Britney’s done it. Lindsay’s done it. Charlie’s doing it – sort of. Many celebrities do it and they enjoy it so much they do it several times. It starts with reports of stars suffering from exhaustion and/or dehydration and by the time tmz and perez hilton have uploaded pictures and reports of, well, unflattering obviously intoxicated appearances in the L.A. nightlife by the big name in question, they’re already off, “seeking help for medical and personal issues”, doing what you have to do these days as a celebrity: Rehab.

Artists (and some stars might qualify as artists, at least with regards to their lifestyle) have always been known for their affinity and struggle with chemical substances and alcohol. But whereas in the past most of them have tried to sober up privately, today these trials and tribulations have become more and more transparent. Certainly the sensationalism and insane growth of tabloids and semi-serious publications that sell based on the gossip they spread have done their part to drag these personal issues of celebrities into the public. Facilities like Promises in Utah or the Mecca of celebrity detox, the Betty Ford Clinic, have become common destinations and well-known locations for personalities from TV, Movies and the music industry.

As a society, we struggle with addiction. Are these people to blame for their fall from grace or are they victims of a disease that troubles people from all social backgrounds? Can we sympathize with them because after all they’re rich, famous and beautiful? Isn’t it their choice to excessively engage in self-destructive behavior?

Well, it depends. Most vulnerable to this downward spiral seem to be child stars. You can get away with quite a bit, because as soon as the news hit that another former child performer has checked into rehab, questions arise about how these kids are supposed to deal with the temptation of drugs at such a young age, with all eyes on them, ready to judge. “Oh, they’ve never really had a childhood.”

Britney Spears’ career saw a renaissance after she rebound from her massive meltdown. Everyone’s favorite Catholic school girl shaved her head and raised serious doubts about her abilities as a mother. But now she has rebound and seems more popular then ever. She’s the comeback kid and therefore forgiven.

But then there’s Lindsay Lohan, once beloved mean girl, whose popularity has seriously dipped. It’s been too long since we’ve seen her in a movie and even longer since we’ve seen her in a halfway decent movie. Countless car crashes, jail time, parents you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy plus a lot of drugs have effectively ruined her career beyond repair. There’s a certain time window in which you can play the misguided-child-star card and it seems this window has closed for her.

Most recently television’s highest paid actor, Charlie Sheen of Two and Half Men has checked into rehab – at least for a little bit. After hitting the Las Vegas Trip with a bunch of prostitutes and publicly beefing with the producers of his hit show, it seems air is getting thin for him now. He’s always been known for his excessive lifestyle (ask Heidi Fleiss) but at this point everyone’s had with him.

Celebrities dealing with their addictions seems to work in two ways. It can either become part of their public persona’s narrative and, especially if they successfully overcome their demons, add to their popularity, by making them seem more human. But it also feeds into people’s unpleasant desire to see rich people mess up their lives and lose their privileges. Either way, most importantly it helps to keep People magazine in business.

The screened episodes of Gilmore Girls address both general perceptions of Millennials discussed throughout the class and elaborate on the aspects of feminism the essay by gamber touches upon.

Gilmore Girls discusses the importance but also the difficulty of being close to your family – an issue that Millennials, according to Millennials Rising, care about a great deal. This does not necessarily entail conservative ideas of family as shown by GG: The relationship of Lorelai and Rory is anything but conventional. The lines between friendship and Mother/daughter relationship are blurred; something acknowledged by Lorelai as she has to play “the mother card” when Rory doesn’t want to go to Chilton anymore. The way Rory and Lorelai interact is more reminiscent of a friendship than the typical parent/child relationship. In a sense it presents an idealized model of how mother and daughter could relate to one another.  This ideal is somewhat put in perspective by acknowledging the hardship Lorelai had to overcome raising a child on her own without her family’s support. Generational differences and conflict play an important role in GG. There is a complex generational dialogue going on, as Lorelai’s parents are trying to come to terms with the issues they had with their daughter, while trying to be a part of their granddaughter’s life. Lorelai’s relationship with Rory is decidedly different from the relationship she had with her parents growing up while Rory is facing the issue of negotiating the way her mother raised her with the world her grandparents endorse for her to participate in.

Rory’s struggle to situate herself within the lifestyles promoted by her mother vs the lifestyle of her grandparents is one of the central themes discussed by Gamber and parallels issues of feminism. Rory, represents the third generation of Gilmores and has several options to chose in terms of female role models. While incorporating her grandparents social aspirations with her mother’s empowerment through independence, Rory has to find her own identity. This negotiation of values and feminist ideals is prevalent in today’s society and puts women in the position of making the call: Career woman or family person? Can both work at the same time? In the second episode we watched, we can see Rory trying more or less successfully to make it all work. She tries to establish herself at the Yale newspaper, while also trying to make time for a boyfriend and most importantly be there for her mother, by protecting her from Christopher (her own father). These struggles should be relatable for Millennials who are ambitious in terms of their careers while still putting an emphasis on family and community.

Gilmore Girls reflects upon an array of topics relevant to this new generation of millennials. Family and career are cornerstones for defining one’s identity. The show presents an unconvential take on family and the relationships between three generations but shows how those structures, despite difficulties and conflict, can provide a support system and a network of relationships that allows a new generation to achieve its full potential. By drawing from varied even contradicting role models and through communication with those older generations, rory is able to negotiate and eventually succeed at finding an identity that allows her “to have it all”.

