The Movies That Define Your Generation

The other day I was driving in my car and The Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want was playing. It is an iconic song from the Stones but it is also the memorable opening song played during the funeral procession in the movie, The Big Chill.

I remember my parents in the 1980s sharing how much that movie meant to them and how it captured their generation and its joys and struggles. My parents were born in 1944 and 1945 so they would associate themselves with the Baby Boomer Generation but as the joke in the movie Field of Dreams went, they had two fifties and movies straight into the seventies. In other words, they didn’t fully associate themselves with the hippie movement yet they experienced the complexities of the Vietnam era. Like my parents, I have always felt like I was in a lost generation being born in 1978 and am often thrown in either the younger part of Generation X or older in Generation Y.

Harper Lee said it best in the book and movie To Kill A Mockingbird,

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

Lee’s wisdom applies to how we feel about people of different generations. In my observations, it seems like the newest generation seems to be labeled as the most “selfish” when if we study history, each younger generation was judged in a similar way. For example, in life I have witnessed many people blame the Baby Boomer generation for their perceived lack of morals but as they are getting older, it has given us time to let history tell their story better. By giving them time, we are learning that they are a generation with great strengths and complexities and we can better understand their impact on the way we live today.

I believe we will be better people if we take time to learn about each other, which will minimize incomplete judgments. The past century has been defined by many things but one of them is the way movies can tell each generation’s story. I have compiled a helpful list of movies that best define each generation. The list is compiled from my personal observations, research and comparison of similar lists online and from polling friends. I don’t expect everyone to agree with this list but my hope is for this to be a way to learn more about our generations through the art of movies.

I isolate three types of movies for each generation; cultural, comedy, and war. I want to know what makes people laugh, how they live and what they fight for. I have watched all of these movies and appreciate them uniquely for what they represent. I hope you will enjoy them too.

The Greatest Generation – The “G.I. Generation” or “WWII Generation” (1925-1939))

• Cultural: Rebel Without a Cause, The Godfather, It Happened One Night, It’s A Wonderful Life
• Comedy: Some LIke It Hot
• War: Saving Private Ryan, Flags of our Fathers
• Key moments: World War II, The Atomic Bomb, Korean War

Silent Generation / The Boomer Generation – “The Sandwich Generation” or “War Babies” Born 1939-1964

• Cultural: The Graduate, The Big Chill, All The President’s Men
• Comedy: Animal House, Parenthoodand M*A*S*H
• War: Platoon, The Deer Hunter, The Hunt for Red October
• Key moments: JFK Assassination, Vietnam, Watergate, Saturday Night Live

Generation X – The “Gen X’ers” or “MTV Generation” Born 1965-1979

• Cultural: Reality Bites and The Breakfast Club
• Comedy: Back to the Future, Say Anything and Forrest Gump
• War: Jarhead, Black Hawk Down
• Key moments: MTV, Challenger exploding, Berlin Wall falling, The Gulf War

Generation Y & Millennials The “Millennial” or “Echo Boomers” Born 1980-1991

• Cultural: The Social Network and Clueless
• Comedy: American Pie and Knocked Up
• War: Zero Dark Thirty and Generation Kill
• Key moments: Columbine Massacre, 9/11, The Iraq War

Generation Z – The “iGeneration” Born 1991-present

• Cultural: The Twilight Saga, Harry Potter and The Hunger Games
• Comedy: Mean Girls and Pitch Perfect
• War: Restrepo
• Key moments: Obama elected, Apple products, Bin Laden killed, Newtown

Which movies do you feel best defines your generation? Why?

When the Bullets Start Flying…

Any military commander who has stepped foot on a battlefield will probably attest that whatever plan they originally had didn’t exactly go as expected.

As in the case of some brave Navy Seals in Pakistan, their Black Hawk helicopter had mechanical problems when landing at their target.  Did they stop and complain about it?  I don’t think so but I bet there was a four letter word or two thrown out to describe how they felt. They had a window of opportunity and needed to move forward. They ultimately adapted to the situation, achieved their goal, and destroyed what was left of their damaged Black Hawk. They moved forward.

In the miniseries Band of Brothers (2001) (Episode 7), Easy Company is assaults a town of Foy. The company got caught in mortar fire because they stopped moving. Bullets were flying. They were incapacitated. It wasn’t until they started moving again that they were able to achieve their goal and take the town. It wasn’t easy though and it took brave people willing to step out to move the company forward.

Life is not that much different.

• You didn’t get that job you wanted.
• You got cut in a layoff.
• You got that B instead of an A in a class that kept you from making honor roll.
• You suffered an injury losing out on that sports dream.
• You got cut from the basketball team. (yes, I did)
• You lost a loved one.
• You are a parent and your child’s makes a poor choice.
• Your business didn’t perform well this year.

Many of these things above have happened to me throughout my journey. I felt like anyone would feel; loss, failure, frustration, etc. You may have some amazing dreams out there and they have felt shattered at points in time. I can promise you that whatever plan you have in your head it is not going to happen exactly as you expect. I am still learning from my own life experience. Life is full of surprises and this is why lessons are meant to be learned in the process.  If you want to remember a handful of bible verses, never forget Jeremiah 29:11,

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord….”

