(Photo credit: Richard Muller)
The big bad world won’t necessarily let us be artists, singers, actors right when we get out. Cue depression, self-entitlement, and financial instability.
by David di Giovanni
I belong to ‘Generation Me;’ a term dubbed by Dr. Jean Twenge. ‘Generation Me’ encompasses anyone born from 1970 to the mid 1990s. ‘Generation Me’ is partially the product of a pedagogy in school based on raising self-esteem. The thought was: if you make children feel good about themselves, they will do better. This was not the case.
So what do we do with a generation told that ‘they can be whatever they want to be?’ This is a generation who, as she points out, is at highest risk being diagnosed as depressed or bipolar. This is a generation of ‘self-entitlement.’ We’ve been told from our childhood that nothing can stop us from being what we want to be. Except, we realize that this is not necessarily true. The big bad world won’t necessarily let us be artists, singers, actors right when we get out. Cue depression, self-entitlement, and financial instability.
...this is the big conundrum of theatre-makers around Canada. How do we get young people interested in the theatre?
A large part of this demographic is made up of the Boomer’s children, also called ‘The Echo.’ The thing about the Echo is that there is a lot of us. The great thing about a lot of children bred in consumer culture with issues of self-entitlement is that we are a marketing-team’s dream. This is one of the major target demographics for anyone wanting to mass-produce, and mass-sell. And so it follows, as we have seen with the last elections, that there is a large push to ‘talk to the youth’ or ‘hear from the youth.’ People tell us that we’re ‘apathetic.’ And this is the big conundrum of theatre-makers around Canada. How do we get young people interested in the theatre?
...this is the big conundrum of theatre-makers around Canada. How do we get young people interested in the theatre?
A large part of this demographic is made up of the Boomer’s children, also called ‘The Echo.’ The thing about the Echo is that there is a lot of us. The great thing about a lot of children bred in consumer culture with issues of self-entitlement is that we are a marketing-team’s dream. This is one of the major target demographics for anyone wanting to mass-produce, and mass-sell. And so it follows, as we have seen with the last elections, that there is a large push to ‘talk to the youth’ or ‘hear from the youth.’ People tell us that we’re ‘apathetic.’ And this is the big conundrum of theatre-makers around Canada. How do we get young people interested in the theatre?
The largest barrier is the cliché; theatre is a dead form. There are so many ‘inconveniences;’ buying a ticket, dressing up, sitting in a theatre sometimes for three hours, not understanding/relating to the text. I would venture to say that the last inconvenience is probably the largest barrier preventing younger people from seeing theatre. There exists a cliché (and clichés are grounded in reality) that the language of the theatre is archaic or high-brow or just plain boring.
There is usually a greater focus on image, more disruption of linear narrative, and more Blood! Guns! Sex!
The first response is, let’s do a play which ‘talks to their issues.’ And there are a lot of great and effective examples of this gesture. Off the bat, I think of the WildSide Festival. Festivals such as this one, and the plays included, are usually described as ‘cutting-edge.’ There is usually a greater focus on image, more disruption of linear narrative, and more Blood! Guns! Sex! Yet this type of theatre, independent of its quality, is few and far between, especially in the Anglo Montreal Theatre Community.
The first response is, let’s do a play which ‘talks to their issues.’ And there are a lot of great and effective examples of this gesture. Off the bat, I think of the WildSide Festival. Festivals such as this one, and the plays included, are usually described as ‘cutting-edge.’ There is usually a greater focus on image, more disruption of linear narrative, and more Blood! Guns! Sex! Yet this type of theatre, independent of its quality, is few and far between, especially in the Anglo Montreal Theatre Community.
Us young theatre-kids are waved goodbye from our respective education and are hit with Montreal real world. A large majority of us scramble then to dive under the shelter of ‘work.’ Getting a job in the field is top priority. It so happens that a large majority of the paid English theatre artists in Montreal are a bit older. Therefore, we have many young artists, flocking under the wings of more established artists, learning that the way to make money is to follow similar actions being taken on by the more established artists. And if it sounds like I am talking down to this approach, I would like to clarify how vital I feel it is for younger artists to have mentors. These ‘older’ artists are getting paid for a reason. Yet, the lack of artistic diversity in this community is what I instead refer to. Young artists either try to get another degree, or try to squeeze into one of the few English Montreal theatres which are capable of supporting young artists. These theatres are also the theatres continuing to present more traditional plays (in term of form and content). The moral: the way to make money is to do ‘traditional’ plays - the same plays which are having trouble attracting younger audiences.
The theatre will only be populated by audiences who enjoy the theatre. Why bother targeting a demographic who won’t go?
The theatre will only be populated by audiences who enjoy the theatre. Why bother targeting a demographic who won’t go?