A central theme in this week’s screenings of Kyle XY and Veronica Mars was family and the family unit as a space to define one’s identity and the consequences of dysfunctional family structures for young adults.

Kyle is invited to stay with the Trager family after virtually coming out of nowhere without any recollections of his whereabouts and his past. They are a loving yet complicated family. Nicole, the family’s matriarch struggles to keep her personal life seperated from her work and to balance her demanding job with her obligation to the family. Her husband is supportive yet overwhelmed by his wife’s decision to take in Kyle. Their daughter Lori is a (stereo)typically self-absorbed, rebellious teenager who is initially annoyed and strangely indifferent to the new edition to the family’s household. Josh, the son of the family, is also anything but excited about Kyle’s arrival which interferes with his burgeoning puberty and consuming men’s magazines. This doesn’t exactly tie in with Howe’s and Strauss’ theory of  inspired family-oriented Millennials. Yet there is hardly a narrative without conflict and upon early reservations on part of most members of the trager family, Kyle ends up bringing them together as most obviously witnessed at the end of both episodes. They realize Kyle needs them and vice versa. For Kyle being accepted as part of the family provides support, guidance and grounding – something desperately needed by all teenagers and young adults but especially by someone with no background or memory whatsoever.

The episode of Veronica Mars addresses similar issues but delves deeper into problematic family situations. Veronica, herself child of a failed marriage helps a fellow student to find his father and in the process comes to terms with the fact that she does miss her mother despite her resenting the fact her mom deserted the family during a time of crisis. And there is Logan who still suffers from the loss of his sister and struggles with his fathers expectations of him to move on and find a direction for his future. All these characters deal with the issue of finding their own identity, even if Veronica tries to create the impression she is grounded and self-confident all the way, and look for answers in their broken home.

As previously discussed in class and as highlighted by Howe and Strauss, the Millennial generation cares a great deal about family. All screening look into this matter, problematize unhealthy family relations but also carve out the fact that through crisis families can find ways to come together and create  support systems.

The introduction by Watkins and the Stein article discuss the millennial’s affinity to new media, the social development this triggers and how they are therefore targeted by internet platforms and in the case of Kyle XY, ABC Family. None of the episodes refers to this directly but it is worth mentioning that the character of Veronica is clearly savvy and digitally literate otherwise she would not be able to help her father in his work the way she does.

The Article “The Millenial Muddle” by Eric Hoover touches upon different academic (or arguably academic) approaches to analyzing and categorizing the generation born between 1982 and 2004, which is referred to as “The Millenials”. Hoover discusses the influential work of Neil Howe and William Strauss, authors of the bestseller Millenials Rising: The Next Great Generation. The book is summarized by Hoover, and was apparently by many perceived, as predicting this generation to be highly ambitious empathetic and eager to create new successful structures in society. Teenagers and young adults are portrayed as driven and inspired to bring about profound changes.

Howe’s and Strauss’ analysis of the Millenials has been accepted and regarded as useful by many and has been challenged and contested by others. While many colleges and business rely on their work and try to cater to the needs and skills of this generations – looking at them more and more as customers whose generational background must be taken in consideration in order to ideally take advantage of them – many scholars dismiss these notions about the Millenials.

Professor Jean M. Twenge sees the generation of students coming out of this generation as narcissistic, consumed with the idea of “being special” and criticizes their sense of entitlement to attention and success. Her colleague Mr. Bauerlein even argues that they are becoming more and more stupid and that the internet and social platforms do hardly anything but nourish young people’s tendency towards self-indulgence.

Hoover navigates between all of these contradicting and polarizing views and eventually problematizes the issue of all of these approaches:  1. Situating individuals entirely within the time they were born and raised in does not do justice to the complexity of the adolescent experience. Aspects such as social status, race, particular cultural and family background are hardly taken into account by any of these scholars. The Millenials are assumed to be affluent white teenagers and young adults – hardly a cross-section of American, let alone global and globalized society. 2. While there are undoubtedly profound cultural and social differences between these constructed groups of generations, there is actually little empirical evidence that shows significant differences between the concerns and ideals of teenagers and young adults now opposed to 40 years ago.

The screenings this week tie in perfectly with both points. The Pilot Episode of Veronica Mars depicts wealth and arrogance – the cool rich kids of Neptune High – but also touches upon underlying issues and bigotry, while presenting a heroine who is neither (or rather no longer) socially and never was economically integrated in this society. Here we see reflections on the variety of experiencing adolescence in high school. Veronica is self-confident but also troubled, a character far more complex than the stereotypes Howe, Twenge or Bauerlein draw from.

Freeks and Geeks is set in 1980 and proves the second main point. Even though set 30 years ago, or roughly 20 years ago when it came out, many of the obstacles represented here, such as bullying, trying to fit in, generational conflict with parents are still very much the same. Despite political and cultural differences between generations, teenagers and young adults of all generations seem to face similar problems. Pitting generations against each other seems to be what all generations have in common.

As Hoover highlights, and as the screenings further show, there are big problems with generalizing about a whole generation and trying to attribute characteristics to a group as diverse based on the years they were born in. Adolescence is too varied and complex to fit into narrow categories that seem to assume a generic generational experience.