doesn't also feel important or meaningful. Either we'll figure out a better way to portray it, or maybe we'll just get over the embarrassment.
This might sound cringe and you gotta hear me out, even for how sexualized and absurd it is euphoria kinda gets the internet and the way gen z talks to eachother more so then I think anything else I’ve ever seen
Jason Pargin made that exact same point in I'm starting to worry about this black box of doom. Whenever a character in a movie says something like 'we're trending on Twitter!', you cringe because you associate social media with time-wasting and pointless scrolling. Or when a character is relaxing on the couch scrolling on their phone you judge them and think of them as lazy, even though (or probably because) it's something we all do way too much irl.
Bo Burnham's "Eighth Grade" feels stupidly accurate. It might be a bit outdated now, but, as a 19-year-old, it's by far the most accurate portrayal of how the internet feels that I've seen so far.
I think we should still make movies about gen z that don’t involve phones! I know I use my phone a lot, but when I’m hanging out with my friends I’m never on it.
Im Gen Z and my screen time average for my phone is only a couple hours a day, mostly for music/youtube/tv. Everyone seems to think EVERY Gen Z is a “screenager”, most of my friends and I just do real friend things instead of being on our phones all the time
@Reiiven well yes ur phones screen time might not be that high but on days where your not hanging out your probably using screens like tvs or gaming ?
I like never even use my phone outside because I want to enjoy the moment ofc I will look at it when I need to see the time or someone is calling me but I never use like outside only at home or when I'm bored I would rather read a book than using my phone outside like an zombie
I agree, but when you're not with your friends you have to use to communicate with them, and I feel like that's how our generation communicates most of the time
Growing up in gen z and asking older people about their experiences makes you realize this is also because we lost a dominant monoculture, we all have a group of niches and jokes are no longer universal to a majority of people.
+@@maxonmendel5757 no, it means that humans come to the same conclusions and share them, and then those people share that opinion further if it resonates with them. Exactly what'll happen as a result of this person's comment.
yeah and i think ppl talk about this like it's a bad thing and i honestly really disagree with that? i think it's actually pretty cool that anyone can get into a niche hobby or listen to whatever music they want and still have a community to turn to. a big monoculture can feel alienating to people who don't resonate with it.
I feel that Heartstopper does quite a good job of portraying the use of phones, texting and social media within its universe (set in current times). I think the key is weaving the use of phones and texting into the story so it seems natural while advancing the plot. We also get the butterflies as we see the 3 dots show up on Charlie's screen, we feel the same joy as we see Nick smile in response to a notification sound etc. But you are right in that it doesn't take up the whole plot of the episodes! Amazing video by the way, got me thinking quite a bit
i also thought of heartstopper IMMEDIATELY! i remember watching that scene where nick is laying on his bed texting charlie, and seeing his reaction to every text and i remember relating to it so much! it definitely doesn't make up whole plots, but i think it doesn't HAVE to. I don't use my phone when i'm hanging out with friends unless i want to show them something, but i definitely experience a lot of interactions with them when we're not in person and i feel like heartstopper nailed those moments
This was my exact thought! A great use of it in heartstopper I also like is Nick’s habit of googling things. Like when his mom commented on Charlie not eating much at the family dinner and he immediately googles “eating disorder”. Like yeah it’s cringey but goddamn if it isn’t realistic.
I came here to say Heartstopper as well! That scene in S1 where Charlie is like "asfghjfghfdljkfh im screaming" while he lies silently on his bed but you can see from his expression that he's having that very relatable experience of being excited that his crush invited him to a party. It's iconic.
I feel the same about heartbreak high. It’s the best depiction of gen z I think I’ve seen so far. Seeing your crush post a thirst trap on Instagram and having your friends shove it in your face is a pretty realistic thing. There are others I can’t think of but I frickin love that show
I was about to comment about Heartstopper too! As I was watching the show, there were a couple of moments where I actually thought “Huh, this is a surprisingly good depiction of how teenagers use phones!” It’s definitely the best I’ve seen so far.
There was a Norwegian TV series called Skam that aired during the mid 2010s that i think is a wonderful example of using technology as part of the storytelling. While the show was airing, in between weekly episodes they would make real social media posts that were included in the narrative. The characters had Instagram accounts, and their posts would act as teasers and small clues as to the content of the next episode. This created a feeling like the show was occurring in real time. They also did a really good job incorporating texts and the internet in the episodes as well. The actors were also much closer to the ages of their characters than most teen storylines and all of this together created an extremely relatable story about older generations Z's high-school experience in real time, utilizing the parascociallity of social media to connect the viewer to the story and facilitate bounding with the characters as if they were peers. I found it extremely relatable as I was around the same age as the characters and I thought they depicted what it felt like to be in high-school circa 2016 perfectly. It is quite easy to find episodes online with English subtitles.
I remember my teacher putting this on in my school when I was younger, I may have found the film disturbing but it did do an excellent job depicting it.
Definitely a unique issue for visual story tellers to include smart phones and (more importantly) accurately portray how young people are using smartphones. I also think most of the time we are seeing characters interact with or on their phones its not being portrayed as a neutral action, its always portrayed as annoying or over-exaggerated rather than just something the character is doing.
the other thing i find with high school shows about gen z aged characters is the absurd amount of slang they use, particularly when its integrated awkwardly. i don't think gen z use especially more slang than other generations + what i think a lot of film & tv writers miss is that a huge amount of our slang is intended to be used on the internet - and it sounds weird, even to us, to be said aloud! the other week someone in my class used the word "demure" (with a level of self-awareness) and everyone chuckled, because it's embarrassing/cringe, and we _know_ that! we are not using slang out loud to the same degree we use it on social media; our language is informed by our (very online) context
I always found usonian slang to be quite tame compared to other languages. It's usually re-purposing already existing words instead of making up entirely new words. For example here in Argentina we flip words around very often, sorta like french slang. For example, the word 'example' would be written and pronounced plexam. Obviously that's a pointless example, but here's one with more punch: tardbass. It has an extra S for Safety, but it sounds like a fun 'new' word.
I think one issue is that the people who grew up on current technology aren't the ones making these movies; since being a teenager on social media is a super modern phenomenon, and extremely different from what was going on before. The way that technology affects communication remained largely the same for a long time until smartphones rolled around, so theoretically it's easier for someone growing up in the 70s to make a 90s teen movie than for someone who grew up in the 90s to make a 2010s teen movie. Also, I think another major issue is the difference in how emotional interactions appear to be when in person vs online. Usually people keep a more straight face when scrolling on their phone, and you can't hear someone's vocal tone over text. Sitcoms are heavily reliant on exaggerated body language and facial expressions, which would likely seem extremely out of place with most day-to-day texting conversations. Of course, people don't really interact like sitcom characters, either... When it comes to miscommunications, though, I think there's plenty of potential for that with smartphones, such as deadzones, dead battery, typos, multi factor authentication, forgotten password, slow internet, etc. Movies should really tap into that more often
Also, it could be that maybe some of the writers who are making movies for today's teens might not have kids of their own and therefore can't relate. I'm a Gen Xer, in my mid-40s, who's single and has no children, so I can't relate to today's youth, plus my niece is only 4 years old. Today's kids and teens might be struggling with things that someone like me wouldn't understand.
I actually think it isn’t that different. Plus the way people interact with social media isn’t that different either. There isn’t a lot of room for creative play within corporate websites. Also, I hate that we keep talking about generations liken they are real and meaningful. They aren’t. No sociologist worth their degree would take such a large and diverse cohort seriously. Any data you can ply via “generations” would be far more accurate using more grounded cohorts. Modern generations were first and foremost a marketing tool and that is, in a way, how they are still used. Hence the catchy headlines and the youtube videos like this one made to center them.
There is still miscommunications that happen even with smartphones, writers just need to pull from those situations instead of going back to old scenarios. I honestly think gen z can get our rep if gen z were the ones behind the writing in the movie. Social media can definenately be visually interesting in shows or movies, its just the people making the movies don't understand this as intuitively
I agree. In fact there are a lot of miscommunications and awkward situations created by the use of social media, texting, etc. Something like interpreting someone's tone in the wrong way or worrying about how long to wait before you reply to someone, not knowing the meaning of an acronym and then pretending like you do. These are themes that are very often present in the memes and the short form skit videos these days. Someone who's not genz could atleast analyse that culture through different sources without judging it, before trying to depict it.
Heck, a person splitting up their texts badly could cause major damage if they said the exact wrong thing. Furthermore, saying what should be uncontroversial in an arena that thinks it controversial.
Definitely lots of miscommunication still happening, and lots of issues that can arise from a situation where you would think "One phone call should fix this..."
SKAM is the only show I've seen that feels like it really captures the way gen-z interacts using the internet without it feeling corny. I think the fact that there's silences when we see characters drafting texts, deleting what they say, adds to the feeling of it being relatable. Highly recommend the show to everyone! I rec the OG Oslo version first
The graph at 3:16 isn’t wrong but it is misleading. The graph ends at 2020 which was during the pandemic so it makes perfect sense why everyone is getting dates online. It’s because outside is dangerous.
I agree! Heartstopper does a pretty good job at implementing mobile phones and social media into the story and visuals without it feeling forced or unnatural. I think they've done it pretty well. It was really refreshing to see.
@@gigilovesmossI agree, it is cheesy.. but it’s supposed to be! It is supposed to make you feel second hand embarrassment because tbh being a teenager means doing a lot of embarrassing stuff
@@Eva-tz4zy yeah it def does play that up but i mean it's cheesy in like a bad representation way. me and like 90% of the ppl ik r in some way lgbt+ and heartstopper does not represent well and i think the way they handled a lot of sexuality and gender topics made it so cheesy like specifically one scene where issac is coming out and its like "do you think fish have gender" it feels like they have middle school brain in high school idk might be a hot take
This is so interesting! I always blamed the cringy, inaccurate takes on Gen Z on the super old writers, but maybe there's just no way to truly capture our life on a screen. Ironic, of course. I hate how so much of our life is on a screen! We should be able to be portrayed without it, but it's impossible. That's just who we are... Anyway, you have a new subscriber. Keep it up, bro!
i find the best depictions of gen z romance ironically in written form rather than in visual form 😅 or maybe its just because there written by gen z authors
I think it's a combination of those 2 issues back then in the 80s and even 90s I do think writers were out of touch but every adult in that time period seemed out of touch with being a teenager and or heck being a kid. And unlike kids today and even adults we had no internet and could really mostly rely on out of touch media and out of touch adults for references on how real life was at least that was what it like for me. Plus they were kind of hypocriteal, arbitrary, and were kind of held power over us.
