# Generation X Movies - Let's Find Some Good Ones **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 28, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645 "2019-05-28T15:02:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/1 "2019-05-28T15:02:29Z")
Right, so the Empire Records thread inspired me to think about movies portraying Gen X - of which I am a solid part, for the record - and our generational ways. So I went looking at some lists and I’m seeing some oddball things. Like ‘Dazed and Confused’ ends up on several of the lists but I’m seeing that as a Boomer movie, myself. Set in 1975 even the early runs of GenX wouldn’t have been of age to graduate high school there. Also, there’s a solid break in Gen X films where they show high school and later ones about early working years. While both The Breakfast Club and Reality Bites are easily classified as Gen X movies, it’s not difficult to distinguish between the two in the conflicts the characters face. So let’s try to put together a definitive list of Gen X films and then we’ll debate it but not too hard because, hey, nevermind, right? I’ll start. As I already mentioned, The Breakfast Club Reality Bites Grosse Pointe Blank Aside, I think Cusack’s character in GPB is far more exemplifying of GenX that in Hi Fidelity. But that may just be that I found Martin Blank a lot more relatable than the whiner idiot in HF. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/2 "2019-05-28T15:23:21Z")
Heathers is kind of a classic St Elmo’s Fire ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/3 "2019-05-28T15:36:34Z")
Pump Up The Volume Singles Fast Times At Ridgemont High Say Anything Pretty in Pink ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/4 "2019-05-28T15:36:49Z")
So, what specifically are we talking about here? Movies made between 1975 and 2000? Or just in the 1980s? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/5 "2019-05-28T15:39:47Z")
For starters: _ **Time Bandits** _ * * * Top Gun\*\*\* * * * Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure\*\*\* * * * Rain Man\*\*\* _ **The Naked Gun** _ _ **Good Morning, Vietnam!** _ _ **Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure** _ _ **Batman** _ ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/6 "2019-05-28T15:47:31Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > So, what specifically are we talking about here? Movies made between 1975 and 2000? Or just in the 1980s? You see, I’m really looking for films that try to define the generation here. The sorts of things that show Gen X and our communal personality. For instance, from your list I’d argue that both Top Gun and Rain Man are really boomer-era Reagan style movies. While we were teens in the 80s we weren’t fighter jocks or whatever sort of hustler Tom Cruise played in Rain Man. Not unlike how we could like The Police but couldn’t really identify with Sting singing ‘Born in the 50s’. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/7 "2019-05-28T15:55:30Z")
Lawnmower Man Slacker Better Off Dead Clerks Boyz N the Hood Higher Learning Friday ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/8 "2019-05-28T15:57:46Z")
Clerks Chasing Amy ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/9 "2019-05-28T16:08:29Z")
So in other words, nothing like _ **The Elephant Man** _, _ **Chariots of Fire** _, _ **Ghandi** _, or _ **First Blood** _. I was 25 in 1980, but I didn’t feel that much out of the times. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/10 "2019-05-28T16:10:38Z")
_ **Ferris Bueller** _ _ **Splash** _ * * * Trading Places * * * _ **Beverly Hills Cop** _ * * * Dirty Dancing\*\*\* _ **Flashdance** _ _ **E.T.** _ ---
**Author:** ![Nauplius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nauplius/32/51_2.png) [@Nauplius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nauplius)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/11 "2019-05-28T16:38:11Z")
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/12 "2019-05-28T17:19:08Z")
\*\*High Fidelity Fight Club \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/13 "2019-05-28T17:47:28Z")
I would back Pump Up the Volume (alienation, stuck in a high school they hate, quiet ones rebelling) Heathers (more high school rebellion) Real Genius (nerds rebelling, but more Gen X than revenge of the nerds) Fight Club (20/30 somethings rebelling) ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/14 "2019-05-28T18:34:02Z")
Most of Kevin Smith’s films with Jay and Silent Bob: Clerks Clerks II Mall Rats Chasing Amy Aside from them there is also: Back to The Future I & II (III is more a parody of Westerns.) Red Dawn (the original 80s one) Nightmare on Elm Street Friday the 13th. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/15 "2019-05-28T18:37:06Z")
BioDome? (j/k) ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/16 "2019-05-28T18:53:56Z")
> [@bump](#): > > BioDome? (j/k) I know you are joking but Pauly Shore is definitely a Generation X caricature and most of his movies would fall into this category. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/17 "2019-05-28T20:10:02Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > I know you are joking but Pauly Shore is definitely a Generation X caricature and most of his movies would fall into this category. I never really thought about it that way… “Encino Man” probably is a good candidate for a “good Generation X movie” in the sense that it’s about the only snapshot of high school life for that subgroup of Gen X that wasn’t straight-up 80s or 90s and straddled the decades in high school. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/18 "2019-05-28T21:07:29Z")
Swingers defines the decade and my 20s for me, and I never even lived in LA, aspired to be an actor, learned how to swing dance or dated a girl named after a quiche. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/19 "2019-05-28T21:24:45Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > I know you are joking but Pauly Shore is definitely a Generation X caricature and most of his movies would fall into this category. _Son in Law_ is surprisingly good for a Pauly Shore film. But that’s a pretty low bar. Carla Gugino pretty much saved it. What time frame are we talking about here? In terms of actors, Wynona Ryder had a canonical run in _Beetlejuice_, _Heathers_, _Mermaids_, _Edward Scissorhands_, and _Bram Stoker’s Dracula_. 88-92. Is that too early? ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645/20 "2019-05-28T22:31:44Z")
I’d add Brimstone and Treacle to this list even though only 20 people saw it… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generation-x-movies-lets-find-some-good-ones/834645.md?page=2)