Boomers\u2014do you read, listen and view appropriately for your age?<\/p>\n
Related question; what do you think someone your age should consume, culture-wise?<\/p>\n
This is the last of three articles that discuss age-appropriate behaviour (or misbehaviour). Now that we\u2019ve got guidelines for how we should act<\/a> at a certain age, and we\u2019ve discussed our wardrobe choices<\/a> (without reaching any conclusions, I have to admit), let\u2019s look at what Boomers consume, or should be consuming, culture-wise.<\/p>\n It\u2019s actually difficult to separate culture consumption from acting a certain age and wearing age-appropriate clothing.<\/p>\n For example, if, as a boomer, you\u2019re heavily into gangsta rap, it\u2019s unlikely that chinos, boat shoes and a plaid shirt will be your first choice of attire when you go to an angry rap-themed concert\u2014 sweatpants or baggy jeans with a twelve-inch inseam are much more likely to be your thing. Likewise, if you enjoy French experimental films, you probably wouldn\u2019t be seen dead in relaxed-fit beige cargo shorts and a tailored golf or polo shirt\u2014your wardrobe choices will be far more eclectic.<\/p>\n You see, Boomers are expected to like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, the Eagles, Led Zeppelin, perhaps classic Motown and\/or classic reggae, and maybe\u2026 just maybe, disco. If you\u2019re a Boomer and you love the Sex Pistols, the Dead Kennedys, Marilyn Manson, The Clash, Will. I. Am, Busta Rhymes, Lil Jon, Lil Wayne and Lil Kim, then you\u2019re either the oldest still-working DJ in town or weird. To many Boomers, \u201cLil Wayne\u201d might connote an unlikely liaison between Little Eva (the singer of the original version of The Locomotion) and the actor John \u201cget off your horse and drink your milk\u201d Wayne.<\/p>\n But needless to say, I\u2019m picking on stereotypes and extremes for the sake of humour (I hope!). The truth where music is concerned is that tastes span the generations. Many young people enjoy classical music and big band music, especially if they\u2019ve been introduced to those genres in a healthy way by their parents and\/or school band teachers. Very large numbers of young people (in my experience) enjoy classic rock from the sixties and seventies. Towards the other end of the age spectrum, a member of my extended family\u2014a Boomer himself\u2014is a great fan of punk, grunge and more recent descendants of those styles. And some Boomers enjoy musical output from bands like The Decemberists and Arcade Fire.<\/p>\n Okay\u2026 so if music is cross-generational, what about TV and film?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with the low-hanging fruit. My kids love Monty Python\u2014both TV and film. However, they\u2019d probably hate the kids shows I watched, and truth be told, if I take away the nostalgia component, I probably would too. Same goes for a lot of 60s and 70s sitcoms.<\/p>\n Here in Canada, my peers speak fondly of shows such as Rowan and Martin\u2019s Laugh-in, I Love Lucy and SCTV. I\u2019ve never watched SCTV, but Laugh-in and Lucille Ball where never favourites of mine. They were verrry interesting\u2026 but stupid. It\u2019s said that only the better US shows made it to the UK (e.g., M*A*S*H, Cheers) but in my opinion someone in the UK slipped up when they bought Laugh-In and Lucy.<\/p>\n It seems that, as with music, the truth is that your choice of TV and film fodder is influenced more by where you grew up and who you grew up with rather than your age.<\/p>\n Oh dear\u2014we really haven\u2019t identified any distinguishing features of the kind of culture that exclusively Boomers consume.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not newspapers vs. TV or online news outlets\u2014I know Gen Xers who prefer a real newspaper, while I (as a Boomer) avoid newspapers, preferring instead to read several online news sites.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not books. I read stuff that young adults I know recommend, and I know young adults that enjoy stuff I read.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not films, judging by the catalogue of classics on Netflix.<\/p>\n So how exactly does a Boomer act his or her age when consuming culture?<\/p>\n I think the answer is\u2026 do your own thing. I don\u2019t think anyone will raise an eyebrow at your listening, viewing and reading tastes. Unless you\u2019re consuming boxed set after boxed set of teen romance novels or Peppa Pig videos, nobody will care, and even in the examples cited few will judge you too harshly.<\/p>\n Boomers by and large don\u2019t act their age in the same way that previous generations did. There are probably many reasons for that, among them being that Boomers are the first generation to grow up with TV, the first generation that didn\u2019t have to worry (too much) about wars, and the first generation to grow up with easy and cheap (or free) access to healthcare. Our lives became at the same time healthier, safer and more trivial, so we\u2019re capable of acting younger than we\u2019re expected to, and more inclined to do so too.<\/p>\n Boomers by and large dress according to some unwritten dress code. We realize that we\u2019re not gonna get into skinny jeans so we choose relaxed-fit casual pants, plaid shirts (cos that\u2019s all the stores seem to want to sell us!) and whatever footwear we find comfortable.<\/p>\n Very few Boomers (of either sex) wear crop tops. In fact, we tend not to flaunt our flesh too much\u2014partly because it badly needs ironing but also because we\u2019re worried about skin cancer and how we abused our skin with low- or no-SPF suntan lotions back in the day when SPF only meant \u201cSkin Properly Fried\u201d<\/p>\n As for culture\u2014you\u2019ll find Boomers listening, reading or watching most genres of music, movies, books and TV programs. We might be trying to stay connected with our adult children: we might be reliving our childhoods with our grandkids, or we might just be out and out weird.<\/p>\n I hope that this trio of articles about Boomer Behaviour has helped you understand Boomers better than you did, and maybe amused you at least a little too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Boomers\u2014do you read, listen and view appropriately for your age? Related question; what do you think someone your age should consume, culture-wise? This is the last of three articles that discuss age-appropriate behaviour (or misbehaviour). Now that we\u2019ve got guidelines for how we should act at a certain age, and we\u2019ve discussed our wardrobe choices (without reaching any conclusions, I… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[575,490],"tags":[597],"class_list":["post-1266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boomerhumour","category-the-commentaries","tag-culture-consumption"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Music<\/h1>\n
TV and Film<\/h1>\n
Summary<\/h1>\n