I feel like the problem is that the shift in societal norms is just too rapid and unpredictable for the older generation to understand. Also the term gen z is just so boardly used nowadays it’s honestly hard to grasp what a gen z is. The age difference is just too much. While some gen zs are already having kids and such, some are still in high school. And the internet too, the way trends evolve is just too fast that it’s hard for film makers to make a movie in time. Not to mention pre-COVID and post-COVID gen z. The whole world just seems to have turned upside down after COVID and we are still getting used to it. The whole “being stuck at home for 1 year straight” has made a substantial impact on society as a whole and teen culture seems to have changed drastically ever since. But that being said, I still wish someday a film maker could understand all that bs and give us something gen z could relate to. (Great vid btw love it❤ underrated as hell)
@ soooo true!! Not to be that guy cause I’m also an atheist, but I genuinely believe it’s due to a lack of faith in anything. Not just religion, but our government and just the world as a whole everything just seems to have turned shit after Covid and no one is doing anything about it. And on top of that, ever since we were kids, we were told that the world would end due to global warming. I mean, yeah it’s good for getting us into those habits that helps fight global warming, but it also just messes with a child’s brain so much. And the general lack of control we have over our lives too. As we grow older, we slowly realize that nothing is really in our hands. The internet is both a blessing and a curse. It made us so self aware on everything that is happening on earth rn that we just gave up. Cause one can only keep on going for so long after being disappointed by those in charge time and time again. Remember how I talked about how we’re essentially told that the world would end ever since we were young? Yeah, well the problem is that 71% of the world’s greenhouse emissions are from 100 companies. Just 100 companies alone is responsible for messing up our world. How messed up is that!? Yet, there’s a demand, there will be a supply. And they’re sneaky assholes too. So unless they stop trying to maximize profits and make some actual changes instead of “oMg lOoK at uS, we doNaTed 20 mIL t0 chAritY. (even though we made 2 billion in profit ;>)”, we are pretty much doomed to live in hell on earth.
I hate how every school in media depicts the bell as an actual bell that goes "ring" instead of them just blairing "BEEEP" over the speakers Every school i have been to used speaker beeps, and it's a subtle bit of immersion that is lacking
Wow most of the schools I've gone to have had bells, really bad heating and AC, and painfully awful fire alarms. Of course all of those buildings are from the 1970s or older.
I actually think that's such a good point, it's kind of funny seeing how much even the school bell has changed! I'm gen Z (on the older side though, I graduated high school in 2020 ☠). My high school had the traditional ring for each period, but I now coach at that school, and they've changed it to this awful robotic sounding beep. Literally sounds like what I imagine a prison alarm would sound like. I also intern at an elementary school for my university, and their bell is almost like an iPhone ringtone, I literally still jump every time I hear it because of how jarring it is. But like you said, media still shows most schools having a traditional ring.
I‘d actually argue that Euphoria, despite all its flaws, managed to include phones and technology in a proper way. They don‘t necessarily take up a big portion of the relationships allowing for most of the interesting conversations to take place on screen (and honestly, most memorable conversations in our lives to happen in face-to-face settings), but are included in a realistic way, especially when portraying the queer dating world (Jules/„Tyler“ plot).
I think heartstopper is a great representation of Gen-Z. I like that they don't overuse slang, they care about social issues but in a normal way, and the way texting and technology is utilized really well in the plot lines. I like the way they capture the inherent tonal deafness that comes with texting. The scenes of Charlie and Nick texting back and forth is adorable. The way their texts change as their relationship, and the way they show the feeling of the person receiving or sending a reply. My particular favorite is texting as a way to contrast what a character wants to say versus what they actually say. Like when a character writes out and deletes a text multiple times, trying to figure out the best way to say something, and then ultimately deciding not to say it.
'you are so not invited to my bat mitzvah' is the only movie i've related to and its not even entirely aimed at my age group (18). but it does well to depict what middle school was like for me. honestly i haven't found any movies or shows that show what it's like to be in college or highschool for someone in gen z
a show that i feel made a decent portrayal of gen z in the sense that you talked about is Young Royals. going through someone's instegram when you have a crush, how it looks when you're nerveus writing a text, sharing a story with someone without them agreeing beforehand, comments on social media, giving someone your instegram as a way to let them know you want them romanticly, etc. the main conflict of the show begins by someone sharing something privet to social media. and the show also revolves around conflicts that are not only based on easily solvable miscommunication. it doesn't feel like a 50 year old person who looks down on us wrote it, it feels like someone who gets us. it's still a start, but along with other elements in the show, it felt very authentic
I also think Young Royals did this really well, and indeed, like it was done by people who know how teenagers really use social media. I especially liked that the show has quite a serious and heavy tone and that the use of social media didn't at all compromise this
In my experience Heartstopper is a very good representation of gen z (although specifically queer gen z) as it handles all of this very well. What you mentioned with the thighs touching, that is a very big part of heartstopper. When moments like that happen, little graphics pop up on the screen. When Nick and Charlie first touched pinkies, a little electric spark came out. The series really made me feel heard and it is the only truly good depiction of gen z that I’ve seen so far
Felt this. Never even heard of a golden heart until now. I think another difficulty of putting the gen Z's teenage years on film is because how different everyone's experiences are since the internet and apps are so individualized. In High School I hardly even communicated with local people outside of my family. On a whim I met my boyfriend who lives 2,000 miles away from me my junior year and that's all I needed. School and work and hobbies kept me so busy. Even how students are learning are changing. I think the most universal experience of growing up is playing a computer game during computer lab when you're not supposed to and getting the chills when your teacher approaches you from behind and asks you to log out.😂
I was thinking the exact same thing I'm gen z (2009) and can't relate to many of these things. I use my phone to text occasionally but still mostly talk with calling or in person. I'd also never heard of a golden heart either but i only really use YT and discord so wouldn't have.
Yup, another gen z here who didn't get that. Though I guess using no social media except youtube would explain why I've never really had such experiences. Especially when he said teens are on their phones 8 hours a day. Who the heck has 8 hours to spend on their phone? I could barely average 4 and most of the time it was around the 2-3 hour mark.
Watching this video made me realize that maybe Snapchat isn't as frivolous as I thought it was in high school... Turns out sticking only to anonymous social media might've alienated me from my generation and made me afraid of people my own age and younger???
I would love a Shakespearean inspired comedy based on a misunderstood text because of autocorrect or oddly placed comma. So much can be cleared up with a phone call, but I’m a millennial and I refuse to do that.
I think about the scene in Scott Pilgrim where Edgar Wright was able to make receiving an email a exciting/engaging experience. Top teir example on how to incorperate technology
Until Then actually has many of its important interactions happen through DMs and group chats. While not a movie or a show, but a visual novel about filipino highschoolers, it constantly plays on fears of typing out an important message in stream-of-consciousness fashion, then erasing it to type out a more 'filtered' one, then erasing even that one and finally blurting some short nonsense to seem cool, etc. Or the anxiety of seeing somebody type out a message to you, then stopping suddenly and going offline without ever delivering their message, and so on. The game excels at impactful and 'cinematic' DMs.
"maybe you cant express the world in landscape when we all view it in portrait". this alone is a crazy good quote. it sorta summarizes the whole video. and that outro was low key awsome
there’s this tubi original called crushed that i think captures high school dating and crushes perfectly. it follows this girl that has this obsession with this guy and you’re able to see how social media facilitates this. she gets super excited when he follows her back and he uses he never follows anyone back.
Straight-up video essay with a little Karsten Runquist for good measure. Speaks to me, someone hoping to understand the "Gen-Z Style" whilst also being a part of it. Love it!
I find this rather interesting to talk about! 4:52 My biggest thoughts is asking people what they want to see I suppose. Perhaps not take all suggestions but still, listen more to what kids now are feeling and going through. I feel there’s always a lack of real representation in films and shows like these anymore because it seems they lack any real perspective in the sense of what 16 y/o’s are actually doing, it’s just older ppl who are either reliving their pasts or passing down some second hand recant of being young :/ I feel finding a way to balance the reality of teen life now with how we represent film will result in hopefully, better and more relatable experiences in that sense- but also 2 an extent, we have to considered how dramatized and unrealistic many of these classic representation actually tend to be- overall, I have lots of thought on this and really loved the video, def had me thinking.
Heartstopper on Netflix and the movie Bottoms are my favorite gen z teen media. Both imo are accurate, heartstopper for media use and Bottoms for humor. Do Revenge also understands gen z humor better than a lot of things
it’s the same thing i’ve found in books. if they mention phones all the time or even mention social media once i like the book less. the best part is the miscommunication or the running to their apartment to tell them how they feel whereas if they had a phone the book could probably cut 20 pages but it doesn’t feel the same. it’s like escapism from the thing we use the most
I really liked how the series ‘baby’ on netflix showed teens that used their phones, like when they texted or made an instagram story, and there was also an instance of a so to say ‘private video’ of a girl that got sent to the whole school and stuff (so cyber bullying ) and while they showed these things, the characters weren’t on there phones all the time and talked in person, too so I liked the balance of both :)
I feel like this is why most movies made today either take place in the past or just another world entirely to avoid the cell phone problem all together
Something that always bothers me is the complete lack of understanding of different subcultures and how trends aren’t universal across cliques. Like, anime and Taylor swift are both popular, yes, but it’s generally not the same people who are into them. I guess more broadly my biggest issue is when writers get stuff from the internet without realizing they’re very specifically chronically online trends you wouldn’t expect to see the more popular “normie” type teens (who you usually see in media portrayals) engaging with.
This is what I think Heartstopper did super well. Watching them write a text, delete it, write it again, delete it, then just send a keysmash was so relatable lol
I don’t really mind not having phones incorporated into films, since these stories are supposed to highlight the most interesting aspects of the characters’ lives. Maybe an important phone call, but being hunched over with your phone scrolling on Snapchat is not very interesting.