 Pick up the Bible and read the rest.  There is a promise for us when these bullets start flying. And don’t think they won’t.

What do you do next?

You keep moving. You learn. You adapt. Trust. You will overcome with God’s help.

Be adaptable

Be open to change

Be open what God wants for you when the bullets start flying.

It’s about the person next to you

I confess that I am  a war movie junkie.  I understand why many of you are not.

It is brutal.  It frightening.  It complex. It’s definitely not a date movie.  It usually is not going to make you laugh.

When I was 8, all I wanted to be was a soldier.  Until I watched Oliver Stone’s Platoon.  God bless my parents in a way for letting me watch that movie. As a parent now, I’m not sure if I’d let my children watch it but if they expressed interest in wanting to know about what real combat is like, at the right time I’d show them movies like The Thin Red Line, Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, Hamburger Hill, The Hurt Locker, Gettysburg, Glory, Black Hawk Down, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, Memphis Belle, Gallipoli , Enemy at the Gates, yes even Braveheart and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  I acknowledge that some of these movies could be argued as propaganda or that they over-sensationalize war but they do teach us something to the core about our own lives.  And if you think your life isn’t interesting, open your eyes.

We are at war. We always are. We always will be.

In life, if we pay close enough attention to the details, it isn’t that much different.  There may not be actual bullets flying over your head but the metaphoric ones can still cripple or kill us from living life the way it’s mean to be lived.

We must stand and fight together.

The Thin Red Line, painted in 1881 by Robert Gibb. Painting showing the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders in battle with Russian cavalry at the Battle of Balaklava 1854.

Here is what I’ve learned in my years of closely observing what most war movies best communicate.  I recently read an article in PASTE Magazine  reviewing Sebastian Junger’s latest, WAR that got me pretty fired up.  I have not read the book yet but the journalist in his review challenged a core piece in the book; glorifying brotherhood in the midst of battle.  What if brotherhood in battle is reality?  Most people I know in the military who have seen combat do not talk about it much.  I can only understand why.  But from what I’ve read about war and the movies I’ve seen, there is a theme that exists in all.  I’ll explain further.

In the movie Black Hawk Down, Eric Bana’s character “Hoot” shared his perspective on why he does what he does: “When I go home people’ll ask me, ‘Hey Hoot, why do you do it man? What, you some kinda war junkie?’ You know what I’ll say? I won’t say a god**** word. Why? They won’t understand. They won’t understand why we do it. They won’t understand that it’s about the men next to you, and that’s it. That’s all it is.” -Hoot, played by Eric Bana.  What a simple way to put it.  I highly recommend this movie and how it represents brotherhood as well as the depiction of modern combat.  The book was incredibly detailed and written by the talented Mark Bowden, from Webster Groves, MO where I spent my high school years.

If you also saw the recent HBO Miniseries “The Pacific” produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, you witnessed one of the most honest and horrific portrayals of the war in the Pacific in World War II through the eyes of 3 Marines.

Eat your heart out, John Wayne, you won’t see many other movies portray war reality so well. The series predecessor, Band of Brothers, emphasized the role of brotherhood so well in combat but this one was different.  There is a critical episode when a core character, Leckie, was taken away from battle to “rest.”  In reality, he was placed with other soldiers dealing with what we now know as “post-traumatic stress.”   During WWII, my maternal  grandfather “Papa Jack” Martin had a difficult assignment at Fort Lee re-training these types of soldiers.  I can only imagine what the men he encountered went through.  Leckie and the other Marines in the film quickly recognized that the war’s idealism of fighting off imperial Japan was forgotten and it became more about fighting to protect the man next to him.

Memorial Day approaches. We are losing WWII, Korean, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Gulf War & Iraq War veterans everyday so if you see one, honor them well.  Listen to them.  Ask them if they want to share their story.  Try to understand what they have experienced.  You will appreciate this wonderful nation more.  If they don’t want to talk about it, honor that and ask what you can do for them.  My father spends a lot of his time volunteering with the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge in St. Louis, Missouri.  His father (my grandfather) received a purple heart while fighting in Battle of the Bulge in December, 1944.  My dad sees this as his part of honoring “Grandpa Branch” and those many others who fought for us.   My father shared a story with me today from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about some WWII veterans in their 90’s recently honored in St. Louis.  There are so many still serving today.  My cousin Shane and his wife Tiffany have together served 4 tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.  They have given much of their 20’s and 30’s to the military.  There are so many more like them still protecting us. Honor those who went before us this Memorial Day.

Thoughout life I’ve had several people whom I’ve felt are “the person next to me.”  Whether it was my best friends in high school and college when I was in Young Life or today’s amazing men’s small group I’m in, I recognize that we are all never alone if we fight together.

Brooke and I are celebrating our 6th anniversary on this weekend.  She is that person next to me when there is calm but also when the bullets start flying. We’ve been reading John and Stasi Eldredge’s Love and War this month. It has helped confirm that especially in marriage, we must rely on each other in this complicated life.

When the bullets of life start flying, who will be by your side? Who is the person next to you?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you would also like to share a story about a loved one currently serving in the military or is a veteran, please do so in the comments.