Genera+ion Aims To Capture Contemporary Teenage Life
Document Type
Blog
Publication Date
6-18-2021
Publication Title
Latinx Spaces
Abstract
Genera+ion’s Chester, played by Justice Smith, compelled me to watch the show. His interaction with the Chicana lesbian, Greta, in episode 6, “The Wheels of the Busy,” highlights the limitations of yet another white-written show trying to imagine the life of a Chicana exploring her desires for women. As Chester and Greta are on their way to San Francisco with their high school’s LGBTQA student alliance group, they compare the names on their fake IDs. Chester’s “Matt Schwartz” seems to them more troubling than Greta’s “Kelsey Johnston.” HBO Max’s Genera+ion, co-written by father-daughter duo Daniel and Zelda Barnz, represents HBO Max’s second attempt at an MA show exploring teen’s sexual and gender struggles, and is set in Southern California. Genera+ion is a more comedic, less dark exploration of adolescent sexual and gender “coming of age'' than its counterpart Euphoria. Greta (played by Haley Sanchez) is part of an ensemble cast of bisexual, genderfluid, and mostly middle-class students trying to embrace their and others’ queerness. The show is framed by flash-forwards to Asian-American Delilah having a surprise birth in the accessible bathroom of a mall. Among characters with more romantic and sexual experience, Greta’s character provides childlike innocence and desire for love that gets lost amid the affluence, parental participation, and fictive performance of confidence her peers perform.
Controlled Subject
Sexual minorities; Homophobia
Disciplines
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies
Repository Citation
Abad, . G.
(2021).
Genera+ion Aims To Capture Contemporary Teenage Life.
Latinx Spaces