As an older gen-x’er I really appreciate your analysis. It’s so insightful. I think that awful Emoji movie tried to visualize what you describe but didn’t do it well. I also am interested in how folks who are between the ages of 4 and 20 now will make films, if films exist as they do today in 20 more years. Also I love the mic. Very rebel-y Actually, thinking about it, maybe what you’re doing now is tomorrow’s cinema of the future
The most accurate thing I have ever seen is rozyclozy's videos, when a character said "who died and made you president of the club" I silently screamed in relatableness
Everything you say about phones is true, but also media about young people has never been realistic except in the eyes of nostalgic adults looking back. I studied abroad at age 20 and one of the most common questions I got about being an American high schooler had more to do with movie tropes than real life. They wanted to know about cheerleaders and football players constantly wearing their uniforms to school, ruling it all with an iron fist, while everyone else was nerdy/dorky and living in friendless oblivion. Or students in skimpy sexy clothes, the deep importance of prom/homecoming or sporting events/raging house parties with the whole school there. Some of those things might have been true depending on the school, but rarely to the level of film. And I didn’t think about that until I was being asked about each part directly by some people from another country. It’s all heightened and I don’t think that when it comes down to it any teen movie has ever perfectly captured the experience of any teens life if we move beyond broad subjects like love and rejection etc.
yeah it's this. To Gen Z: this has been a thing forever, you just don't notice because ya'll weren't out in the trenches experiencing high school in 2003. Your only concept of 2003 high school is from media portrayals, which OF COURSE match your perception of the time, because your perception of the time comes from movies and media portrayals. It's a complete tautology. Then it's made worse by adults forgetting what high school was actually like for them, and misremembering things, or exaggerating parts of their youth because it's in media so much when it wasn't that big of a deal at the time. and as a millennial I can totally relate to some of the technology drama stuff too, even if I don't participate in snapchat or whatever. I know what it's like to be taken out of a friend's top 8, or talking to people on AIM. or for someone to update their status to "in a relationship" on facebook, But I don't know if zoomers even realize those were parts of our dating lives too if they just go by movies and stuff.
This is one of the things I love about RWBY. Even though it takes place on another world, the fact that they integrate mobile technology into everyday life makes it feel more like real life today than anything written by an older generation trying to appeal to today's youth.
i think if i try to imagine a way to add gen z romance into a comic, my mid goes blank. When you mention all of these instances my first thought is "oh absolutely yes" and in the moment it feels so massive. but once the moment has passed, it feels so para social that i block it out of my memory. What im trying to say is, for me its lack of memory due to embarrassment, byt its an embarrassment that needs to be brought into new media. like saying something stupid during a midnight facetime and not addressing it in real life.
The movie Eighth Grade is a wonderful exception to this. It's as much in phone world as the "real" world. It was written and directed by Bo Burnham, so he had insights on how growing up on social media that most Millennials didn't have to the same extent.
Excellent analysis. As an aspiring filmmaker/writer, my dream goal is to help bridge this gap and create media that can depict the modern teenager experience! You've earned a sub. :)
This is great! Something that you touched on more briefly is that the modern culture moves so darn fast; stuff insanely relevant one month is out of date and cringe the next, and movies can't work on those timescales. Just remember the Emoji Movie.
Is it as bad as it was? Eighth Grade, Anora, I Saw the TV Glow, The Penguin, all have awesome representations of Gen Z or similar. I think our generation is finally able to be on writing teams.
Everything you've listed was written by either older millennials or gen xers. There were no gen zers writing on any of the projects you listed. Maybe contributions but that goes for every project. The fact is, on a core level, younger people haven't changed much over the last 20 years. On the surface, yes, but that's about it.
@ you’re right, I guess I meant that we’re finally getting to the age where we can get our own voices heard on those kinda teams. but I don’t think it’s a bad thing that those were written by not Gen z, The writers probably have kids, and without them Bo Burnham and Sean Baker were somehow able to do it probably the best out of all of them.
8:08 bro didn't even give us a patreon link to join This was really well done. I'm 33 so i grew up in a magical time where we had texting in high school, but our usage was denotative - we hadn't yet developed many norms or shared expectations around it yet. Facebook opened up to high schoolers during my my junior year so wall posts and Relationship Statuses were super important in dating. I'm incredibly thankful that I got to ease into the mass-socialization as apps/platforms were developed. I wouldn't have been able to handle being thrown into the deep end of mass-socialization. I have no idea how anyone in GenZ managed to do it,
This is interesting. I think the best depiction of Gen Z on screen I’ve seen where it is pretty evident to me that someone in Gen Z was likely part of the production is the movie Crush. It’s been a while since I watched it, but I remember it including texting and social meida and it feeling pretty authentic. Also a line about listening to Phoebe Bridgers nonstop- i don’t think anyone older than a younger millennial would have wrote that line lol. I also just watched the first season of School Spirits which I loved. It includes high schoolers from different eras through supernatural means, and has the usual trend of 20+ year olds playing high schoolers, but the main character is Gen Z and texting and smartphones are included and feel natural in the story, but also aren’t a huge focus. I agree with you in that I also think that as Gen Z ages, we will get more media that feels accurate to our experiences.
duuuuuude you had a gold mine of b-roll in the “biopic about a company” genre, the movie blackberry has plenty of cellphones even though they’re old and like all the movies about steve jobs probably have plenty
This was rlly well put ! Ive thought abt how movies abt modern highschool/teenage experiences felt so like… just not applicable, but u put my thoughts into words
I'm a senior in high school and i feel like "To all the boys i've loved before" is pretty good representation of a high school girl! I think they used phones pretty well too with a video of Laura Jean getting leaked on instagram bc thats what actually happens in real life. overall i def feel like they captured current high schoolers.
I both agree and disagree- I don't think it's necessarily the fact that younger gens don't interact more in person (though it's definitely a hurdle), but more-so the older gens that produce the media we consume physically are incapable of understanding how modern teens and young adults interact with each other. Every attempt I've seen at capturing my gen's image has fallen flat on its face because of this issue, and sadly it's a problem that will only be fixed once WE start getting the chance to take the spotlight with our own works.
This vid was great! And also, about the thing you said at the end about short form content becoming a more legitimite artform is something ive been living about. i think its going to have the same trajectory of video games. at first it's not respected as real art, but overtime is seen as legitimate artistic expression.
I definitely think phones can be captured well, because I see them used effectively in short form video content skits, which does give me hope for the future of teen movies
Ok I see that SKAM (a Norwegian show) was already mentioned here as a prime example, but I‘d like to point out that many countries made their own SKAM as well! The main storylines during the first seasons are always the same or very similar. It is very interesting to see how every remake still has a different form of communication. Especially when it comes to talking about serious things like coming-out, people do that differently because Gen Z is not only different by age but also by culture and country.
The BBC Sherlock series used text overlaid in the environment to represent both Sherlocks observations and text such as when someone sent a phone text, or Watson writing for his blog. I thought that was done quite well and creatively.
It's so funny all of the experiences you've described as universal I've never ever had in my life. I guess that's the cultural devide from America to everywhere else, which is also why I never liked teen films in any decade. I think every place and country had a completely different way of interacting with phones and social media platforms. For example most of the world uses WhatsApp but it seems to be completely unheard of in the US? Probably also because I grew up poor and that shit never gets depicted unless they wanna write a sob story so it becomes unrelatable very quickly. Like yeh I was poor, but I didn't get bullied? It's not automatic. It's always, always middle class white people with a house and pool of all things.
I'm American and I actually didn't relate to most of the video either but that's mostly due to me never having Snapchat and being homeschooled for most of High school:/
I'm from the rural US and I never gave a damn about Snapchat or following each other on instagram or whatever. The most fun I had communicating with my friends in those years in on a call or simple messaging. Or even playing text messaging games. (Basically whatsapp- mostly everyone in the USA has apple so apple messaging works the same as Whatsapp to most of us) I find many cultural differences between suburban wealthy US folks and the rest of us. They care so much about such trivial matters. Whoever has the time to look through whos following who on social media or keeping a snapchat streak needed to get a job or join a sports team.
Omg this is why I hate teen movies from the 90s and 80s (yes I know this a crazy thing to say to film nerds) the characters just constantly complain about their lives while being middle class white Americans with two parents and siblings and shit and it was just so petty and annoying to me like gosh shut up already but really I know I hated them because I was just jealous.
The netflix series Royals implementa the phone aspect really well. You see the messages on screen and sometimes one character starts writing something honest and emotional only to delete it and instead send something generic ”I’m fine”
4:21 honestly I feel like movies could excel at this, the same way they shoot panic attacks/anxiety Get a graphic of the dots popping up, change the music score with drum/heartbeat rythm, maybe get some trippy visuals/fov shots I think the only thing keeping media from having phones is their own reluctance to visualize the feeling Although I haven't watched it back in a few years heart stopper integrated texting and anxiety really well I think
this was a refreshing and delightful watch, especially for the kind of while very informative, quite extended videos topics like this tend to create... so this was much appreciated
3:36 Double texting is excessive? Hah; behold my 210 texts. (I might have counted that wrong, but it's somewhere around that amount.) (They've been away for 6 days now.)
As an independent filmmaker under the age of 25 - I’ve never existed in a world without technology. I’ve barely lived in a world without advanced technology. I think it’s so important to bring up issues like these. This helps future filmmakers from current generations, determine new ways to depict the similar feelings of growing up that everyone has. Growing up is scary - online or in person. I genuinely long for a time where film feels real again. It’s going to take some incredible minds and some outside of the box thinking to depict, but when it’s achieved, it will set standards for years to come. Thanks for this analysis - it definitely will have me thinking the next time I write a script.
It’s not that phones are ruining cinematography, it’s that directors don’t know how to properly realize emotions that they haven’t felt. They don’t understand how to direct a scene that they haven’t experienced, that they can’t imagine ever experiencing. When gen z ages up into directors and screenwriters and whatnot we’ll be able to represent our own forms of communications. Cinema will be stuck in the 2020-2030s for a while until gen Alpha ages up. Gen z directors wouldn’t know how to authentically represent gen alpha romance (in vc or whatever else) in the same way millenials don’t know how to authentically represent gen z romance. - An Aspiring Future Director, and young Gen Z :)
I would argue that the best teenage coming of age movie for the modern generation is The Edge of 17. You mentioned the “feeling of sending a risky text”. There is one very good scene about this in the movie. I implore you, give it a watch. It was one of the biggest surprises for a movie to me.
