Generation: A Generational Show

From the very first episode of Generation, I knew there was something different about it. The teens swear and speak in an unfiltered manner. They playfully tease one another. They make sexual references and jokes that aren’t entirely crude and still funny. They dress in cute clothes that were almost certainly thrifted. They scroll through their phones, texting their friends constantly.  To put it simply, there was an authenticity in Generation rarely found in shows about teens and young adults. Generation (stylized as genera+ion) premiered on HBO Max on March 11, 2021. The sixteen-episode (which alone calls for celebration) dramedy followed a diverse friend group of high school students in Orange County, California. Here, the teens of different classes, races, and sexualities explore their friendships and relationships against the backdrop of a conservative community. Featuring an ensemble cast including Justice Smith, Chloe East, Chase Sui Wonders, and Lukita Maxwell, Generation was unfortunately cancelled after just one season in September of 2021.  

Since my adolescence, I have suffered though many cancellations of great television shows made for teens. Both Everything Sucks! and Grand Army – two shows I consider to be better than most recent high school shows – were cancelled by the evil entity known as Netflix after one season. Although their cancellations hurt, there was something about Generation’s cancellation that felt shattering. Like I said, there was something different about Generation. I could just tell. So, as I began watching the show, I looked up the creatives behind it. Generation was created by Daniel Barnz (director of films like Beastly and Cake) and his daughter Zelda Barnes... who was only nineteen when the show was released.  

This is the first (and since then, only) time I ever heard of a teen being involved in the creation of a television show. Zelda was actually only seventeen when she wrote the Generation pilot alongside her dad. The series – produced by Daniel, Zelda, Ben Barnz (Daniel’s husband and Zelda’s other father), Jenni Konner, and Lena Dunham – was a triumph because one of the voices behind it was a part of the demographic being represented on screen. Teens specifically never have a say in how they are being depicted. Because of this, shows for teens mostly end up being too much... Too immature. Too disturbingly erotic. Too childish. Too hokey. Too comfortable with ridiculing the people they are supposedly representing. Too clearly written by someone who has never interacted with a teenager in a meaningful way. This is where Generation differs and transcends. 

There is something so lovely about Zelda Barnz being given the opportunity to work on this show. Of course, having parents who are in the film and television industry comes with its perks. But how many adults truly care what teens have to say? How many adults are enthusiastically willing to collaborate creatively with those younger than them, let alone teenagers? Zelda was offered a space here to foster her creativity. The story of Generation was initially planned as a book which would later be made into a television show. However, Daniel told Zelda to write it as a television show. Although Zelda did not know how to write a script, her father guided her as they worked on the project together. The intergenerational collaboration strengthens the final project, as Zelda’s personal experiences inform what is seen on screen and Daniel’s professional experience as a director create a show that is not trying to align with other “teen show” tropes. 

Generation highlights both the mundanity of adolescence and the anxieties of it... and how those are often connected. Take, for example, the second episode of the show, where many of its characters are trapped in a GSA meeting during a school lockdown. Lockdowns can be scary, as the possibility of an outside threat always causes anxiety. However, they are also extremely boring and are used as a time to bond or gossip with friends. Where Daniel thought of lockdowns as solely traumatic, Zelda confirmed that they are also a site of contention between friends because of how bored and annoyed they make students. The coexisting of both truths feels analogous to the intergenerational creation of this show. To me, this is what makes Generation so special. The show is not diluted by the writing or direction of an adult who has no idea what the hell they are talking about. Instead, it crafts stories and characters who are balanced and genuine. 

Zelda, who came out as queer to her fathers when she was a young teen, also informs the depiction of queerness in the show. It’s rare for a show to embrace queerness amongst teens as authentically as Generation. Queerness amongst the characters – specifically with one of my favourite characters, Chester – feels integral and innate, being neither the glossed over nor trite thing it can often be on other teen shows. Queerness here is silly, messy, and all the real things it is for Gen Z.  

Similarly, the connection between the characters’ identities and social media is explored in a manner that refuses to make fun of the generation. Social media is not used to mock the teens, but to emphasize the conversations and connections they have with their friends. It is a language for these characters and is a space for this queer youth to find their people and community. Even the way they text (the short phrases, the very intentional and limited usage of emojis, the lack of punctuation etc.) feels like reality instead of fiction.  

HBO Max announced in August of 2022 that it would be removing several series from its platform, which included Generation. It lived for a short amount of time on Tubi but is no longer available here. So, on top of its cancellation, it now exists in an awkward space; it is harder than ever for people who may have missed out on it the first time around to discover it and appreciate it. Generation is unlike any show I have watched. I will miss the characters, but I will miss its authenticity most. Authenticity is intrinsic to the success of Generation. The hazy, dreamlike Californian aesthetic found in Generation can be found scattered throughout other teen shows like Euphoria and The OC. What sets Generation apart from these and other shows is that nothing about it feels manufactured, romanticized, or in service of shock value. By having a Gen Z co-creator, Generation challenges what we have come to accept within media for Gen Z.  

Instead of embracing the possibilities that integrating different generations in the creation of a show or film could bring, the industry would rather cut costs. This is why Generation’s cancellation hurts so much. Not only was it a great show that I think more people should watch, but its cancellation points to a much larger issue in the industry regarding artificiality. Despite this, I believe the show will slowly get its shine. It truly is... genera+ional. 

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