TOWARDS A MANIFESTO ABOUT A FILM COMPANY... In 1993, I read a book called 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Fail that attempted to curate and capture the unique voices of what is often referred to as Generation X. It was not the first book of its kind, but it registered with me because it was based on Strauss-Howe Generational Theory, which sees American history as an evolving and cyclical pattern of generations with similar themes. I found this overall concept completely relatable, but I didn’t much like the way my moment was being characterized.
The messages we heard included -- You’re the lost generation; the most educated generation in the history of the country with the worst job prospects; unlikely to own homes or ever make as much money as your parents. The recession of the late 80s and early 90s confirmed a lot these points. In response, many of us chose art, ideas, film, and literature. We were decidedly inter-disciplinary. We embraced diversity. Many of us rejected the Reagan/Bush America as an aberration, believing that great things were just around the corner.
In the early 90s, I was in my 20s. Living in an affordable San Francisco (yes, it was very cheap to live here at one time), part of the first Post-AIDS generation to move into the Castro. Being an AIDS Activist was a no-brainer after my liberal arts education, which included two classes with the legendary Vito Russo in my final year at UC Santa Cruz. Pursuing a film career made sense, as I was always raised to believe that my major in school would be my chosen professional field (even if that major was weird.) At the time, the New Q***r Cinema movement exploded, and I was right there ready to be a part of it. Nothing about my life at the time could be described as being lost or without prospects.
Interestingly, in the book, the 13th Generation is also taked about as the NOMAD. And, this is a word and a concept I connect to. We ... “enter(ed) childhood during an Awakening (the 1960s/70s), a time of social ideals and spiritual agendas, when young adults are passionately attacking the established institutional order. Nomads grow up as under-protected children during this Awakening, come of age as alienated post-Awakening adults, become pragmatic midlife leaders during a Crisis, and age into resilient post-Crisis elders.”
At almost 50 (just weeks and counting), I can see how this narrative is definitely playing out in my own life and work. I am ready to be a pragmatic midlife leader to be sure. I have had my share of crisis like anybody (meet me for a drink, and we can compare notes.) But, my view: let’s not wait until we’re elders for so-called "post-crisis resilience." I want to be post-crisis now. We need that resilience now.
Here’s my take on it -- 13th Gen’ers are potentially our best hope yet. It may sound self-important or perhaps a bit of hubris, but indulge me...
We are the last generation to remember the ANALOG experience. The feeling of celluloid. The physical nature of things like the rough edges of the cassette tape as it made noise when it popped in and out of your walkman. The journal writing you often did in the cafe that you discovered for the first time in that as yet undiscovered neighborhood that felt like your special place. The photo album as an actual material thing, something you created out of photos that you took and at times even printed yourself in a darkroom. The idea of objects being touched and treasured.
And, we’re the first generation to fully experience DIGITAL life with all of our analog memories intact. We’re walking archivists. We’re likely to hold stories, secrets, and ways of making connections that could be precisely the bridge to the future that we will need in the 2020s. We’re now ready to lead this country, and we will do so with compassion and inclusion driving us forward.
It may feel hard to believe some days, but Trump is such a last gasp for air on the part of white patriarchy. It’s to be expected that things would be chaotic and intense while something so sick and frightful is gasping for air. We all feel like we’re choking at times. But, we cannot forget -- our stories, our voices, our collective diversity is our power. Hate will not win, and filmmakers and storytellers help to ensure that is possible. I know this to be true deep down into my bones.
I am also part of that moment when the word Q***R was reclaimed and taken back by us for the purpose of being empowered. Being q***r meant different things to different folks. Like for some, it was meant to include all forms of s*xual expression that were non-procreative and therefore still in the category of outlaw (our Kink/BDSM/Fetish brothers and sisters were not only welcome, they were on the forefront.) For others, it was an early way to articulate how s*x, race, class and other forms of identity expression and difference are what we call today “intersectional,” (read: people with multiple identities always at the forefront.) At the time, we used words like "the other" and "tokenize," as we were reaching for new ways to describe our experience. We had never been apart of any notion of the mainstream. 20+ years post-Stonewall and 10+ years into AIDS, our generation -- the 13th since the founding of the United States -- was writing so much of the script for the first time on the heels of the 21st century. During the 90s, we felt that power and potential at times.
My own impulse was much simpler, and it still works for me to this day. I just loved the idea of taking back derogatory terms and making new meaning out of them, especially meaning that challenged the status quo. In fact, at the time, I swear that the act of redefining words felt like the most important thing to be doing at times, even more so than protesting. If you change the very basis of words and language, you change assumptions, ideas, and well, you can potentially change everything. For the better. And, for more of us than less of us. This is what I love about the way in which pronouns have evolved to include they/them in recent years. It is such a joy to see those ideas around language and identity being explored by younger people in their own way on their own terms. This film company is all in.
At one point in my early career, I had the word “Turbulent” in the name of my film company. It was irreverent, oppositional, I loved it. Early branding in every sense. Today, I grab hold of the number 13 in a similar way that I did to “turbulent,” but now with much more experience to back it up. Traditionally unlucky, 13 now means everything powerful, everything hopeful.
Witht that, 13th Gen, Inc. is now open for business in a whole new way. Bold and fearless like the generation we represent. We’ve been doing this work under that brand name since 2009, but now, we’re ready to take it to a whole new level. The films that define this company are meant to be like that -- unexpected, disarming at times, and surprising. The filmmakers ... some of the best in the field, telling stories in which the multiple identities referred to above are a given, confidently placed at the center of the narrative where they belong!
Be our partner. Let’s build this together -- established and emerging storytellers side by side, from all walks of life.
Watch this space.
~ Marc Smolowitz, CEO, 13th Gen, Inc.