This is a world changing essay. I’m someone who loves films, I’m a cine major, and I see the world, live my life, base my knowledge of history and how certain things look or what they are, on films. Like that bullying line hit me hard, because I’ve never been shoved into a locker, physically attacked much as a kid, that sort of thing, so didn’t think I’d been bullied, but that feeling and experience of say being removed from a cf story, or hearing people have a separate gc and are hanging out without you. Shit’s hurtful but I never thought of it as a form of bullying because it’s not my definition that I learned from movies, which inform what it looks like for basically all of culture. A film that did successfully depict this or if some other piece of media with cultural staying power did, it could create a lot of empathy and a feeling of place and interconnectedness in this very lonely generation. Eight grade by bo burnham comes to mind, though it wasn’t seen by too many people, and it depicts a middle school social media experience, which is very different than high school, etc
Even as someone born literally on the split of gen z/millennial, where iphones and social media being in our pockets (vs solely on the home computer) became a thing in high school, i never truly felt represented in high school movies. The bullys, the cool girls, the stratification of social spheres never truly felt authentic to my experience. Partially because i went to a GIANT high school (with nearly 1,000 students in my graduating class ALONE) that had so many mini schools in it (the visual and performing arts magnet, an international studies magnet, a pre-med track, etc), i saw such varying levels of “school hierarchy” in real life that hadn’t really been shown on screen. In regards to how phones and social media affected high school, I still have yet to see something about the intimacy of being in middle school and sharing (wired) earphones to listen to music with your crush; or the real fomo of seeing your friends on insta and snap posting about hanging out while you are at band rehearsal or football practice or whatever club; but really i want to see the stupid things high schoolers do (coming to school dressed as spiderman and parkouring across the courtyard, or “vandalizing” the school by spray painting their name in one specific place, you know, the dumb stuff that’s not dramatic or intense, but run-of-the-mill, why-did-you-think-that-was-a-good-idea shenanigans) depicted in movies and tv better. High school is full of drama and emotions, but it’s not Euphoria or Skins or Degrassi for everyone. It’s mundane, it’s silly, and it’s awkward for stupid reasons. And putting it all on vertical screens for everyone to see is simply another aspect of teenagers need to self-document and self-define.
well put! the one thing yall are getting wrong is that most movies still aren't being made by genz or even millenials, they know how gen z acts for the most part and theres honestly a lot of crossover behavior. Those jobs are still being held by gen x and even some boomers. Not to mention the studio execs tendency to put the kibosh on anything they don't immediately understand fully. Not a single one of those mfers are a genz, millennial, even genx there aren't too many that have made it to that level. They mostly all are still shockingly oldass boomers in charge of studios and they make all the shi decisions you see in media today.
I think another factor is how hard it is to include all the brands/apps it would require. The nuances of insta vs snapchat vs facebook are hard to portray when everything on a screen either has to be licensed or generic.
honestly, i think indie video games have done a lot in this regard. simulations of groupchat and text conversations work really well in that format, due to the interactive nature of it.
I think something that you didn’t mention, but is very prevalent in our current culture or pop culture is “cringe.” I feel that the consensus around coming of age media/movies is either iconic or cringe. For example, Riverdale. That “highs and lows of high school football” is terribly cringe and we are all aware of it. Whereas Grease, 16 Candles, The Breakfast Club, 90210, One Tree Hill, PLL, etc are all fairly “iconic” and well remembered coming of age movies/shows. What i’m trying to say is, maybe there isn’t a gen z coming of age movie or show that is entirely accurate because there isn’t space for it. I also think nostalgia plays a huge role in why so many older coming of age movies and shows are considered iconic now. maybe in the future we will get some non-cringe successful Gen Z coming of age media, but for now, I think we just need to get over the hump of trying to depict the Gen Z experience non-cringey or even “accurately.” It’s also hard to make a gen z movie that can appeal or relate to everyone. but the collective online experiences you mentioned are great starts! (being left out of a gc, watching your friend group go out WITHOUT you). all of this to say, I am sorry for the super long comment, but this is also my first time watching any of your videos and I really really enjoyed this one. You packed a punch in a small amount of time, I instantly subscribed. Looking forward to more content 😅
The show Invincible does this surprisingly well, lots of moments that clearly and entertainingly depict Gen-Z scenarios while still feeling cinematic. Season 2 ep. 6 is a great example of this.
21 Jump Street always stood out to me. I liked how they depicted how nerdiness has become cool and casual bigotry much less so. Bo Burnham also knocked it out of the park with Eighth Grade. I was surprised you brought up Outer banks, because that show deals with the phone issue very well by having the kids all be basically homeless/poor so that they cannot access phones or laptops often. A key moment in the show is when a main character steals a phone from a stranger to let their friends know they are still alive, and the reaction to getting the text plays out very accurately on screen to how this might go down in a real life group chat.
I think a big issue is that anyone who is mid 20s and above have no idea what high-school where you can use social media at school with ease is like. It only takes a few years older when a blackberry is more likely to be seen than an Iphone. Then a couple years more and it's slide, flips and bricks and no touch screens, no social media at all. Meaning directors, writers are having to write something that they don't know about, the older they are the harder it is to do.
I watched the Netflix adaption of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder recently, and while it was generally a pretty endearing show all of the usage of phones and social media was just funny. It's hard to show someone texting because they're just staring at their phone and moving their thumbs, not a whole lot to film or act about
There is an exception to this narrative, which is a well-loved norwegian show SKAM. It portrays late very late millennials extremely naturally, including the phones, messaging, instagram feed and the back then still relevant facebook interactions. If you’ve ever seen that show, you would know just how true it is when it comes to depicting such details, and it makes it exciting because of the appropriate genre. It wouldn’t be fit for a standard 1.5 hour film, but it plays out very well in short hyper-realistic episodes. If you’ve ever seen it, recommend it big time!
How this video expresses what I been thinking for a while now, every time they try to reference something from culture its always really cringe/corny by the time it reaches film. Phenomenal video.
I think the problem with depicting teens in a tech heavy age (either modern teens or sci-fi/futuristic) is that it's much harder to depict the emotion or physicality of communication via tech on screen vs physically. Realistically, if I'm texting a friend or crush, I'm walking around my room, taking screenshots to send to other people, frantically typing and reverting to audio notes to get my point across quicker, I'm reading msgs aloud and giggling, im pulling memes to send, I'm debating emojis, I'm showing my cat, etc. obviously I don't do everything every time, but I am very expressive physically when I'm texting, in public or alone. Depicting that naturally and in a non-cringey way, while also showing the text conversation without resorting to split screening the other person or showing the phone screen is extremely difficult. And likewise, a more restrained texter like my friend who uses exactly 3 emojis and only at gunpoint, and could be texting his girl on the happiest day of his life or his dad to find out a family member died without showing any of it on his face, even when high, would be equally difficult to show on screen. Compare that to two actors having a conversation on screen or a phone call. They can be screaming or crying or laughing or teasing or jolly or miserable or timid or boisterous or hesitant or determined or anxious or conflicted. And they can be doing it while bouncing off the other actor in the scene, or usually if they're on the phone, to someone else witnessing them or interrupting them. It's an entirely different vibe. It's like trying to watch someone play a video game while they're wearing VR goggles and you aren't. And there's no feed. So you can hear them talking, and see their reactions, but you're still not getting it, so it just looks goofy. And that's the problem. The directors refuse to address the goofy-ness of the situation, and lean into it, or adapt it in a way that works.
im a fellow gen z'er. a few months ago, this movie came out on netflix called "incoming". it was essentially about these highschool freshmen going to a highschool party for the first time, and i am heavily oversimplifying the plot, but i felt like it did a good job at capturing gen z. its really the only example of a movie or tv show i could name where i feel it has accurately depicted gen z.
This hits hard. Feels like I'm just waiting for someone to figure out the non-corny way to show phones and the internet on film but I wonder if the reason it always feels so cringe on screen is because we know it's cringe irl. It's embarrassing and we feel like we should be interacting in a different, better way.
Agreed, and I think just because it feels embarrassing doesn't mean it doesn't also feel important or meaningful. Either we'll figure out a better way to portray it, or maybe we'll just get over the embarrassment.
This might sound cringe and you gotta hear me out, even for how sexualized and absurd it is euphoria kinda gets the internet and the way gen z talks to eachother more so then I think anything else I’ve ever seen
Jason Pargin made that exact same point in I'm starting to worry about this black box of doom. Whenever a character in a movie says something like 'we're trending on Twitter!', you cringe because you associate social media with time-wasting and pointless scrolling. Or when a character is relaxing on the couch scrolling on their phone you judge them and think of them as lazy, even though (or probably because) it's something we all do way too much irl.
Bo Burnham's "Eighth Grade" feels stupidly accurate. It might be a bit outdated now, but, as a 19-year-old, it's by far the most accurate portrayal of how the internet feels that I've seen so far.
Sometimes it feels like if someone used a phone or social media it's like a point. There's so much attention put on it and it feels like a psa
I think we should still make movies about gen z that don’t involve phones! I know I use my phone a lot, but when I’m hanging out with my friends I’m never on it.
Im Gen Z and my screen time average for my phone is only a couple hours a day, mostly for music/youtube/tv. Everyone seems to think EVERY Gen Z is a “screenager”, most of my friends and I just do real friend things instead of being on our phones all the time
@Reiiven well yes ur phones screen time might not be that high but on days where your not hanging out your probably using screens like tvs or gaming ?
I like never even use my phone outside because I want to enjoy the moment ofc I will look at it when I need to see the time or someone is calling me but I never use like outside only at home or when I'm bored I would rather read a book than using my phone outside like an zombie
Facts
I agree, but when you're not with your friends you have to use to communicate with them, and I feel like that's how our generation communicates most of the time
Growing up in gen z and asking older people about their experiences makes you realize this is also because we lost a dominant monoculture, we all have a group of niches and jokes are no longer universal to a majority of people.
the fact that this take is everywhere means maybe we do still have a monoculture
+@@maxonmendel5757 no, it means that humans come to the same conclusions and share them, and then those people share that opinion further if it resonates with them. Exactly what'll happen as a result of this person's comment.
wait can you talk more on this pls, like is this related to the concept of genz's meta-humour somehow?
Do you think there isn't a dominant monoculture? You're part of it.
yeah and i think ppl talk about this like it's a bad thing and i honestly really disagree with that? i think it's actually pretty cool that anyone can get into a niche hobby or listen to whatever music they want and still have a community to turn to. a big monoculture can feel alienating to people who don't resonate with it.