Now before you call me out on sweeping generalizations, I call myself out. Remember: I’m self-entitled. If you’re bubbling with retorts, I’d like to handle a few of them. If you’re not interested in this part, I would love to ‘hyperlink you’ to the last three paragraphs.
1. There are quite a few young theatre companies who are taking a lot of initiative, and creating very exciting new work: True. And I commend each of them. My question is a simple one: Is the ‘Gen Me’ demographic the one’s being targeted? (In fewer instances, yes).
2. The theatre will only be populated by audiences who enjoy the theatre. Why bother targeting a demographic who won’t go? This is a fine point. Let’s try anyway.
3. It is easy to ‘vilify’ older artists making work when you’re a new artist. The call for a ‘new kind of work’ is a cliche in-itself. The 60s saw the destruction of narrative. People like linear stories, and by virtue of the 60s, these newer works cannot be called ‘traditional’ or ‘archaic.’ A lot of young people, especially those who want to be in the theatre, LIKE these kinds of plays: My question is ‘What kind of work targets ‘Gen Me?’ My follow-up question is, who are these young artists learning to speak for.
1. There are quite a few young theatre companies who are taking a lot of initiative, and creating very exciting new work: True. And I commend each of them. My question is a simple one: Is the ‘Gen Me’ demographic the one’s being targeted? (In fewer instances, yes).
2. The theatre will only be populated by audiences who enjoy the theatre. Why bother targeting a demographic who won’t go? This is a fine point. Let’s try anyway.
3. It is easy to ‘vilify’ older artists making work when you’re a new artist. The call for a ‘new kind of work’ is a cliche in-itself. The 60s saw the destruction of narrative. People like linear stories, and by virtue of the 60s, these newer works cannot be called ‘traditional’ or ‘archaic.’ A lot of young people, especially those who want to be in the theatre, LIKE these kinds of plays: My question is ‘What kind of work targets ‘Gen Me?’ My follow-up question is, who are these young artists learning to speak for.
Our question can be formed as ‘How does one make Facebook into live performance?’
How does one make and support theatre for my generation; self-entitled, uninterested, disengaged youngsters? There’s been a huge wave of blogs, tweets, and Facebook groups. This, though, has little to do with making theatre which attracts a younger crowd, but rather roping in the younger crowd. Is there an aesthetic which appeals to this ‘Generation Me?’
How does one make and support theatre for my generation; self-entitled, uninterested, disengaged youngsters? There’s been a huge wave of blogs, tweets, and Facebook groups. This, though, has little to do with making theatre which attracts a younger crowd, but rather roping in the younger crowd. Is there an aesthetic which appeals to this ‘Generation Me?’
This is the primary concern and interest with the group I work with, The MAP Project. Our question can be formed as ‘How does one make Facebook into live performance?’ How does one channel: the anxieties of coming-to-age? The influence of Internet browsing on the mind? The significance of popular culture on our childhood; our much-loved televised babysitters.
The theatre is unique, as its very form deals with the fundamental tension between the live actors bodies and the ‘staged’ masks or personae. This is precisely the obsession of my generation: toothpastes are called ‘authentic,’ reality television seems ‘staged,’ and the worst insult you can say about someone is that they’re ‘fake.’ Is there a theatrical form(s) which can embody these contradictions?
The MAP Project presents 'FOUR:Yourself' at the Mainline theatre May 25 - 28th
Frankly, having observed my generation closely from the outside for several years now, the question of how to appeal to them is simple.
ReplyDeleteOur generation has no interest in writing, acting, directing, or any other aspect of craft that goes into public storytelling or performance. They don't consider any of these things relevant, and certainly cannot identify or evaluate them.
All they want is to have their own insecurities pandered to. They want to get the joke. To feel like they are not excluded, or, even better, like they are part of an elite group that is looking down upon the people they are themselves excluding.
The success of Joss Whedon, "Supernatural," and the overwhelming majority of Internet comics demonstrates that if you refer to something Generation Me recognises from their adolescence, you don't even have to *do* anything with it. Provide no context, do not craft a joke or an idea around it: Step onstage, quote any line from Monty Python, and the crowd is yours, easy.
Any reference in the title to Star Trek, zombies, ninjas, Tolkien, and/or pirates - the more references the better, because for all their self-congratualtion these people are not capable of critical evaluation - and you have a *guaranteed* audience of over-educated, middle-income, navel-gazing, self-interested 20-to-40-year-olds.
You don't even have to make posters for it. Create an Event on Facebook. They will think it's cool, because you are validating their social network and their means of hiding from the world outside of their computer screens.
But why would you *want* to do any of this?
With regret,
Taras Stasiuk
b. 1972