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Jonathan Epstein considers the direction of this colorful argument: Regarding the comments on Beavis and Butthead: isn't the debate about the irresponsibility, stupidity and vapidity (whatever) of "youth culture" getting tiring? Shows like Beavis and Butthead, The Simpsons, Ren and Stimpy, etc aren't created by youth. These programs are created by adults who think they have their finger on the pulse of "youth" (probably because they own a Dead T-Shirt) but they don't actually have a clue. Beavis and Butthead are about youth resistence to adult values, specifically what Howe and Strauss call "boomer" lifestyles in their 1993 book 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail. These authors lay out the "rules" of the 13th generations value system: 1)Wear your politics lightly, 2) Survival comes first, 3)Try to fix only whats fixable 4)Clean up your own mess, 5) personal style matters. With the exception of number 4 this is Beavis and Butthead. they're also a joke, of course. This is important. The only people who take them seriously are academics, ratings people and psychotic five year olds with absentee parents. Maybe the discussion of generational differences between Boomers and 13ers would be fruitful, here. Those who graduated high school between 1979 and 1989 have a much different world view than those who came before them. Rock music also plays an important role here. With Beavis and Butthead the music that is most often "cool" and doesn't "suck" is alternative music by bands such as Tool, Soundgarden, and Nirvana. The rejection of all but a personal politcs of style, and the idea that the world can not be made a better place except by almost total sacrifice of 13ers, doesn't resonate with the previous generation at all so Beavis and Butthead's Music becomes "mindless headbanging bullshit", rather than a site of resistence. Kellner does a good job here in his forthcoming book Media Culture, although he locates rap as the center of youth resistence, and I do not grant rap this exclusive position. Beavis and Buttheads credo is summed up by Soundgarden's song Mailman with it's refrain; "I know I'm heading for the bottom, but I'm riding you all the way." Now this, to B&B, is cool. "We are the world" sucks. It's angry, tired music for an angry, tired way before their time generation. Jonathon S. Epstein Department of Sociology Kent State University
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