I feel that Heartstopper does quite a good job of portraying the use of phones, texting and social media within its universe (set in current times). I think the key is weaving the use of phones and texting into the story so it seems natural while advancing the plot. We also get the butterflies as we see the 3 dots show up on Charlie's screen, we feel the same joy as we see Nick smile in response to a notification sound etc. But you are right in that it doesn't take up the whole plot of the episodes!
Amazing video by the way, got me thinking quite a bit
i also thought of heartstopper IMMEDIATELY! i remember watching that scene where nick is laying on his bed texting charlie, and seeing his reaction to every text and i remember relating to it so much! it definitely doesn't make up whole plots, but i think it doesn't HAVE to. I don't use my phone when i'm hanging out with friends unless i want to show them something, but i definitely experience a lot of interactions with them when we're not in person and i feel like heartstopper nailed those moments
This was my exact thought! A great use of it in heartstopper I also like is Nick’s habit of googling things. Like when his mom commented on Charlie not eating much at the family dinner and he immediately googles “eating disorder”. Like yeah it’s cringey but goddamn if it isn’t realistic.
I came here to say Heartstopper as well! That scene in S1 where Charlie is like "asfghjfghfdljkfh im screaming" while he lies silently on his bed but you can see from his expression that he's having that very relatable experience of being excited that his crush invited him to a party. It's iconic.
I feel the same about heartbreak high. It’s the best depiction of gen z I think I’ve seen so far. Seeing your crush post a thirst trap on Instagram and having your friends shove it in your face is a pretty realistic thing. There are others I can’t think of but I frickin love that show
I was about to comment about Heartstopper too! As I was watching the show, there were a couple of moments where I actually thought “Huh, this is a surprisingly good depiction of how teenagers use phones!” It’s definitely the best I’ve seen so far.
There was a Norwegian TV series called Skam that aired during the mid 2010s that i think is a wonderful example of using technology as part of the storytelling. While the show was airing, in between weekly episodes they would make real social media posts that were included in the narrative. The characters had Instagram accounts, and their posts would act as teasers and small clues as to the content of the next episode. This created a feeling like the show was occurring in real time. They also did a really good job incorporating texts and the internet in the episodes as well. The actors were also much closer to the ages of their characters than most teen storylines and all of this together created an extremely relatable story about older generations Z's high-school experience in real time, utilizing the parascociallity of social media to connect the viewer to the story and facilitate bounding with the characters as if they were peers. I found it extremely relatable as I was around the same age as the characters and I thought they depicted what it felt like to be in high-school circa 2016 perfectly. It is quite easy to find episodes online with English subtitles.
Although I’m still a high schooler, I found skam relatable either. The technology portrayal is really accurate.
I was just thinking about skam!
Funny, did all European countries had their version of Skam? France has on too
man is Skam really that old already?? jfc 😢
@@user-uz4wi2jk8z yup, the US even tried, but it kind of… flopped
Bo Burnhams Eighth Grade does a great job depicting technology's involvement in highschool.
I was about to say this. Eighth Grade perfectly captured what the OP is conveying, easily one of the most topical and uncomfortable movies about gen z
It really does!! It embraces this awkwardness
Was thinking the same thing!
It absolutely nails it and Bo isn't even Gen Z
I remember my teacher putting this on in my school when I was younger, I may have found the film disturbing but it did do an excellent job depicting it.
Definitely a unique issue for visual story tellers to include smart phones and (more importantly) accurately portray how young people are using smartphones. I also think most of the time we are seeing characters interact with or on their phones its not being portrayed as a neutral action, its always portrayed as annoying or over-exaggerated rather than just something the character is doing.
Sci fi writers have been doing it for decades.
Perhaps because it is annoying
the other thing i find with high school shows about gen z aged characters is the absurd amount of slang they use, particularly when its integrated awkwardly. i don't think gen z use especially more slang than other generations + what i think a lot of film & tv writers miss is that a huge amount of our slang is intended to be used on the internet - and it sounds weird, even to us, to be said aloud! the other week someone in my class used the word "demure" (with a level of self-awareness) and everyone chuckled, because it's embarrassing/cringe, and we _know_ that! we are not using slang out loud to the same degree we use it on social media; our language is informed by our (very online) context
it’s not embarrassing or cringe to say demure yall just judgmental 🙄
@@char6081it is! Especially when it’s not used in its actual context. I’m not a hater of the trend but it will be funny if someone says it out loud
I always found usonian slang to be quite tame compared to other languages. It's usually re-purposing already existing words instead of making up entirely new words. For example here in Argentina we flip words around very often, sorta like french slang.
For example, the word 'example' would be written and pronounced plexam. Obviously that's a pointless example, but here's one with more punch: tardbass. It has an extra S for Safety, but it sounds like a fun 'new' word.
ACAT instead of ACAB lol
@@Soutthdakotaa to each their own i suppose. i feel u when ppl misuse phrases it’s weird tho
2:54 , um akshually, I pan towards the invisible camera everytime something funny happens, because life is a sitcom and I am a character
real (i have no social life)
love what you said at 7:49 "...maybe we can't express the world in landscape, cause we're all viewing it in portrait."
that is why I carry a laptop instead of a phone in my pocket so I can scroll in a cooler aspect ratio 😎
@@smallxplosion9546 you wearing jingo's ore?? how the hell do you carry your laptop in youre pocket??
I think one issue is that the people who grew up on current technology aren't the ones making these movies; since being a teenager on social media is a super modern phenomenon, and extremely different from what was going on before. The way that technology affects communication remained largely the same for a long time until smartphones rolled around, so theoretically it's easier for someone growing up in the 70s to make a 90s teen movie than for someone who grew up in the 90s to make a 2010s teen movie.
Also, I think another major issue is the difference in how emotional interactions appear to be when in person vs online. Usually people keep a more straight face when scrolling on their phone, and you can't hear someone's vocal tone over text. Sitcoms are heavily reliant on exaggerated body language and facial expressions, which would likely seem extremely out of place with most day-to-day texting conversations. Of course, people don't really interact like sitcom characters, either...
When it comes to miscommunications, though, I think there's plenty of potential for that with smartphones, such as deadzones, dead battery, typos, multi factor authentication, forgotten password, slow internet, etc. Movies should really tap into that more often
Also, it could be that maybe some of the writers who are making movies for today's teens might not have kids of their own and therefore can't relate. I'm a Gen Xer, in my mid-40s, who's single and has no children, so I can't relate to today's youth, plus my niece is only 4 years old. Today's kids and teens might be struggling with things that someone like me wouldn't understand.
I actually think it isn’t that different. Plus the way people interact with social media isn’t that different either. There isn’t a lot of room for creative play within corporate websites.
Also, I hate that we keep talking about generations liken they are real and meaningful. They aren’t. No sociologist worth their degree would take such a large and diverse cohort seriously. Any data you can ply via “generations” would be far more accurate using more grounded cohorts. Modern generations were first and foremost a marketing tool and that is, in a way, how they are still used. Hence the catchy headlines and the youtube videos like this one made to center them.
There is still miscommunications that happen even with smartphones, writers just need to pull from those situations instead of going back to old scenarios.
I honestly think gen z can get our rep if gen z were the ones behind the writing in the movie. Social media can definenately be visually interesting in shows or movies, its just the people making the movies don't understand this as intuitively
Yeah I was gonna say its not like people just dont misunderstand each other anymore
I agree. In fact there are a lot of miscommunications and awkward situations created by the use of social media, texting, etc. Something like interpreting someone's tone in the wrong way or worrying about how long to wait before you reply to someone, not knowing the meaning of an acronym and then pretending like you do. These are themes that are very often present in the memes and the short form skit videos these days. Someone who's not genz could atleast analyse that culture through different sources without judging it, before trying to depict it.
Heck, a person splitting up their texts badly could cause major damage if they said the exact wrong thing. Furthermore, saying what should be uncontroversial in an arena that thinks it controversial.
Definitely lots of miscommunication still happening, and lots of issues that can arise from a situation where you would think "One phone call should fix this..."
ua-cam.com/video/naleynXS7yo/v-deo.html is a good sketch abt that lolol
The first “to all the boys I loved before” did it quite well with technology and plotlines around social media
yes!!!
SKAM is the only show I've seen that feels like it really captures the way gen-z interacts using the internet without it feeling corny. I think the fact that there's silences when we see characters drafting texts, deleting what they say, adds to the feeling of it being relatable. Highly recommend the show to everyone! I rec the OG Oslo version first
OMG I FORGOT ABT SKAM
The graph at 3:16 isn’t wrong but it is misleading. The graph ends at 2020 which was during the pandemic so it makes perfect sense why everyone is getting dates online. It’s because outside is dangerous.
The trend has continued over the past 4 years
The "online" line starts in 1980 and has been consistently climbing... I think you need to look at it again.
alright then pretend the end of the graph is 2019. the trends still hold
yes, but the point is that they are getting dates online, it doesn’t matter what the cause of that was
🫵🤣
I think Heartstopper does a good job of trying to illustrate exactly what you're talking about :)
but it’s so cheesyyy it still like plays up gen z being freaks yk. like it’s kinda like theater kid representation and that’s it
I agree! Heartstopper does a pretty good job at implementing mobile phones and social media into the story and visuals without it feeling forced or unnatural. I think they've done it pretty well. It was really refreshing to see.
@@gigilovesmossI agree, it is cheesy.. but it’s supposed to be! It is supposed to make you feel second hand embarrassment because tbh being a teenager means doing a lot of embarrassing stuff
@@Eva-tz4zy yeah it def does play that up but i mean it's cheesy in like a bad representation way. me and like 90% of the ppl ik r in some way lgbt+ and heartstopper does not represent well and i think the way they handled a lot of sexuality and gender topics made it so cheesy like specifically one scene where issac is coming out and its like "do you think fish have gender"
it feels like they have middle school brain in high school
idk might be a hot take
@@gigilovesmossin season one Charlie’s 14, so considering most of the “cringe” is coming from him, it makes sense
This is so interesting! I always blamed the cringy, inaccurate takes on Gen Z on the super old writers, but maybe there's just no way to truly capture our life on a screen. Ironic, of course. I hate how so much of our life is on a screen! We should be able to be portrayed without it, but it's impossible. That's just who we are... Anyway, you have a new subscriber. Keep it up, bro!
i find the best depictions of gen z romance ironically in written form rather than in visual form 😅 or maybe its just because there written by gen z authors
Gen z is just cringe
@@accidentalmadness1708no
@@accidentalmadness1708 Boomer
I think it's a combination of those 2 issues back then in the 80s and even 90s I do think writers were out of touch but every adult in that time period seemed out of touch with being a teenager and or heck being a kid. And unlike kids today and even adults we had no internet and could really mostly rely on out of touch media and out of touch adults for references on how real life was at least that was what it like for me. Plus they were kind of hypocriteal, arbitrary, and were kind of held power over us.
