Themes of Slacker in the Quest for Social Interactions and Purposeful Existence - Essay Example

TITLE: THEMES OF SLACKER IN THE QUEST FOR SOCIAL INTERACTIONS AND PURPOSEFUL EXISTENCE STUDENT NAME PROFESSOR’S NAME COURSE TITLE DATE Introduction In the modern age and day, American films and artistic productions have played a critical role in bringing out the different aspects of life within the society. It is through the productions that one reflects on the different perspectives of society and reflects upon different cultures and trends. The 1990s movies and film production was a clear reflection and juxtaposed the generational change of young adults, often faced by different challenges such as unemployment, loss of hope and an indifference attitude to those of the older generation. The change in social interactions, impact of capitalism and advancement of technology, brought about changes in societal views of what is an ideal lifestyle. In this paper, the focus is on the 1991 comedy drama ‘Slacker’. The comedy set up in the small town of Austin, Texas is a clear picture of the daily life of a normal youth growing up in Austin trying to live their lives while facing challenges. It will also identify the different themes brought out in the movie and how this has changed the ‘social interaction’ of youth in the ‘slacker generation’. The themes within the Slacker are a clear indicator of the various issues that affect the modern day youth within the postmodern cultural age. Slacker (1991) The Slacker (1991) is a film written and directed by Richard Linklater, an independent comedy drama. The movies is about bohemians and misfits living in Richard’s Linklater;s town of Austin. The movie does not revolve on only one character, but hosts of characters chosen to cast in different scenes. The theme centering amongst the characters are those of social seclusion, political marginalization, terrorism, unemployment and the control of the government over media coverage. Unemployment In the story, the characters drift in search of employment opportunities speaking a different jargon of bohemian, ushered in a new age faced with the pop-culture gibber. Unsettled in choosing their own lifestyle, they move from place to place not knowing their direction in life (Moore, 1998). The characters go ahead to chat about being detained in hospitals by their parents as one of them even decides to sell Madonna’s pap smear to earn a living. The language and talk of the characters employs the modern day babble of the generation such as ‘I don’t know. I’ve travelled and when you get back you can’t tell whether it really happened to you or you just saw it on TV’. Work is an ideal aspect of existence of any human being. Work gives meaning in the life of a person and acts as an impetus to self-realization, fulfilment and elf-worth. It is through work that persons can interact, purposely use their talents and experience to improve their living conditions and status. The unavailability of something to do creates a society that is meaningless, hopeless just like the characters in Slacker. Alienation The Slacker 1991 creates a clear picture of alienation of youths in the 1990s. The employers; always prompting to choose the older and more experienced generation always than the young college graduates, filled with energy and enthusiasm. The comedy always filled with words from characters’ I feel stuck’ a clear depiction that they are meant to stay where they are. Idleness in the Slacker is a professional thing, done by every character in the movie that is always talking and doing nothing because they have nothing to do and there is no value placed in their creativity. Humour characterizes the desperation of the characters in the movie for instance one says; "You know how the slogan goes, 'Workers of the world, unite'? We say workers of the world, relax." Alienation and unemployment leads to young people feeling disconnected from the society, themselves and others. One of the characters knocks down their mother and dies, but remains indifferent to what one has done. Impact of Postmodern culture The cultural change from the Reagan and Bush administration posed a challenge to the youths. The lure of technology, pop music, pop culture and information is the clear sense of what the director of Slacker intended to bring to the society attention. In one of the scenes, one of the characters is in a video apartment surround by televisions. He claims that he has invented a ‘Video Virus’ whereby through use of a special technology one pushes a button, transports himself to the screen a perform some simulated actions. In his reply to a query by another character of what it is, he replies ‘Well, we all know the psychic powers of the televised image. But we need to capitalize on it and make it work for us instead of working for it.’ This theme replicated in other scenes. A history graduate student independently records a video of himself, indicating self-consciousness about the power of the image and the ability to control it at the same time. In a scene with which the film concludes, a carload of people, each equipped with a Super 8 camera, drives up to a large hill and the people throw their cameras into a canyon. The film ends with the images recorded by the cameras cascading to the bottom of the cliff in what suggests a moment of release and liberation. Within the postmodern culture depicted in these three films, there are no master narratives at work, no epic modernist dreams, nor is there any element of social agency that accompanies the individualized sense of dropping out, of self-consciously courting chaos and uncertainty. The Slacker a mirror of modern day trend In essence, the definition of a slacker during the World War I and II referred to draft evaders, however in the Slacker; it refers to a taste of idleness in preference to paid employment. The term in this case is applicable when referring to laziness’ procrastination, disorganization and the slovenly lifestyle (Radwan, 2000). It focuses on an ideal youth, lazy and incapable of handling themselves and going through a particular situation on their own. According to Sconce (2002), smart cinema in America emerged in the 1990 that placed its reliance on irony, humour, fatalism, relativism and occasional nihilism. The Slacker is a clear description of a nihilist movie. It is sensational in inundating hate, encourages sadism, scorn and the disinterest of people towards the world. It shows how clearly people drawn to other aspects of human beings and even themselves. It shows the daily challenges of the youth in their social interactions and purposeful existence in the society with other people. It clearly shows that the ‘Slacker’ generation are not in sync with other generation and take to sulking on their own and mulling over their own disappointment in life. The Slacker in itself is a perfect