{"id":6024,"date":"2017-05-10T07:35:19","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T15:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=6024"},"modified":"2017-05-10T07:35:19","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T15:35:19","slug":"one-everyones-garbage-person","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/one-everyones-garbage-person\/","title":{"rendered":"The one where everyone\u2019s a garbage person"},"content":{"rendered":"
By: Stephanie Blair\r\nEditor-in-Chief<\/pre>\n
In the \u201890s, \u201cFriends\u201d was the annoyingly unrealistic, yet lovable show; six friends living in huge apartments in New York City while barely working and sleeping around to their hearts\u2019 content. Now, a different idealized delusion has overtaken television and I have to say, I hate it.<\/p>\n
The image of entitled, lazy, dysfunctional \u201cmillennials\u201d seems to have sprouted from the very shows that I can\u2019t stand. Shows like \u201cThe Office,\u201d \u201cBroad City,\u201d Workaholics\u201d and Netflix\u2019s \u201cLove\u201d glorify settling for less and just scraping by. I know that the grind of getting to where you want to be isn\u2019t glamorous, but I would argue that carrying a Ziploc bag of weed in your vagina to avoid getting caught by the cops isn\u2019t glamorous either.<\/p>\n
Is it too much to ask for one show about 20-somethings whose lives haven\u2019t devolved into a haze of sleeping around, abusing substances and spending more time complaining about working than actually working? I don\u2019t like to use the word \u201chedonism,\u201d but I\u2019m left with few alternatives for the philosophy of these self-serving, and otherwise unmotivated underachievers.<\/p>\n
Say what you will about the slew of \u201890s shows that have people living in a magical world where rent is no object and they can spend more time eating with friends than working, but at least those characters have jobs and move forward in their lives. \u201cSex in the City\u201d has all four main characters doing jobs they love, in \u201cFriends\u201d the friends all achieve some degree of success in their professional life, even \u201cSeinfeld.\u201d… Well, I suppose it\u2019s just Jerry who\u2019s successful, but still.<\/p>\n
It was a flaw of writing at the time, but frankly, I\u2019m not interested in how the writers expect shows to be financially realistic – it\u2019s television.<\/p>\n
However, I can\u2019t let go of my grudge against these new \u201cwoe is me\u201d young adults that dominate screens across America. The problem has shifted from unrealistically nice settings to unrealistically awful people in fairly realistic settings. It\u2019s no longer a question of financial logistics, it\u2019s turning a blind eye to the reality of how easy is to be fired or get an STD. The often illegal, always morally questionable antics that characters get up to fill me with anxiety and disgust.<\/p>\n
While I can appreciate wanting to escape into a fantasy world, I like connecting with the characters I\u2019m watching. I like being invested in the lives of fictional characters. I cared exponentially more about Rory Gilmore getting into Harvard than I did about the pranks Jim pulled on Dwight every week.<\/p>\n
I want a character to aspire to, to be excited for. If I wanted to spend an hour a night with unmotivated-alcoholic Gen Y kids, I\u2019d move back to Portland\u2019s suburbs.<\/p>\n
Contact the author at sblair13@wou.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By: Stephanie Blair Editor-in-Chief In the \u201890s, \u201cFriends\u201d was the annoyingly unrealistic, yet lovable show; six friends living in huge apartments in New York City while barely working and sleeping around to their hearts\u2019 content. Now, a different idealized delusion has overtaken television and I have to say, I hate it. The image of entitled, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":937,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/937"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}