I feel like the problem is that the shift in societal norms is just too rapid and unpredictable for the older generation to understand. Also the term gen z is just so boardly used nowadays it’s honestly hard to grasp what a gen z is. The age difference is just too much. While some gen zs are already having kids and such, some are still in high school. And the internet too, the way trends evolve is just too fast that it’s hard for film makers to make a movie in time. Not to mention pre-COVID and post-COVID gen z. The whole world just seems to have turned upside down after COVID and we are still getting used to it. The whole “being stuck at home for 1 year straight” has made a substantial impact on society as a whole and teen culture seems to have changed drastically ever since. But that being said, I still wish someday a film maker could understand all that bs and give us something gen z could relate to.
(Great vid btw love it❤ underrated as hell)
It feels like Gen Z leaned super far into absurdism after COVID, but that's just an anecdote.
@ soooo true!! Not to be that guy cause I’m also an atheist, but I genuinely believe it’s due to a lack of faith in anything. Not just religion, but our government and just the world as a whole everything just seems to have turned shit after Covid and no one is doing anything about it. And on top of that, ever since we were kids, we were told that the world would end due to global warming. I mean, yeah it’s good for getting us into those habits that helps fight global warming, but it also just messes with a child’s brain so much. And the general lack of control we have over our lives too. As we grow older, we slowly realize that nothing is really in our hands. The internet is both a blessing and a curse. It made us so self aware on everything that is happening on earth rn that we just gave up. Cause one can only keep on going for so long after being disappointed by those in charge time and time again. Remember how I talked about how we’re essentially told that the world would end ever since we were young? Yeah, well the problem is that 71% of the world’s greenhouse emissions are from 100 companies. Just 100 companies alone is responsible for messing up our world. How messed up is that!? Yet, there’s a demand, there will be a supply. And they’re sneaky assholes too. So unless they stop trying to maximize profits and make some actual changes instead of “oMg lOoK at uS, we doNaTed 20 mIL t0 chAritY. (even though we made 2 billion in profit ;>)”, we are pretty much doomed to live in hell on earth.
I hate how every school in media depicts the bell as an actual bell that goes "ring" instead of them just blairing "BEEEP" over the speakers
Every school i have been to used speaker beeps, and it's a subtle bit of immersion that is lacking
Most new ones I see use speakers too, but they sound like the announcement jingles at an airport or train station.
all my schools have a ring! sometimes they even play a song to get to class
Wow most of the schools I've gone to have had bells, really bad heating and AC, and painfully awful fire alarms. Of course all of those buildings are from the 1970s or older.
My school has an enormous bell, it rings so loud it actually gives me a headache
I actually think that's such a good point, it's kind of funny seeing how much even the school bell has changed! I'm gen Z (on the older side though, I graduated high school in 2020 ☠). My high school had the traditional ring for each period, but I now coach at that school, and they've changed it to this awful robotic sounding beep. Literally sounds like what I imagine a prison alarm would sound like. I also intern at an elementary school for my university, and their bell is almost like an iPhone ringtone, I literally still jump every time I hear it because of how jarring it is. But like you said, media still shows most schools having a traditional ring.
I‘d actually argue that Euphoria, despite all its flaws, managed to include phones and technology in a proper way. They don‘t necessarily take up a big portion of the relationships allowing for most of the interesting conversations to take place on screen (and honestly, most memorable conversations in our lives to happen in face-to-face settings), but are included in a realistic way, especially when portraying the queer dating world (Jules/„Tyler“ plot).
that feeling of waiting for a reply, feeling your phone buzz, and then getting mad because it isn't the message from them you were hoping for
I think heartstopper is a great representation of Gen-Z. I like that they don't overuse slang, they care about social issues but in a normal way, and the way texting and technology is utilized really well in the plot lines. I like the way they capture the inherent tonal deafness that comes with texting. The scenes of Charlie and Nick texting back and forth is adorable. The way their texts change as their relationship, and the way they show the feeling of the person receiving or sending a reply. My particular favorite is texting as a way to contrast what a character wants to say versus what they actually say. Like when a character writes out and deletes a text multiple times, trying to figure out the best way to say something, and then ultimately deciding not to say it.
Yes! I was coming to the comments to say this!
'you are so not invited to my bat mitzvah' is the only movie i've related to and its not even entirely aimed at my age group (18). but it does well to depict what middle school was like for me. honestly i haven't found any movies or shows that show what it's like to be in college or highschool for someone in gen z
a show that i feel made a decent portrayal of gen z in the sense that you talked about is Young Royals. going through someone's instegram when you have a crush, how it looks when you're nerveus writing a text, sharing a story with someone without them agreeing beforehand, comments on social media, giving someone your instegram as a way to let them know you want them romanticly, etc. the main conflict of the show begins by someone sharing something privet to social media. and the show also revolves around conflicts that are not only based on easily solvable miscommunication. it doesn't feel like a 50 year old person who looks down on us wrote it, it feels like someone who gets us. it's still a start, but along with other elements in the show, it felt very authentic
I also think Young Royals did this really well, and indeed, like it was done by people who know how teenagers really use social media. I especially liked that the show has quite a serious and heavy tone and that the use of social media didn't at all compromise this
I just noticed you have a proper lapel mic but are waving that spoon around and I love it
I feel like no movie school is remotely realistic and feel-able because they are never actually boring in movies.
In my experience Heartstopper is a very good representation of gen z (although specifically queer gen z) as it handles all of this very well. What you mentioned with the thighs touching, that is a very big part of heartstopper. When moments like that happen, little graphics pop up on the screen. When Nick and Charlie first touched pinkies, a little electric spark came out. The series really made me feel heard and it is the only truly good depiction of gen z that I’ve seen so far
Tbh heartstopper felt very unauthentic, the dialogues were more flat than in english textbooks
"These are universal experiances" : (
Felt this. Never even heard of a golden heart until now. I think another difficulty of putting the gen Z's teenage years on film is because how different everyone's experiences are since the internet and apps are so individualized.
In High School I hardly even communicated with local people outside of my family. On a whim I met my boyfriend who lives 2,000 miles away from me my junior year and that's all I needed. School and work and hobbies kept me so busy. Even how students are learning are changing.
I think the most universal experience of growing up is playing a computer game during computer lab when you're not supposed to and getting the chills when your teacher approaches you from behind and asks you to log out.😂
I was thinking the exact same thing
I'm gen z (2009) and can't relate to many of these things. I use my phone to text occasionally but still mostly talk with calling or in person. I'd also never heard of a golden heart either but i only really use YT and discord so wouldn't have.
Yup, another gen z here who didn't get that. Though I guess using no social media except youtube would explain why I've never really had such experiences.
Especially when he said teens are on their phones 8 hours a day. Who the heck has 8 hours to spend on their phone? I could barely average 4 and most of the time it was around the 2-3 hour mark.
Watching this video made me realize that maybe Snapchat isn't as frivolous as I thought it was in high school... Turns out sticking only to anonymous social media might've alienated me from my generation and made me afraid of people my own age and younger???
I would love a Shakespearean inspired comedy based on a misunderstood text because of autocorrect or oddly placed comma. So much can be cleared up with a phone call, but I’m a millennial and I refuse to do that.
heartstopper does an amazing job in dealing with technology!
I think “sex education” kinda does it
I feel like the show Skam utilises phones very well in the story. Especially in Skam France.
Especially? Do they portray it differently than in the original?
yesss !! very authentic
@@lexsunsh1ne It's just the one where it feels more prominent. Or maybe I just watched it more than the original
YES SOMEONE MENTIONED SKAM!!
I love skam so much
I think about the scene in Scott Pilgrim where Edgar Wright was able to make receiving an email a exciting/engaging experience. Top teir example on how to incorperate technology
5:04 bottoms mention!! That movie is so good and it portrays really well how high school can *feel*, not necessarily what it is
Heartstopper is the only show I’ve seen that perfectly replicates the use of phones in gen z and how romantic it can be. Highly recommend watching!
Until Then actually has many of its important interactions happen through DMs and group chats. While not a movie or a show, but a visual novel about filipino highschoolers, it constantly plays on fears of typing out an important message in stream-of-consciousness fashion, then erasing it to type out a more 'filtered' one, then erasing even that one and finally blurting some short nonsense to seem cool, etc. Or the anxiety of seeing somebody type out a message to you, then stopping suddenly and going offline without ever delivering their message, and so on. The game excels at impactful and 'cinematic' DMs.
"maybe you cant express the world in landscape when we all view it in portrait". this alone is a crazy good quote. it sorta summarizes the whole video. and that outro was low key awsome
there’s this tubi original called crushed that i think captures high school dating and crushes perfectly. it follows this girl that has this obsession with this guy and you’re able to see how social media facilitates this. she gets super excited when he follows her back and he uses he never follows anyone back.
Straight-up video essay with a little Karsten Runquist for good measure. Speaks to me, someone hoping to understand the "Gen-Z Style" whilst also being a part of it. Love it!
I find this rather interesting to talk about! 4:52 My biggest thoughts is asking people what they want to see I suppose. Perhaps not take all suggestions but still, listen more to what kids now are feeling and going through. I feel there’s always a lack of real representation in films and shows like these anymore because it seems they lack any real perspective in the sense of what 16 y/o’s are actually doing, it’s just older ppl who are either reliving their pasts or passing down some second hand recant of being young :/ I feel finding a way to balance the reality of teen life now with how we represent film will result in hopefully, better and more relatable experiences in that sense- but also 2 an extent, we have to considered how dramatized and unrealistic many of these classic representation actually tend to be- overall, I have lots of thought on this and really loved the video, def had me thinking.