representation of the bohemian subculture of irony in the 1990s culture and demonstrate the artistic shift in cinema (Linklater, 2004) The slacker captures the sentiments of white youth within a span of twenty generations who a distinctly drawn to different values of the society. The setting is in an old college town in Austin Texas, similar to the Phantom of Liberty by Luis Bunuel and the Max Ophlus La Rhonde, none of the characters linked to the other. Its focus on disparate groups of people who poses little or no hope of the future is a depiction of gaps that exist in society. Irony can take the form of ‘contradiction, incongruity or incompatibility in a way that opposes the common perception and views of people’. In the Slacker 1991, the irony used in the form that it depicts the behavior of people. The slacker is an opposite of film productions. Irony takes three forms in any literary or artistic works; verbal irony, situation irony and dramatic irony. Verbal irony refers to the use of ‘words’ to mean the complete opposite of what one says. This is intentional that it can be an overstatement or an understatement. Dramatic irony on the other hand refers to the irony that occurs within the given play something known to the audience but not the character. Situation irony refers to an inconsistency between what is expected to happen and what happens in the play. Irony in the Slacker represented by the complete contrast the story takes from the normal perceptions of life is a complete opposite. Unlike productions whereby one knows that society filled with hope, the characters clearly show that assumptions in society are not real. The term nihilism is the denial of the world’s intrinsic value and not merely those of a particular objects or events or persons. It suggests different meanings in relations to the different aspects of life, objectivity, purpose and the intrinsic values (Pierson et al. 1995). A nihilistic perspective of any film production mainly depicts the despair and pointlessness in the existence of certain aspects or rules or norms in the society. The storyline of Slacker is a nihilistic representation of the life of young adults who find no meaning in the society. Slacker and Young Adult The plight of the youth living within the conditions of postmodern culture was the intention of Richard in writing and directing the Slacker. The film in its own way depicts and indulges the cynical rant about George Bush space program and aliens. One of the other characters runs over the mother killing her instantly. The other characters holed up in a café speaking of the intensity, mastery, obsessive is of the utterly passive and the intense effort one requires not be creative. One other character in the comedy a gunman and passionate tries selling a jar claiming it is full of Maddonna’s pap smear. The comedy’s use of different character after character is significant evidence of the director’s dissociation with nature and a quality of drifting, unfocused energy connection and engagement. The play ironically points out the role of young adults in society is disjointed and intrinsically opposite of those expected from other generations. Pre Slacker Generation hard working, creative and always inspired to achieve that which is unattainable now replaced by unfocused youths. The young adults desire to be cool, have access to easy money while their anarchic energy focuses on authority figures rather than building themselves. The film creates a sharp contrast of the common perception of what is a superior lifestyle. In Slacker there is a potential chance that it implies that a disorganized lifestyle, might be more superior to an organized lifestyle. In this case, a slacker might adopt the pragmatic laziness trend of being disorderly by improving skills in memorization. It signifies an unconventional person. The choices for middle aged slackers in the near future might be restricted that is ‘if talent is not sufficient why bother honing ones skills , on the other hand if it is impossible to get meaningful and gainful employment why not slack out and enjoy life. This is the contrast between domestic and economic relationships amongst young adults. Social interactions have been a major focus of different players within the society. The interests and tastes of the slacker generation has been intensified by introduction of different is a reforms of hip-hop music, frenetic commercials, mobilization of desires. According to Parkes (1994) The emerging technologies, which construct and position youth represent interactive terrains that cut across "language and culture, without narrative requirements, without character complexities. . . . Narrative complexity [has given] way to design complexity; story [has given] way to a sensory environment" (Parkes, 1994,p 50). The Slacker 1991 is a representation of the white youth obsession and fascination with the media appearing to be overwhelmed. The danger and wonder of future technologies the banality of consumption and thrill of brand names. The sense of powerlessness that cuts through race, class and generations is the ideal challenge facing the young generation. Conclusion In conclusion, the American independent comedy-drama film Slacker (1991) captures the daily struggles of the youth in the 1990s period. Faced by alienation, challenged by the postmodern culture and unemployment, they go through life without meaning, hopeless and idle. This creates in them a new form of passage of time and entails talking a lot about their failures in life and not engaging their creativity. A new form of language marks their generation’s achievement always in disagreement with the other generation. A young adult is in transition between teenage years and adulthood and guidance, hope and motivation is all they need to change their perceptions about life. REFERENCES Levy, Emanuel. Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film. New York and London: New York UP, 1999. Print. Linklater, Richard. “From the notebooks”. Booklet accompanying Slacker DVD. Criterion Collection, 2004. N.p. Print. Moore, Ryan. “‘... And Tomorrow is Just Another Crazy Scam’: Postmodernity, Youth, and the Downward Mobility of the Middle Class”. Generations of Youth: Youth Cultures and History in Twentieth-Century America. Ed. Joe Austin and Michael Nevin Willard. New York and London: New York UP, 1998. 253-271. Print. Radwan, Jon. “Generation X and Postmodern Cinema: Slacker”. Post Script: Essays in Film and the Humanities 19.2 (Winter-Spring 2000): 34-48. Print. Sconce, Jeffrey.” Irony, nihilism and the new American ‘smart’ film.” Screen 43.4 (Winter 2002): 349-369 Pierson, John. Spike Mike Slackers & Dykes: A guided tour across a decade of American independent cinema. New York: Hyperion and Miramax, 1995. Print. Parkes, Walter. "Random Access, Remote Control: The Evolution of Story Telling." Omni Jan. 1994: 48+. Read More