Face-Off: Millennials vs. Generation X vs. Baby Boomers vs. The Silent Generation
Demographers have identified four contemporary generations to which westernized adults of the world belong: based on birth rates and common characteristics, the parameters are not rigid and allow for various definitions. Which generation, as defined below, do you think is currently (approximately 2010-2017) making the most important films?
Feel free to discuss here.
Feel free to discuss here.
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Martin Charles Scorsese was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City, to Catherine Scorsese (née Cappa) and Charles Scorsese, who both worked in Manhattan's garment district, and whose families both came from Palermo, Sicily. He was raised in the neighborhood of Little Italy, which later provided the inspiration for several of his films. Scorsese earned a B.S. degree in film communications in 1964, followed by an M.A. in the same field in 1966 at New York University's School of Film. During this time, he made numerous prize-winning short films including The Big Shave (1967), and directed his first feature film, Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967).
He served as assistant director and an editor of the documentary Woodstock (1970) and won critical and popular acclaim for Mean Streets (1973), which first paired him with actor and frequent collaborator Robert De Niro. In 1976, Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), also starring De Niro, was awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and he followed that film with New York, New York (1977) and The Last Waltz (1978). Scorsese directed De Niro to an Oscar-winning performance as boxer Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980), which received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and is hailed as one of the masterpieces of modern cinema. Scorsese went on to direct The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995) and Kundun (1997), among other films. Commissioned by the British Film Institute to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of cinema, Scorsese completed the four-hour documentary, A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995), co-directed by Michael Henry Wilson.
His long-cherished project, Gangs of New York (2002), earned numerous critical honors, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Director; the Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator (2004) won five Academy Awards, in addition to the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for Best Picture. Scorsese won his first Academy Award for Best Director for The Departed (2006), which was also honored with the Director's Guild of America, Golden Globe, New York Film Critics, National Board of Review and Critic's Choice awards for Best Director, in addition to four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Scorsese's documentary of the Rolling Stones in concert, Shine a Light (2008), followed, with the successful thriller Shutter Island (2010) two years later. Scorsese received his seventh Academy Award nomination for Best Director, as well as a Golden Globe Award, for Hugo (2011), which went on to win five Academy Awards.
Scorsese also serves as executive producer on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010) for which he directed the pilot episode. Scorsese's additional awards and honors include the Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival (1995), the AFI Life Achievement Award (1997), the Honoree at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's 25th Gala Tribute (1998), the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award (2003), The Kennedy Center Honors (2007) and the HFPA Cecil B. DeMille Award (2010). Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio have worked together on five separate occasions: Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2010) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).The Silent Generation (also called the Traditionalists or the Greatest Generation, referring to those born before 1946):
Directors, Writers, & Others: Include Clint Eastwood, Woody Allen, Ridley Scott, Hayao Miyazaki, Werner Herzog, Warren Beatty, John Williams (composer), Vittorio Storaro (cinematographer)
Actors: Include Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Robert Redford, Helen Mirren, Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Smith, Harrison Ford, Jane Fonda, Jeffrey Tambor, Jack Nicholoson, Vanessa Redgrave, Alan Arkin, Ben Kingsley, Judi Dench- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Joel Daniel Coen is an American filmmaker who regularly collaborates with his younger brother Ethan. They made Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail Caesar and other projects. Joel married actress Frances McDormand in 1984 and had an adopted son.Baby Boomers (usually thought to be born between 1946 and 1960):
Directors & Writers: Include Spike Lee, Kathryn Bigelow, David Lynch, Stephen Spielberg, Mel Gibson, Luc Besson, James Cameron, Tim Burton, Charlie Kaufman
Actors: Include Meryl Streep, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Seam Penn, Tom Hanks, Michelle Pfieffer, Chrostoff Waltz, Viggo Mortenson, Emma Thompson, Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Denzel Washington, Michael Keaton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.
In January of 1992, first-time writer-director Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992) appeared at the Sundance Film Festival. The film garnered critical acclaim and the director became a legend immediately. Two years later, he followed up Dogs success with Pulp Fiction (1994) which premiered at the Cannes film festival, winning the coveted Palme D'Or Award. At the 1995 Academy Awards, it was nominated for the best picture, best director and best original screenplay. Tarantino and writing partner Roger Avary came away with the award only for best original screenplay. In 1995, Tarantino directed one fourth of the anthology Four Rooms (1995) with friends and fellow auteurs Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Allison Anders. The film opened December 25 in the United States to very weak reviews. Tarantino's next film was From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), a vampire/crime story which he wrote and co-starred with George Clooney. The film did fairly well theatrically.
Since then, Tarantino has helmed several critically and financially successful films, including Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Django Unchained (2012) and The Hateful Eight (2015).Generation X (there is still some disagreement about the birth years represented, narrowly defined between 1965 and 1976 but often more broadly defined as being born anywhere between 1961 and 1982):
Directors & Writers: Include Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Spike Jonze, Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky, Edgar Wright, David Fincher, M. Night Shyamalan
Actors: Include Leonardo DiCaprio, Amy Adams, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Chris Pine, Cate Blanchett, Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Jamie Foxx, Zooey Deschanel, Joaquin Phoenix, Kate Winslet, Nicole Kidman, Idris Elba, Christian Bale- Producer
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- Director
Damien Sayre Chazelle is an American director and screenwriter. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island. His mother, Celia Sayre (Martin) Chazelle, is an American-Canadian writer and professor of history at The College of New Jersey. His father, Bernard Chazelle, is a French-American Eugene Higgins Professor of computer science at Princeton University, originally from Clamart, France. Chazelle has a sister, Anna, who is an actress and circus performer.Millennials (also sometimes called Generation Y, there is disagreement here, too, of the birth years, sometimes as early as 1977 and as late as 2000, but often perceived to be those born between 1983 and 1995):
Directors & Writers: Include Lena Dunham, Evan Goldberg, Nathan Fielder, Ryan Coogler, Benh Zeitlin, Emily Carmichael
Actors: Include Jennifer Lawrence, Brie Larson, Armie Hammer, Emma Stone, Daniel Radcliff, Lupito Nyong'o, Andrew Garfield, Lakeith Standfield, Rooney Mara, Eddie Redmayne, Anna Kendrick