Heartstopper on Netflix and the movie Bottoms are my favorite gen z teen media. Both imo are accurate, heartstopper for media use and Bottoms for humor. Do Revenge also understands gen z humor better than a lot of things
it’s the same thing i’ve found in books. if they mention phones all the time or even mention social media once i like the book less. the best part is the miscommunication or the running to their apartment to tell them how they feel whereas if they had a phone the book could probably cut 20 pages but it doesn’t feel the same. it’s like escapism from the thing we use the most
I really liked how the series ‘baby’ on netflix showed teens that used their phones, like when they texted or made an instagram story, and there was also an instance of a so to say ‘private video’ of a girl that got sent to the whole school and stuff (so cyber bullying )
and while they showed these things, the characters weren’t on there phones all the time and talked in person, too
so I liked the balance of both :)
I feel like this is why most movies made today either take place in the past or just another world entirely to avoid the cell phone problem all together
Something that always bothers me is the complete lack of understanding of different subcultures and how trends aren’t universal across cliques. Like, anime and Taylor swift are both popular, yes, but it’s generally not the same people who are into them. I guess more broadly my biggest issue is when writers get stuff from the internet without realizing they’re very specifically chronically online trends you wouldn’t expect to see the more popular “normie” type teens (who you usually see in media portrayals) engaging with.
This is what I think Heartstopper did super well. Watching them write a text, delete it, write it again, delete it, then just send a keysmash was so relatable lol
I don’t really mind not having phones incorporated into films, since these stories are supposed to highlight the most interesting aspects of the characters’ lives. Maybe an important phone call, but being hunched over with your phone scrolling on Snapchat is not very interesting.
As an older gen-x’er I really appreciate your analysis. It’s so insightful. I think that awful Emoji movie tried to visualize what you describe but didn’t do it well.
I also am interested in how folks who are between the ages of 4 and 20 now will make films, if films exist as they do today in 20 more years.
Also I love the mic. Very rebel-y
Actually, thinking about it, maybe what you’re doing now is tomorrow’s cinema of the future
The most accurate thing I have ever seen is rozyclozy's videos, when a character said "who died and made you president of the club" I silently screamed in relatableness
Everything you say about phones is true, but also media about young people has never been realistic except in the eyes of nostalgic adults looking back. I studied abroad at age 20 and one of the most common questions I got about being an American high schooler had more to do with movie tropes than real life. They wanted to know about cheerleaders and football players constantly wearing their uniforms to school, ruling it all with an iron fist, while everyone else was nerdy/dorky and living in friendless oblivion. Or students in skimpy sexy clothes, the deep importance of prom/homecoming or sporting events/raging house parties with the whole school there. Some of those things might have been true depending on the school, but rarely to the level of film. And I didn’t think about that until I was being asked about each part directly by some people from another country. It’s all heightened and I don’t think that when it comes down to it any teen movie has ever perfectly captured the experience of any teens life if we move beyond broad subjects like love and rejection etc.
yeah it's this. To Gen Z: this has been a thing forever, you just don't notice because ya'll weren't out in the trenches experiencing high school in 2003. Your only concept of 2003 high school is from media portrayals, which OF COURSE match your perception of the time, because your perception of the time comes from movies and media portrayals. It's a complete tautology. Then it's made worse by adults forgetting what high school was actually like for them, and misremembering things, or exaggerating parts of their youth because it's in media so much when it wasn't that big of a deal at the time.
and as a millennial I can totally relate to some of the technology drama stuff too, even if I don't participate in snapchat or whatever. I know what it's like to be taken out of a friend's top 8, or talking to people on AIM. or for someone to update their status to "in a relationship" on facebook, But I don't know if zoomers even realize those were parts of our dating lives too if they just go by movies and stuff.
This is one of the things I love about RWBY. Even though it takes place on another world, the fact that they integrate mobile technology into everyday life makes it feel more like real life today than anything written by an older generation trying to appeal to today's youth.
i think if i try to imagine a way to add gen z romance into a comic, my mid goes blank. When you mention all of these instances my first thought is "oh absolutely yes" and in the moment it feels so massive. but once the moment has passed, it feels so para social that i block it out of my memory. What im trying to say is, for me its lack of memory due to embarrassment, byt its an embarrassment that needs to be brought into new media. like saying something stupid during a midnight facetime and not addressing it in real life.
This is your first video I have seen.. I'm blown away, I just love the style of your content. This video was so relatable and thoughtful
The movie Eighth Grade is a wonderful exception to this. It's as much in phone world as the "real" world. It was written and directed by Bo Burnham, so he had insights on how growing up on social media that most Millennials didn't have to the same extent.
Excellent analysis. As an aspiring filmmaker/writer, my dream goal is to help bridge this gap and create media that can depict the modern teenager experience! You've earned a sub. :)
the subscriber count is criminal this is great
This is great! Something that you touched on more briefly is that the modern culture moves so darn fast; stuff insanely relevant one month is out of date and cringe the next, and movies can't work on those timescales. Just remember the Emoji Movie.
Is it as bad as it was? Eighth Grade, Anora, I Saw the TV Glow, The Penguin, all have awesome representations of Gen Z or similar. I think our generation is finally able to be on writing teams.
I saw the tv glow ruined my life ( amazing movie )
Everything you've listed was written by either older millennials or gen xers. There were no gen zers writing on any of the projects you listed. Maybe contributions but that goes for every project. The fact is, on a core level, younger people haven't changed much over the last 20 years. On the surface, yes, but that's about it.
@ you’re right, I guess I meant that we’re finally getting to the age where we can get our own voices heard on those kinda teams. but I don’t think it’s a bad thing that those were written by not Gen z, The writers probably have kids, and without them Bo Burnham and Sean Baker were somehow able to do it probably the best out of all of them.
8:08 bro didn't even give us a patreon link to join
This was really well done. I'm 33 so i grew up in a magical time where we had texting in high school, but our usage was denotative - we hadn't yet developed many norms or shared expectations around it yet.
Facebook opened up to high schoolers during my my junior year so wall posts and Relationship Statuses were super important in dating.
I'm incredibly thankful that I got to ease into the mass-socialization as apps/platforms were developed. I wouldn't have been able to handle being thrown into the deep end of mass-socialization. I have no idea how anyone in GenZ managed to do it,
This is interesting. I think the best depiction of Gen Z on screen I’ve seen where it is pretty evident to me that someone in Gen Z was likely part of the production is the movie Crush. It’s been a while since I watched it, but I remember it including texting and social meida and it feeling pretty authentic. Also a line about listening to Phoebe Bridgers nonstop- i don’t think anyone older than a younger millennial would have wrote that line lol.
I also just watched the first season of School Spirits which I loved. It includes high schoolers from different eras through supernatural means, and has the usual trend of 20+ year olds playing high schoolers, but the main character is Gen Z and texting and smartphones are included and feel natural in the story, but also aren’t a huge focus.
I agree with you in that I also think that as Gen Z ages, we will get more media that feels accurate to our experiences.
duuuuuude you had a gold mine of b-roll in the “biopic about a company” genre, the movie blackberry has plenty of cellphones even though they’re old and like all the movies about steve jobs probably have plenty
This was rlly well put ! Ive thought abt how movies abt modern highschool/teenage experiences felt so like… just not applicable, but u put my thoughts into words
I'm a senior in high school and i feel like "To all the boys i've loved before" is pretty good representation of a high school girl! I think they used phones pretty well too with a video of Laura Jean getting leaked on instagram bc thats what actually happens in real life. overall i def feel like they captured current high schoolers.
I both agree and disagree- I don't think it's necessarily the fact that younger gens don't interact more in person (though it's definitely a hurdle), but more-so the older gens that produce the media we consume physically are incapable of understanding how modern teens and young adults interact with each other. Every attempt I've seen at capturing my gen's image has fallen flat on its face because of this issue, and sadly it's a problem that will only be fixed once WE start getting the chance to take the spotlight with our own works.
OK, I admit it. Had low expectations but this was surprisingly insightful and informative. Well done Paul, a throughly deserved thumbs up.
This vid was great!
And also, about the thing you said at the end about short form content becoming a more legitimite artform is something ive been living about.
i think its going to have the same trajectory of video games. at first it's not respected as real art, but overtime is seen as legitimate artistic expression.
I definitely think phones can be captured well, because I see them used effectively in short form video content skits, which does give me hope for the future of teen movies
Ok I see that SKAM (a Norwegian show) was already mentioned here as a prime example, but I‘d like to point out that many countries made their own SKAM as well! The main storylines during the first seasons are always the same or very similar. It is very interesting to see how every remake still has a different form of communication. Especially when it comes to talking about serious things like coming-out, people do that differently because Gen Z is not only different by age but also by culture and country.
The BBC Sherlock series used text overlaid in the environment to represent both Sherlocks observations and text such as when someone sent a phone text, or Watson writing for his blog. I thought that was done quite well and creatively.
It's so funny all of the experiences you've described as universal I've never ever had in my life. I guess that's the cultural devide from America to everywhere else, which is also why I never liked teen films in any decade. I think every place and country had a completely different way of interacting with phones and social media platforms. For example most of the world uses WhatsApp but it seems to be completely unheard of in the US? Probably also because I grew up poor and that shit never gets depicted unless they wanna write a sob story so it becomes unrelatable very quickly. Like yeh I was poor, but I didn't get bullied? It's not automatic. It's always, always middle class white people with a house and pool of all things.
I'm American and I actually didn't relate to most of the video either but that's mostly due to me never having Snapchat and being homeschooled for most of High school:/
I'm from the rural US and I never gave a damn about Snapchat or following each other on instagram or whatever. The most fun I had communicating with my friends in those years in on a call or simple messaging. Or even playing text messaging games. (Basically whatsapp- mostly everyone in the USA has apple so apple messaging works the same as Whatsapp to most of us) I find many cultural differences between suburban wealthy US folks and the rest of us. They care so much about such trivial matters. Whoever has the time to look through whos following who on social media or keeping a snapchat streak needed to get a job or join a sports team.
Omg this is why I hate teen movies from the 90s and 80s (yes I know this a crazy thing to say to film nerds) the characters just constantly complain about their lives while being middle class white Americans with two parents and siblings and shit and it was just so petty and annoying to me like gosh shut up already but really I know I hated them because I was just jealous.
Yea that's the classic annoying American worldview that thinks that the world revolves around them
@@Ellesenzacognome Read the Great Gatsby! East and West coasters have acted this way for over 100 years now! lol
The netflix series Royals implementa the phone aspect really well. You see the messages on screen and sometimes one character starts writing something honest and emotional only to delete it and instead send something generic ”I’m fine”
4:21 honestly I feel like movies could excel at this, the same way they shoot panic attacks/anxiety
Get a graphic of the dots popping up, change the music score with drum/heartbeat rythm, maybe get some trippy visuals/fov shots
I think the only thing keeping media from having phones is their own reluctance to visualize the feeling
Although I haven't watched it back in a few years heart stopper integrated texting and anxiety really well I think
This is why I love Heartstopper so much - I think it’s the most accurate depiction of Gen Z on screen today!
