Reality Bites?

I just watched Reality Bites for the first time. I always had this image of it in my head from seeing Winona Ryder, Ben Stiller, and Ethan Hawke's faces stretched out in steel teal tint on billboards from the bottom of the backseat car window as a kid, then when I was reminded of it while in Japan I thought, "Hey, this movie actually sounds interesting now and relevant to my life." And it was to a degree, but as often happens with these films that are supposed to be about youthful angst and rebellion I just can't relate that much to the main characters.

I can't sympathize with a main character who struggles to find a job in the professional field of her choice but is incapacitated by pride from working at a fast-food place, makes jokes about "selling fruit on street corners," and in the end turns to stealing from her parents rather than just getting a "normal" job (which is celebrated in the film).

I mean the movie was okay. I got some things out of it. I related to Ben Stiller's character the most and one thing that he said that actually really clicked with me was, "Hey, we're all human beings." Lately, I've been thinking that, as I realize I can be kind of judgmental (as this post may attest, haha), toward myself and others. Really though, everyone is a unique, complex human being, despite how preppy, douche-baggy, or misguided we may seem, and it seems like a waste of time and energy to form judgments against people whom we don't really know on a deep, or true, level. So that was one thing I connected to in this film.

But man, when are we going to get some more coming-of-age, youth-centered films about people with problems working-class people who aren't white can relate to?! I mean, can you imagine Reality Bites with Mexicans?? Okay, well first off all those people would've probably still been living at home instead of renting out an apartment they couldn't afford. The whole jobless part of the movie would've been completely out cuz you know they'd all be working as many jobs as they could to support them AND their families. Man, and if one of them got a BMW for free from their loaded dad (an impossible scenario) they would've sold that thing so fast. I suppose these things would all make the movie less interesting to lots of people, but hey, I'd be able to relate to the characters more.

I suppose this movie was made in 1994 (Man, I'm always astounded when I watch a movie from the mid-90s how much more obvious the racism is - the black guy runs the news station for which Winona Ryder is over-qualified, selling produce in the street is a joke, also I suppose Asians and Latinos don't exist in this fictional world either), and there are definitely more coming-of-age movies that speak to the experiences of young people of color now, but I always feel like there are never enough. If you read this and have any suggestions, can you leave some here to share? Cuz I'd love to check them out.

All in all, Reality Bites was pretty good, but not the "pretty good" where you kind of accent the words and drag out the vowels. I got some things out of it, but I think I like the weird image of the billboard imprinted on my mind more. It is also really possible the movie's not hitting me as directly because my generation's a little off. What would be my generation's post-college-graduation film(s) (if this movie could really even be called representative of the '90s generation)?...That would have come out somewhere around last year, right?...I don't think I've seen one I really relate to, that really captures the way things are and feel.

The cappuccino reference was funny, is that back when that was becoming popular (by the way, was this movie made pre-Starbucks? I feel like it was...)? This is all making me feel really young...

Also the soundtrack was pretty lame. Just think: Pulp Fiction came out that same year.