Why Everyone Sucks At Writing Gen Z Characters

okay who is writing these shows for Gen Z because we need to talk hey guys what's up it's emergency and welcome and welcome back to my Channel today we are back and we are talking about media and specifically gen Z media and now I know I thought I just said that the writing for Gen Z show sucks actually I don't know if sucks is necessarily the right word for it it's more so that the writers of these shows just don't seem to understand gen Z as a whole like it's gotten to the point where much of TV entertainment just doesn't seem to know how to portray gen Z at all us being gen Z and if you're not gen Z watching this it's okay you can be gen Z for this video so in this video we're gonna be talking about why accurate gen Z representation is so important touching on the difference between gen Z culture and aave because a lot of y'all got that mixed up and then breaking down how this is seen in different shows looking at shows that are seemingly geared towards gen Z they neither don't try at all have accurate representation try too much to try and portray like the Gen Z aesthetic and then finally shows will actually get it right and what it means to get it right but before we do all that if you are new to the channel like all things pop culture TV and fashion make sure to hit that subscribe button so that you don't miss out on any of the content that we have going on here also make sure to follow me on my social medias here at emergency that's Instagram Tick Tock and Twitter and while you're at it I would greatly appreciate if you leave a like on this video because that helps out so so much with the algorithm so I'll give you a second to do that right now while you can stare at the star on my chest [Music] say click take a pic did you like the video cool so first let's talk about why gen Z shows currently are bad and why it's important that real representation of gen Z is important so why is it currently bad right now it seems that for a majority of shows the writers that are creating these stories don't necessarily have a firm grasp of like what gen Z is actually like mainly the way that teenagers and young adults actually speak nowadays how we dress the things that we really care about and most importantly the humor it just really feels like as a whole even though like shows that are typically marketed towards gen Z or you think would be like gen Z shows like shows that take place in high school or like college or just advertised as being like gen Z shows end up playing into what Millennials what sort of resonate with more with some of the dialogue being very similar to what you'd see in like a buzzfeed poll now why does any of this actually matter well in the grand scheme it doesn't necessarily but if you've seen any videos on this channel you know that I'm a big advocate for representation and I just feel like if you're going to make a show that is meant to tell the stories or the experiences of people in a select age group demographic for people in that demographic it should reflect so when you're like looking back on these shows you can be like oh wow that was a real moment in time like they think about the movies and shows from like the 90s and the 80s like they were cemented in time as being like iconic pieces of work for that time that can be appreciated to this day I think Mean Girls clueless the fashion the lingo the things they cared about like the humor like like it all just really captures like the 90s and early 2000s as like an era which was just like a really big pop culture moment for Millennials which we still draw inspiration from as gen Z to this day so it's clear about having media like that really does make that cements a generation a time period which would be nice to have for our generation now while the lack of accurate gen Z representation and media is important I do want to mention how it is not uniquely a gen Z issue as I'm sure previous generations had this going on especially before they were able to get into like writer's rooms or have like people write their stories like I know I just gasped at Millennials but I'm sure they went through periods of like misrepresentation given that for a good period of time Gen X was writing their stories and if I've learned any think it's that Gen X and the Boomers really did not like the Millennials like the way I vividly remember reading articles scathing articles calling Millennials lazy entitled failures I'm like damn like chill out for a second please let them get a break let them catch their breath which is why in a lot of Gen X and Boomer targeted media like I'm thinking specifically movies for this like Millennials are shown in that light of being like lazy mooching off their parents and just like whiny overall into that like I'm sorry Millennials I am sorry so luckily to gen Z's Advantage for the most part Millennials don't hate gen Z so we're not getting the same negative outlooks for the most part except for that like one SNL skip which is a whole other issue in and of itself but while gen Z might not be the target of some kind of intergenerational vitriol come on vocab some of the main issues in gen Z representation in media do stem from the way that we are written in these shows where either it seems like the writers don't try at all too really get our generational Identity or just comes across as trying too much to be relatable and just comes off in an authentic and let's talk about why that is in the importance of generational identities now before the comments come flooding in on some y'all aren't the first to have y'all y'all ain't the only ones to have some kind