My inexplicable obsession with Gen X continues with my first-time-watch of Reality Bites (1994, 100 minutes) starring Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo, and Steve Zahn. I went into this wanting to simply watch a classic and I’ve come out the other end neck deep in articles about the Gen X-to-Trump pipeline. I don’t want to get too far away from the actual movie here, but you can read about this… we’ll call it a phenomenon?... at Salon and The Nation.
Reality Bites follows the lives of four recently graduated friends living, and sometimes working, in Houston, Texas. Lelaina (Ryder) is a wannabe filmmaker trapped both working as a Production Assistant for a rude daytime TV host and in a will-they-won’t-they with Troy (Hawke), the lead singer of a band named Hey, That’s My Bike. Troy can’t hold down a job and doesn’t care to. Lelaina eventually meets Michael (Ben Stiller), a yuppie TV exec that worships the ground she walks on. Vickie (Garofalo), who is comfortably climbing the ranks at the Gap, believes in free love… which leads her to the clinic for an HIV test. And Sammy (Zahn), is struggling to come out to his parents, and to live authentically as himself as a result. Together they navigate young adulthood, falling in love, and being broke.
The driving force of this movie is the well-trodden path of slacker vs. yuppie. Resisting the man vs. selling out. Giving a shit and not giving shit. (See: Office Space and Slacker) Each of the characters have their own definition of selling out -- for Vickie that’s being monogamous, for Lelaina that’s working a job not related to her degree, and for Troy well that’s any job at all. They’re all in constant turmoil about who they want to be, can be, and have to be. Though this movie is very much of a particular time (no one even thinks of a “yuppie” anymore) it still speaks plainly and effectively to that moment right after college when each decision you make seems so heavy. Screenwriter Helen Childress captures the absolute hell and insanity of reconciling your dreams with reality. And for that, the movie really holds up in a beautiful way.
Perhaps I feel this way because the movie was written and revised over the course of three years (1991-1994) when unemployment rates were close to those of 2008. 7.4% and 7.3% respectively. I graduated during that great year of 2010 when the rate was 9.3% (and yes I sold out as soon as I could). Entering adulthood and the workforce at a time when those before you have left a mess is a different kind of hurt. As Lelaina says in her Valedictorian speech, “How can we repair all the damage we inherited?” She of course botches the speech, loses her notes, and ends with, “The answer is…I don't know.” And none of us really know at 22 do we? Gen Z was hit with a global pandemic just as they were starting to graduate and grappled with not only soaring unemployment rates but also the new age of remote work. Reality Bites still carries weight because the generations to come after Gen X understand their woes in a way that Boomers and The Silent Generation never could.
Reality Bites is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to the zeitgeist of the early 90s, but it’s downright cookie cutter in terms of plot. At its core, it’s a rom-com. Lelaina must choose between well-off, hardworking, put together Michael and downtrodden, philosophical, negative, unsettled Troy. And (spoiler alert) like most rom-coms of the 90s and 00s, she makes a very unsurprising choice and picks Troy. Watching this now in 2023 after a lot of us have had therapy to undo this very thinking-- is painful. In the penultimate scene of their rocky relationship, Troy says to Lelaina: “You can't navigate me. I may do mean things, and I may hurt you, and I may run away without your permission, and you may hate me forever, and I know that scares the living shit outta you 'cause you know I'm the only real thing you got.” Sixteen-year-old me is swooning, thirty-five-year-old me can only see red flags. While she tells him off at that moment, they’re soon together, with none of his issues resolved. I guess we’re supposed to believe that Troy has grown-up after the death of his father, but we don’t actually know for sure and neither does Lelaina. She is signing up for some heartache.
Of course Michael isn’t perfect either, he does let his network butcher Lelaina’s “art” but realistically, shouldn’t she have known better than to sign away all creative rights? I mean… she’s 22 but not an idiot. Michael is secure and self-aware. He knows he’s sold out but he’s also worked very hard to get there-- he has no college degree and has had to earn his spot. Doesn’t that have its own merits opposed to Troy’s philosophical banter? It is interesting how I have changed over the years but outside of therapy and just aging… I am also a part of a generation that craves stability.
A New York Times opinion piece was recently published about how Millennials are not having mid-life crises because we simply have never been stable enough to get bored. Our realities have been tumultuous and continue to delay us meeting certain markers of adulthood. We are marrying later or not at all, having kids later or not at all, buying homes later or not at all… it’s different for us because being a “yuppie” hasn’t been a choice. You can’t get bored walking on eggshells. So, of course I would find Michael to be the more appealing partner. He’s got a job! He’s caring! He’s got a car! And some goals! The comfort is there with Michael, whereas Troy just looks like the rest of the world. A hot mess.
In my opinion, Vickie is the most level-headed friend of the group. While she is technically “selling-out” by accepting a store manager position at The Gap, she never loses sight of who she truly is and appreciates the stability her job brings her. At one moment, Lelaina really wounds Vickie by exclaiming, “I'm not going to work at the Gap for Chrissake!” When Vickie is trying to keep her from being unemployed. It’s a telling moment where we see Lelaina’s ego. She consistently rides Troy for not working, but when faced with unemployment herself, she’d rather go broke and struggle than not work a job directly related to her degree.
The lack of diverse voices and its traditional rom-com storyline are definite dings to Reality Bites, but I do find merit in its ability to bottle a moment in time and scrutinize it. Its bolder choices-- a cis-het woman going to the AIDS clinic-- give it enough credibility to make it something worth watching and studying now. The friendships are are authentic and complicated. You’re rooting for them to make it. I will warn you though… if you’ve gone to therapy and used to date “projects”... I’d brace yourself for some whiplash.
References:
https://www.avclub.com/peacock-orders-reality-bites-show-ben-stiller-winona-ry-1848919609
https://www.vulture.com/2014/02/reality-bites-vickie-miner-janeane-garofalo-tribute.html
https://ew.com/article/2011/01/14/winona-ryder-reality-bites-popwatch-rewind/
Watching it made me glad to be a Boomer *wink*
I loved Winona Ryder when I first saw her in Mr Deeds (Winchestertonfieldville, Iowa). I’ve heard of this film but never watched it. Thanks for the recommendation!