Generation X and the Rise of the Entertainment Subject (Generation X: Studies in Culture, Demographics, and Media Representation)

Generation X and the Rise of the Entertainment Subject defines Gen X as the first generation to be dominated by entertainment subjectivity. A social and psychological feedback loop is created as entertainment caters to adolescent consumers while the consumer, in turn, is shaped by the entertainment they internalize. While the paradigmatic latchkey young adults are immersed in media consumption, they see the world through the lens of popular culture products that seek to capitalize on the free time and disposable income of the unoccupied viewer. This book argues that Gen X entertainment subjectivity lays the foundations for contemporary society where handheld devices and other technologies detach their users from the world around them. "This book posits that Generation X is the first to be defined by its relationship with entertainment. This relationship, the author argues, is reciprocal: for the first time, entertainment is created with adolescent consumers in mind who in turn develop a new mode of subjectivity that is informed by the popular culture they consume"-- Provided by publisher