of generational identity we had it rough too like yes I do want to acknowledge that having a strong generational identity is not something exclusive to gen Z or something that gen Z necessarily owns as previous generations have their own fair share of generational identifiers things that really Bond them or connect them all as a generation with Boomers taking advantage of a system that was really meant for them or should I say meant for them every single generation lab has had their iconic pop culture moments and things that just really bind them together as cultural identity as a generation they were all kind of influenced by the things that were happening around them societally like Boomers living in a post-world war II World recreating Traditional Values and being the wealthiest generation alive in total Gen X being the byproduct of that and seeing the system some work for their parents Gen X saw the rise of the punk and grunge scene sort of being known as like The Lost Generation for some reason I think of them as like edgelords even though my parents are the next and they're very much not that and then Millennials of course having the entirety of the 90s which I feel like speaks for itself but societally trusting A system that their parents said would benefit them later only to have that system then crumble beneath them and kind of leave them fending for themselves to now gen Z who have seen our parents in Gen X give everything to their jobs and corporations only for them to have been discarded in a recession and seeing how the system is treated Millennials and we've chosen not to do any of that but the most important generational identifier for Gen Z has to definitely be technology and the internet never before his generation been more tangibly and Visually connected like it's literally possible to see what's going on virtually anywhere in the world at any given time which has its perks and drawbacks But ultimately led to the globalization of information through the prevalence of social media through our formative years and into our teen and adult years which meant the things that Trends politics General sentiments humor and different mannerisms could all be widespread to the point where it's really easy for anyone to identify anywhere around the globe like there's just something about the fact that you can quote like a tick tock sound or maybe even a Vine and there's a good chance at any point in the world that someone in your age group will actually know exactly what you're talking about and we'll be able to finish the joke the punchline the sound that really is just wild which has created a whole bunch of different microcultures and cultural identifiers within our generation which I feel like just aren't necessarily as prevalent or at least not as frequent as it is with tenzi now I'm by no means saying that gen Z is a monolith because I can already see people in comments being like I'm a member of gen Z but I feel like I was born in the wrong generation like I don't really identify with Gen Z culture I don't like talk like that or I don't think that jokes are that funny like okay good for you but I feel like it's hard to deny that there aren't strong culture identifiers people that are on social media or even off social media that have become synonymous with Gen Z like our drive to activism no matter how performative General apathy for the future our humor and affinity for memes and just generally how open and accepting we are as a generation for diversity and just people from different walks of life and I feel like that was a lot let's get into how all this actually plays out into shows media Etc by first tackling the first category of shows that I feel like are written with Gen Z in mind which writers don't seem to actually be trying at all to resonate specifically with a gen Z audience and in the subsect of shows the focus isn't necessarily on giving accurate representation of shows and more so focused on just telling stories of people that happen to be in their youth and I feel like we see this often in shows that are geared more towards a wider audience we're mainly just towards Millennials and I feel like shows that fall into this category usually are like Nostalgia reboots or they take an old show from the 90s but then like bring it up to like the 2010s or like 2020s without actually updating the mannerisms lingo humor all of that of like the characters that would be in this era and would be gen Z like outside of that it really just is kind of like Millennial in the 2020s in the first show I think of just because it was one of the most recent ones I watched was the Fate Wing Saga like in that case they just happen to be teens in this current ERA because whether it was the fashion the dialogue or just like characters themselves nothing about that was giving like a 17 18 year old in the late 2010s or 2020s like I get it's a mystical world where they have fairies and banned ones running around but still you know I feel like it was a missed opportunity other shows that fall under this category for me are on my block which might be controversial but really I feel like that show could have taken place at any point like it could have been now or even back in the early 2000s in my opinion Outer Banks which is in the same situation like it could have been like that could have taken place at any point in the last 20 25 years and I won't be arguing with anyone on that because I am still mad that those kids tried to record not on phones that they had but on an old timey camera that could have been destroyed and suffered water damage like that is sick to me and then there's Riverdale