Life is not mapped out for young people of the 1990s as it was for them in the 50s, says screenwriter Helen Childress, nor as crazy as the 70s, nor greedy as the 80s.
Circle-of-friends movie Reality Bites (Pearl, 9.30pm), was the first screenplay that Childress wrote, and the first film for actor-cum-director Ben Stiller. With it, they took on the task of sketching a portrait of their post-babyboomer generation, a film made all the more raw by being shot partially on video and with much of the dialogue improvised.
The premise is that 90s graduates no longer enjoy the prospects of career ladders reaching uninterrupted to the skies. Instead, they may find themselves wasting their brains by working behind a shopping till, like Vicky, played by Janeane Garofalo. Or, like Winona Ryder's character, Lelaina, they may head for an uncertain career in the media.
With an ever multiplying number of TV channels, numerous graduates are tempted to wing it in this industry, especially those who lack the inclination or the maths to go into accountancy or business. Previous generations would not have had the choice. They would have done what was expected of them, in the unspoken name of responsibility.
Determination and audacity is what it will take Lelaina to succeed, not grades. In real life, she would take inspiration from Nik Manojlovich, host of Savoir Faire (World, 8.30pm), a post-babyboomer who must be brimming with audacity to have got his show off the ground. He may occasionally irritate us with his arrogance, but as an unusual specimen of his generation he is highly entertaining, even if only for taking himself too seriously.
Tonight is the night to concoct his cocktails and sit back and toast the post-babyboomers, the generation ready to swap career-climbing drinks like Gins and Martinis for the happy-go-lucky Mu Mus, Pu Pus and Mai Tais.