American Vandal is the best depiction I’ve seen
this was a refreshing and delightful watch, especially for the kind of while very informative, quite extended videos topics like this tend to create... so this was much appreciated
3:36 Double texting is excessive? Hah; behold my 210 texts. (I might have counted that wrong, but it's somewhere around that amount.) (They've been away for 6 days now.)
As an independent filmmaker under the age of 25 - I’ve never existed in a world without technology. I’ve barely lived in a world without advanced technology.
I think it’s so important to bring up issues like these. This helps future filmmakers from current generations, determine new ways to depict the similar feelings of growing up that everyone has.
Growing up is scary - online or in person. I genuinely long for a time where film feels real again. It’s going to take some incredible minds and some outside of the box thinking to depict, but when it’s achieved, it will set standards for years to come.
Thanks for this analysis - it definitely will have me thinking the next time I write a script.
It’s not that phones are ruining cinematography, it’s that directors don’t know how to properly realize emotions that they haven’t felt. They don’t understand how to direct a scene that they haven’t experienced, that they can’t imagine ever experiencing. When gen z ages up into directors and screenwriters and whatnot we’ll be able to represent our own forms of communications. Cinema will be stuck in the 2020-2030s for a while until gen Alpha ages up.
Gen z directors wouldn’t know how to authentically represent gen alpha romance (in vc or whatever else) in the same way millenials don’t know how to authentically represent gen z romance.
- An Aspiring Future Director, and young Gen Z :)
I would argue that the best teenage coming of age movie for the modern generation is The Edge of 17. You mentioned the “feeling of sending a risky text”. There is one very good scene about this in the movie. I implore you, give it a watch. It was one of the biggest surprises for a movie to me.
This is a world changing essay. I’m someone who loves films, I’m a cine major, and I see the world, live my life, base my knowledge of history and how certain things look or what they are, on films. Like that bullying line hit me hard, because I’ve never been shoved into a locker, physically attacked much as a kid, that sort of thing, so didn’t think I’d been bullied, but that feeling and experience of say being removed from a cf story, or hearing people have a separate gc and are hanging out without you. Shit’s hurtful but I never thought of it as a form of bullying because it’s not my definition that I learned from movies, which inform what it looks like for basically all of culture.
A film that did successfully depict this or if some other piece of media with cultural staying power did, it could create a lot of empathy and a feeling of place and interconnectedness in this very lonely generation. Eight grade by bo burnham comes to mind, though it wasn’t seen by too many people, and it depicts a middle school social media experience, which is very different than high school, etc
Even as someone born literally on the split of gen z/millennial, where iphones and social media being in our pockets (vs solely on the home computer) became a thing in high school, i never truly felt represented in high school movies. The bullys, the cool girls, the stratification of social spheres never truly felt authentic to my experience. Partially because i went to a GIANT high school (with nearly 1,000 students in my graduating class ALONE) that had so many mini schools in it (the visual and performing arts magnet, an international studies magnet, a pre-med track, etc), i saw such varying levels of “school hierarchy” in real life that hadn’t really been shown on screen.
In regards to how phones and social media affected high school, I still have yet to see something about the intimacy of being in middle school and sharing (wired) earphones to listen to music with your crush; or the real fomo of seeing your friends on insta and snap posting about hanging out while you are at band rehearsal or football practice or whatever club; but really i want to see the stupid things high schoolers do (coming to school dressed as spiderman and parkouring across the courtyard, or “vandalizing” the school by spray painting their name in one specific place, you know, the dumb stuff that’s not dramatic or intense, but run-of-the-mill, why-did-you-think-that-was-a-good-idea shenanigans) depicted in movies and tv better.
High school is full of drama and emotions, but it’s not Euphoria or Skins or Degrassi for everyone. It’s mundane, it’s silly, and it’s awkward for stupid reasons. And putting it all on vertical screens for everyone to see is simply another aspect of teenagers need to self-document and self-define.
well put! the one thing yall are getting wrong is that most movies still aren't being made by genz or even millenials, they know how gen z acts for the most part and theres honestly a lot of crossover behavior. Those jobs are still being held by gen x and even some boomers. Not to mention the studio execs tendency to put the kibosh on anything they don't immediately understand fully. Not a single one of those mfers are a genz, millennial, even genx there aren't too many that have made it to that level. They mostly all are still shockingly oldass boomers in charge of studios and they make all the shi decisions you see in media today.
I think another factor is how hard it is to include all the brands/apps it would require. The nuances of insta vs snapchat vs facebook are hard to portray when everything on a screen either has to be licensed or generic.
What’s the song that plays at 6:46 I gotta know?
love story - indila but piano version
@ thanks so much🙏😭
@@u5ek293thank you!!!
honestly, i think indie video games have done a lot in this regard. simulations of groupchat and text conversations work really well in that format, due to the interactive nature of it.
I think something that you didn’t mention, but is very prevalent in our current culture or pop culture is “cringe.” I feel that the consensus around coming of age media/movies is either iconic or cringe. For example, Riverdale. That “highs and lows of high school football” is terribly cringe and we are all aware of it. Whereas Grease, 16 Candles, The Breakfast Club, 90210, One Tree Hill, PLL, etc are all fairly “iconic” and well remembered coming of age movies/shows.
What i’m trying to say is, maybe there isn’t a gen z coming of age movie or show that is entirely accurate because there isn’t space for it.
I also think nostalgia plays a huge role in why so many older coming of age movies and shows are considered iconic now. maybe in the future we will get some non-cringe successful Gen Z coming of age media, but for now, I think we just need to get over the hump of trying to depict the Gen Z experience non-cringey or even “accurately.” It’s also hard to make a gen z movie that can appeal or relate to everyone. but the collective online experiences you mentioned are great starts! (being left out of a gc, watching your friend group go out WITHOUT you).
all of this to say, I am sorry for the super long comment, but this is also my first time watching any of your videos and I really really enjoyed this one. You packed a punch in a small amount of time, I instantly subscribed. Looking forward to more content 😅
The show Invincible does this surprisingly well, lots of moments that clearly and entertainingly depict Gen-Z scenarios while still feeling cinematic. Season 2 ep. 6 is a great example of this.
21 Jump Street always stood out to me. I liked how they depicted how nerdiness has become cool and casual bigotry much less so. Bo Burnham also knocked it out of the park with Eighth Grade.
I was surprised you brought up Outer banks, because that show deals with the phone issue very well by having the kids all be basically homeless/poor so that they cannot access phones or laptops often. A key moment in the show is when a main character steals a phone from a stranger to let their friends know they are still alive, and the reaction to getting the text plays out very accurately on screen to how this might go down in a real life group chat.
Eight grade is really good!
excuse me wait a second do i know you from somewhere blocky?
I think a big issue is that anyone who is mid 20s and above have no idea what high-school where you can use social media at school with ease is like. It only takes a few years older when a blackberry is more likely to be seen than an Iphone. Then a couple years more and it's slide, flips and bricks and no touch screens, no social media at all. Meaning directors, writers are having to write something that they don't know about, the older they are the harder it is to do.
I think you’re thinking more of the 40+ age range. Im 25 and we definitely had iPhones and used social media in school 😅 give us a little more credit
I watched the Netflix adaption of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder recently, and while it was generally a pretty endearing show all of the usage of phones and social media was just funny. It's hard to show someone texting because they're just staring at their phone and moving their thumbs, not a whole lot to film or act about
There is an exception to this narrative, which is a well-loved norwegian show SKAM. It portrays late very late millennials extremely naturally, including the phones, messaging, instagram feed and the back then still relevant facebook interactions. If you’ve ever seen that show, you would know just how true it is when it comes to depicting such details, and it makes it exciting because of the appropriate genre. It wouldn’t be fit for a standard 1.5 hour film, but it plays out very well in short hyper-realistic episodes. If you’ve ever seen it, recommend it big time!
i haven't personally seen it except for clips but i've heard other people say that the tv show SKAM depicted the use of phones and texting pretty well
Love your sense of humor in the way you talk
I feel bodies bodies bodies kinda does a good job with our lingo and how “bullying” looks like now
How this video expresses what I been thinking for a while now, every time they try to reference something from culture its always really cringe/corny by the time it reaches film. Phenomenal video.
Me, a 1997 gen z: realizing its been over 10 years since I was 15 🙂🔫
This was really good. I hope they show this video at some big conference about making movies and all the big guys are there taking notes.
I think the problem with depicting teens in a tech heavy age (either modern teens or sci-fi/futuristic) is that it's much harder to depict the emotion or physicality of communication via tech on screen vs physically.
Realistically, if I'm texting a friend or crush, I'm walking around my room, taking screenshots to send to other people, frantically typing and reverting to audio notes to get my point across quicker, I'm reading msgs aloud and giggling, im pulling memes to send, I'm debating emojis, I'm showing my cat, etc. obviously I don't do everything every time, but I am very expressive physically when I'm texting, in public or alone. Depicting that naturally and in a non-cringey way, while also showing the text conversation without resorting to split screening the other person or showing the phone screen is extremely difficult.
And likewise, a more restrained texter like my friend who uses exactly 3 emojis and only at gunpoint, and could be texting his girl on the happiest day of his life or his dad to find out a family member died without showing any of it on his face, even when high, would be equally difficult to show on screen.
Compare that to two actors having a conversation on screen or a phone call. They can be screaming or crying or laughing or teasing or jolly or miserable or timid or boisterous or hesitant or determined or anxious or conflicted. And they can be doing it while bouncing off the other actor in the scene, or usually if they're on the phone, to someone else witnessing them or interrupting them. It's an entirely different vibe.
It's like trying to watch someone play a video game while they're wearing VR goggles and you aren't. And there's no feed. So you can hear them talking, and see their reactions, but you're still not getting it, so it just looks goofy. And that's the problem. The directors refuse to address the goofy-ness of the situation, and lean into it, or adapt it in a way that works.
im a fellow gen z'er. a few months ago, this movie came out on netflix called "incoming". it was essentially about these highschool freshmen going to a highschool party for the first time, and i am heavily oversimplifying the plot, but i felt like it did a good job at capturing gen z. its really the only example of a movie or tv show i could name where i feel it has accurately depicted gen z.
TMNT MM is a great Gen Z teenager movie