When seeking information on differences, good and bad, between the Baby Boomers and Generation X, what better experts than my parents. After all they have done the 50’s thru the 90’s. They have seen the different trends and I’m sure attempted to set a few of their own. As the conversation went on about the differences and similarities, we all became passionate about certain aspects of growing up.
It started with the clothes, and then television and it got intense when we got to the music. We couldn’t move off the music and onto the next comparisons, which would have been politics and then the effects television has had. Both of which are slightly mentioned in this paper but certainly not in the depth they deserve. When all was said and done about music, I walked away strongly believing that there are those of us who have no doubt that as Don McLain says in his song “American Pie,” there is truly a day when the music died. The difference of opinion is when did the music die? Was it when Buddy Holly died or Elvis?Was it when Janis Joplin died’some people say that it was when Jimmy Hendrix died.
Some of today’s youth feel it was when Kurt Cobain died. This discussion can go on and on into the next millennium when different names will be added to that list. Each generation will decide for themselves when the music died and they will each be idealistically correct. Socially, we grow from generation to generation.
There are different habits that each generation has, but in the end, each generation is the same as the one before and the one before that. One generation just develops different habits. In the end people all want the same thing, but they go about it differently. What was important to the generation of the 60’s, things like peace, banning the bomb, gun control, equality for all are some of the same things this generation is striving for thirty years later. Music, obviously is not the defining moment of any generation, although, it is a powerful one.
Each generation has to decide what road to take when it comes to being in sync with the rest of its generation. The decision to watch a particular television show can put a person outside a circle of friends, the clothes or hairstyles can make or break an individual with peers, as well as what a person listens to when it comes to music. In deciding what television shows to watch s people are preparing themselves or should I say molding themselves to how they are going to appear in public. The hairstyle, what clothes to dress in, or as Savan said in her article, how a person will be exploited by the media. As I Love Lucy did in the 50’s, Mod Squad did in the 60’s, Mary Tyler Moore did in the 70’s, Dallas did in the 80’s and 90210 has done in the 90’s.
Television has the power to condition a persons mind and guides how, when and where he/she lives. Creative minds like Arron Spelling, who has entertained families for over 20 years with shows that as had an impact on at least two generations and continues to do so. His contributions are many with shows like Dynasty, Dallas, Hotel and 90210. Each of Spellings shows have been highly rated in its day and each one offers premium rates to grab a thirty second advertising spot during the show. Can anyone say that they were not “mildly” (Maasik and Solomon 215) influenced by the ad campaigns that were shown during the show?An ad for the snacks people were eating often appears while watching popular shows. Children send their parents to the store the next day to pick up a certain pair of jeans, a toy or sneakers.
Spelling indirectly molded a generation into a Lays potato chip eating, Jordache jean wearing, twister playing, and converse-wearing consumer. As Spelling had done in the 70’s, we know have David E. Kelly who has the same impact on the 90’s with his influence in television. Kelly produces shows such as The Practice, Chicago Hope,
