2012/01/01 by Ambert R. J. P. Hodge · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism #Intertextuality #Legitimation #Linguistics #History #Art #Literature #Political science #Philosophy #Law #Politics
paper · pdf · doi:10.21220/s2-00v5-f567
published in W&M Publish (College of William & Mary) (William & Mary)
openalex publication_date 2012/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
A m erica n s h a v e a lw a y s b e e n divided generationally, from th e Lost G en eration and the G rea test G en eration to th e B aby B o o m e r s and G eneration X.Until S e p te m b e r 11, 2 0 0 1 , the Millennial G en eration ("M illennials") w a s only d efin ed in relation to other d em o g ra p h ic cohorts.A review of popular culture from 1 9 9 8 -2 0 0 3 , sp ecifically telev isio n program m ing targeted to and em b ra ced by th e M illennials, d e m o n str a te s a se a r c h for legitim ation at a tim e w h en this g en eration e x iste d only in th e co n tex t o f oth ers, with no o b v io u s distinguishing ch a racteristics.This p ap er will exp lore popular culture tren d s a s a m arker o f broader so cia l c h a n g e in th e con tex t of th e declining n ee d o f th e Millennial G en eration to d efin e itself through popular culture (and earlier g en e r a tio n s) w h en p r e se n te d with its ow n "defining m o m en t."By com paring trends in youth-oriented program m ing at th e en d o f th e 2 1 s t century to s h o w s that prem iered follow ing th e S e p te m b e r 11 terrorist attacks, it b e c o m e s clea r that popular culture b e g in s to transform from a m e a n s of legitim ation to a m ech a n ism for e s c a p is m .relating them to earlier generations of Gen X and the Baby Boomers respectively.Generations are never easily classified, though demographic experts can usually roughly agree on what timespan constitutes a particular generation.The most commonly accepted range of birth years for the Millennials starts around the mid- 1970s (1976-1979) and ends around the mid-1990s (1994-1995).3Because this research focuses on media trends of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when I refer to Millennials, I am speaking of the first half of the generation (those bom between roughly 1977 and 1986).Limiting the scope serves two purposes.First, it restricts the study to the segment of Millenials targeted by Dawson's Creek and the WB.4I believe the generation is worth segmenting because the cultural experiences of the first and latter half of the generation were markedly different.5For example, when early members of -j