and girl I don't think I need to explain further and that's not to say that any of these shows in this category are bad besides Riverdale but it's just the theme of like shows that are geared towards the young people that they're trying to portray and then there's a complete opposite where showrunners will write shows that seem to be just doing too much to the point where you can like see that they're really trying to resonate with the younger audience but to the point where it seems like forced like it's not authentic it's like an outsider looking in and trying to tell that story and again I'm aware that this next piece was made to be satirical but I feel like actually does a great job of explaining what it looks like two actual young people two people in gen Z but the SNL skit is this smoking Squad gang gang it's words like a characterization of gen Z of gen Z I use that very Loosely because that entire skit was just was just like the misuse of aave which is a problem in gen Z especially recently with the prevalence of tick tock we need to get one thing clear while we're all here aave African-American vernacular English that the black people have been saying for years Generations it's not gen Z slang when I'm talking about the Gen Z identity I am not talking about that I'm not talking about that and while it's okay that we could all laugh and enjoy a good piece of content made by a black Creator or just someone black on the internet that uses some aave that does not mean that we can oop child slay period up period uh our way into some Abe like not everybody can claim that with that said let's go back on topic when these shows that do too much are try too much actually come out it makes gen Z Wonder like who are you trying to sell you know like who are you trying to appeal to because the lingo the way people talk the fashion it just does not seem like something that young people actually do like prime example Cheney in Georgia I will talk about that show till the end of time like I love that show it is so entertaining is that supposed to represent because another one that is beloved but people say does too much is Euphoria and Euphoria I feel like it's a middle ground because because the dialogue can sometimes really hit and the fashion of course hits Euphoria as a whole has made waves for Gen Z fashion that cannot be disputed but I feel like people's main thing for you for you doing too much has to do with the whole dramatization of the show like the plot points and such just seem like it's really trying to be as edgy as possible to like reflect gen Z edginess which can be a little bit too much for people but yeah I'd say Euphoria is kind of like a middle ground the new Gossip Girl is an example of doing too much like again fashion eats like the plot points and heavy on the dialogue it's just like what is going on Who Who Are You My Mind races to the last episode where home girls like texting Gossip Girl being like I'm going to take you down oh my one bit to another like girl be serious never have ever kind of falls into this category where the dialogue is kind of like an almost hit also kind of a mess because I feel like no one in gen Z would like actually say a lot of those things that they say grown-ish is another one that comes to mind I feel like that one had great potential to be like a good gen Z show showing like posts high school life because that is a whole other issue of gen Z being trapped in high school for right now even though a lot of us are past that college even post college but grown-ish was for Millennials I'm sorry grown-ish is relatable to a certain extent of being a college student but not necessarily with being a gen Z college student all the way like I feel like it does teeter-totter on like being kind of millennial-ish with like the dialogue especially with some like the vine era humor and sayings that they have going on yeah I don't know it doesn't like really sit too well and finally the last one that comes to mind which is kind of another half and half I'd say like parts of generation because generation does a great job with like fashion and just like the ideals of Jen's Z but some parts felt like they were really trying to like push the Gen Z narrative without it being like actual I don't know how to accurately describe it it just didn't feel like it all the way hit to me you know although I'm still utterly gutched that it did not get another season and like I said for the first category just because these shows try too much does not mean that they're bad shows at all it just does not feel authentically representative of young people today and for a very long time I didn't actually get like the importance of that or even really care for the most part just because I've been so used to like not receiving that we're not seeing that accurately represented in media in TV but things changed when I actually got a taste of what accurate representation of just gen Z in a TV show would look like and I've talked about the show in its own video and have mentioned it in multiple different videos but I feel like one of the best shows that would be a good time capsule for Gen Z at this current moment not the original the reboot would be heartbreak High a whole bunch of love for that show I made a bunch of tick tocks reacting to it and a lot of comments were saying how they didn't know that they were actually this kind of content they felt so seen and they didn't realize they were actually like missing this kind of representation and I felt the exact same way like there was so much diversity in the show that didn't seem forced at all they accurately captured the Gen Z lingo