Generation

i know this is super annoying, but this is for the show genera+ion and not this film. i just finished my rewatch after hearing about it’s removal from hbo and i really want to talk about it! warning this is going to be messy i’m not good at articulating my thoughts so apologies in advance. also this isn’t really a review it’s just me talking about how much i like okay thanks

i’m not normally torn up by shows getting cancelled, it’s mostly just like an ‘aw man, that sucks’ type of thing, but this was drastically different for me. when i tell you i was (and still am) in complete shambles i mean it. this show means the world to me. it’s rare to have shows where the majority of characters are queer, let alone their actors actually being queer themselves. for the first time ever i felt like i was truly being seen on screen. yes, queer people in tv are seen often nowadays, but their queerness is always treated as some quirky character trait that’s never explored, nor acted upon, because majority of the time they’re a side character. genera+ion explores the journey of queerness through multiple different lenses and in their entirety. no character is ignored or favoured for other storylines, and i think that’s one of the things i love the most about it.

i feel like in most shows you can say you have a distinct favourite character or storyline, because oftentimes writers favour some characters over others. with genera+ion, every single storyline is consistently great that you don’t really feel yourself rolling your eyes or tuning out the parts of the story you aren’t as invested in (warning to all you old people, it’s so painfully 17 year old that it hurts so this might just be a me thing). it also helps that everyone is always together, which is another thing i really like to see. i hate to break it to other show writers but… queer kids hang out with other queer kids. i know, shocker. it seems like in a lot of shows it’s just one queer character while everyone else is straight. queer kids gravitate toward each other, and personally, i would never be caught dead being the only queer person in my group. i know this doesn’t matter to most people, but it’s uncomfortable to me. people call it unrealistic to ‘make every character gay’ when in reality, it really isn’t? queer people feel more comfortable surrounded by each other, of course there’s going to be multiple of them.

but speaking on unrealistic, there a few things i’d like to add about the general writing of it: i know i just praised the hell out of it, so this is more of a warning if you plan on watching it. some scenes are so incredibly bonkers? not necessarily in a bad way, it’s just a bit jarring. which i’m not very picky about, i’m all about over dramatic, cringe worthy media. i feel like the general audience however might be a bit picky because this is the thing that people criticize the most in their reviews on other apps and websites. i feel like people just cling to this for a reason to dislike it, it’s no different than a scene from euphoria (well, maybe less nudity, no shade or anything). the realism is in queerness and that’s all that i really took from it. if you’re expecting a teen show that’s entirely realistic, you’re getting a pretty boring show, plain and simple.

you can just tell how much love and care was put into each character and what they represented. it was made entirely by daniel barnz, ben barnz, and their daughter zelda with the intent to make kids feel seen and loved and give them the courage to be themselves and they did exactly that. you can tell how much this show meant to the actors and crew who are still speaking highly of it as it goes through it’s removal. and you can tell how much it impacted the few people who actually watched the show. it’s truly a shame that it was so mismarketed and mismanaged by hbo, i hope that in the future it can find a new home and even potentially get picked back up again. for now it’ll remain as one of my favourite shows of all time and the first (and only) show where i felt like my journey with queerness was shown. (i love you riley luo and nathan stewart i will defend you both until the end of time)

if you’re queer and haven’t seen it yet, you can still watch it on soap2day. i highly suggest it to any and every queer teen who’s still waiting on that moment to be seen. you will see yourself in this show, i can promise you that.

i know this is super annoying, but this is for the show genera+ion and not this film. i just finished my rewatch after hearing about it’s removal from hbo and i really want to talk about it! warning this is going to be messy i’m not good at articulating my thoughts so apologies in advance. also this isn’t really a review it’s just me talking about how much i like okay thanks

i’m not normally torn up by shows getting cancelled, it’s mostly just like an ‘aw man, that sucks’ type of thing, but this was drastically different for me. when i tell you i was (and still am) in complete shambles i mean it. this show means the world to me. it’s rare to have shows where the majority of characters are queer, let alone their actors actually being queer themselves. for the first time ever i felt like i was truly being seen on screen. yes, queer people in tv are seen often nowadays, but their queerness is always treated as some quirky character trait that’s never explored, nor acted upon, because majority of the time they’re a side character. genera+ion explores the journey of queerness through multiple different lenses and in their entirety. no character is ignored or favoured for other storylines, and i think that’s one of the things i love the most about it.

i feel like in most shows you can say you have a distinct favourite character or storyline, because oftentimes writers favour some characters over others. with genera+ion, every single storyline is consistently great that you don’t really feel yourself rolling your eyes or tuning out the parts of the story you aren’t as invested in (warning to all you old people, it’s so painfully 17 year old that it hurts so this might just be a me thing). it also helps that everyone is always together, which is another thing i really like to see. i hate to break it to other show writers but… queer kids hang out with other queer kids. i know, shocker. it seems like in a lot of shows it’s just one queer character while everyone else is straight. queer kids gravitate toward each other, and personally, i would never be caught dead being the only queer person in my group. i know this doesn’t matter to most people, but it’s uncomfortable to me. people call it unrealistic to ‘make every character gay’ when in reality, it really isn’t? queer people feel more comfortable surrounded by each other, of course there’s going to be multiple of them.

but speaking on unrealistic, there a few things i’d like to add about the general writing of it: i know i just praised the hell out of it, so this is more of a warning if you plan on watching it. some scenes are so incredibly bonkers? not necessarily in a bad way, it’s just a bit jarring. which i’m not very picky about, i’m all about over dramatic, cringe worthy media. i feel like the general audience however might be a bit picky because this is the thing that people criticize the most in their reviews on other apps and websites. i feel like people just cling to this for a reason to dislike it, it’s no different than a scene from euphoria (well, maybe less nudity, no shade or anything). the realism is in queerness and that’s all that i really took from it. if you’re expecting a teen show that’s entirely realistic, you’re getting a pretty boring show, plain and simple.

you can just tell how much love and care was put into each character and what they represented. it was made entirely by daniel barnz, ben barnz, and their daughter zelda with the intent to make kids feel seen and loved and give them the courage to be themselves and they did exactly that. you can tell how much this show meant to the actors and crew who are still speaking highly of it as it goes through it’s removal. and you can tell how much it impacted the few people who actually watched the show. it’s truly a shame that it was so mismarketed and mismanaged by hbo, i hope that in the future it can find a new home and even potentially get picked back up again. for now it’ll remain as one of my favourite shows of all time and the first (and only) show where i felt like my journey with queerness was shown. (i love you riley luo and nathan stewart i will defend you both until the end of time)

if you’re queer and haven’t seen it yet, you can still watch it on soap2day. i highly suggest it to any and every queer teen who’s still waiting on that moment to be seen. you will see yourself in this show, i can promise you that.