Why HBO Max’s Genera+ion Failed Me and What I Expected
Perhaps I was excited to see the narratives I was waiting for come to life on the big screen. As a queer teen of color, it is of course less likely that authentic portrayals of my people will be found in the mainstream media. I’ve been coming up with my own ideas and mini scripts for teen drama shows since I started high school.
So when I’d heard that a seventeen year old had just signed a deal with a major movie streaming service, I was beyond ecstatic to see what kind of story they would produce. Hollywood tapping teenagers to produce blockbuster films is slowly beginning to trend, with Millie Bobby Brown and Marsai Jackson producing their own respective films.
But Zelda Barnz, now 19 year old co-producer of Genera+ion, is not nearly as established within the industry as Brown and Jackson are. However, Barnz’s co-producer is her own father, Daniel Barnz, a Hollywood veteran. Learning that Genera+ion would be centered on the modern queer teen experience only further convinced me to watch the show.
However, Genera+ion’s first season left me apprehensive and tentatively crestfallen. The opening scene of the pilot episode was promising, displaying the frenzied panic of birth in the setting of a mall bathroom.
But as jubilant as each character was, the rest of the episodes felt underwhelming and stereotypical. Realistic as the script feels, some of the representation of the teen gay characters in this show, particularly the male teen gay characters, is not positive. Chester, a Black gay highschooler, for example, pursues a relationship with his much older school counselor. Nathan, a white bisexual highschooler, engages in sexual activity with his sister’s boyfriend.
When you make a show centered around representing such a large audience, you need to be very specific with the kind of content you put out.
LGBTQ+ teens want to be represented in all of their shades and hues. When an LGBTQ+ teen such as Barnz is given an opportunity such as this one, the hope is that she would take it upon herself to portray her community authentically. Although the experiences portrayed in the show are definitely valid and occur in real life, their domination of a show’s storyline centered around the queer teen experience reinforces the stereotype that the LGBTQ+ community is sex-obsessed.
This show has been titled as an LGBT drama, which is true. There is bisexual, lesbian, and gay representation to be found within almost all of the lead characters, notably within the characters of color as well, and is highly modeled after the aesthetic of current “teenage dream” shows. I highly recommend Genera+ion for anyone who was captivated by the aesthetic and storyline of Euphoria. But if you’re looking for a show featuring a variety of queer experiences, Genera+ion just doesn’t quite meet the mark.