mannerisms fashion generational sentiments thwarts things like climate change politics social media social issues and just general humor like they get in it just feels good to watch as a young person others chose to do a pretty good job of this are Grand Army Grant Army just felt real in like an American sense because heartbreak high is Australian but still was relatable Grand Army felt like real in an American young person going through high school like the show starts off with like a school threat if you get what I'm talking about and like honestly I don't know how much more American gen Z you can get than that because that is unfortunately a collective experience but aside from that I feel like that was like really relatable as like a pre-tick talk or like early Tick-Tock era of gen Z then you have shows like sex education which are really interesting because they also have diversity it doesn't seem forced in both racial gender and sexual orientation and I feel it gives a good representation of like specifically like the dating and and like coming in ageness of Our Generation again in a way that doesn't seem force and interestingly in a way that I feel like is not talked about a bunch shows pretty accurate representation of like what a gen Z child and parent situation sort of feels like with like the parents of the show also resonating with young people and I also wrote generation down here again because like I said generation is like half and half of like a trying a little bit too hard but also getting the fashion mannerisms to General sentiments down and I feel like these shows are fan favorites for a reason and I feel like this list is very interesting because two out of the four of these shows actually are canceled so what that says about accurate representation and how that translates to widespread viewership is something to be noted and could be discussed because just because something resonates very closely with the Gen Z doesn't mean that we're actually going to watch it do we actually want content that tells us about ourselves and gives us a realistic lens or are we okay with this familiar distance that we feel for a majority of shows that are geared towards young people oh jump scare but I was thinking about this more and it made me realize that like it might not just have to do with like gen Z interest in the show as much as it has to do with like each Show's budget and the amount of marketing that they do because when you think about these shows that are like really gen Z they're kind of Niche because they're not promoted as much as like your typical drama like like personally I didn't hear about a like generation a Grand Army a heartbreak high if it was not for you all like letting me know but when it came to like other shows it was like really hard to miss them coming out just because there was so much marketing and promotion and like money put behind it I don't know if it's completely like on us if we're like not continuing these shows and having them be more prevalent as much as it is like the people behind the scenes people promoting the shows kind of undervaluing the show's potential and their value and how much we're actually going to like them I don't know I feel like a mix of both could be cool but I definitely like to see more good examples because like I said personally I didn't know what I was missing until I actually saw shows like heartbreak High Grand Army sex education and realize how good it can be and how refreshing it could be to see something like that that resonated so much with like real life all this is to say that we are a bit aways from creating sent gen Z centered and focused TV entertainment and media that just feels right in that sense it'll be interesting to see how the landscape changes as gen Z grows older it actually has a seat in the writer's room being able to tell stories from our perspective but then again will the cycle repeat Because by the time that we're dominating The Writer's room Jen elf will be right at our coattails looking for Content that represents them so I don't know but until it becomes a reality or at least becomes more common I guess we just gotta hope that the current writers are able to get it right but yeah that's gonna be it for this video y'all that is my long-winded answer of why the writing for Gen Z shows kind of sucks now I want to hear from you what are your thoughts on gen Z representation in media and TV if you're a part of gen Z do you feel like you care about any of this do you think we need things to be more realistic are you okay with things being not necessarily super duper relatable or it feels like you're like watching someone's life and if you're not a part of Tennessee I'd love to know your thoughts as well were you aware of this even being a thing and if so do you actually feel like it's a real issue I know some of y'all like the toughest when it comes to generational stuff so let's keep it simple but other than that y'all thanks so so much for watching again if you're new make sure to hit that subscribe button leave a like on this video follow me on my social at emergency and I will see you all in the next video peace

Channel: imuRgency

Views: 595,516

Keywords: Imurgency, rumi, gen Z, gen z shows, heartbreak high, never have i ever, euphoria, genera+ion, generation, netflix shows, grand army, ginny & georgia, riverdale, riverdale sucks, show review, commentary, gen z memes, gen z humor, gen z cringe, gen z vs millennials, sex education netflix, gen z representation, boomer, gossip girl 2022

Id: 8q8moi8tCng

Length: 18min 21sec (1101 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 15 2022