Based on your viewing of our screening of Thirtysomething as well as Feuer's analysis of the program--what role do you think yuppie guilt plays on the show and how is it represented?
In the episode screened in class, the primary situation Michael faced with yuppie guilt was shown through his various nightmares throughout the episode. One of the nightmares was where he faced a trial by other hippies and was accused of taking advantage of the consumers. His defense was “I am not a yuppie. Yuppies only want new cars and CDs. I want those things too, but I can’t afford them. Doesn’t that count?” (Feuer 74). However, he as pronounced guilty for desiring to want to have better things in life. In another dream, his grandfather talks about his past encounter in Russia as all his belongings were taken away by force. With that, those fears caused Michael to be discontent throughout the episode as he faced with many decisions to make such as remodeling his home, making a deal for a commercial, hosting a house party and other decisions at work. We see that through this development, Michael finally makes the decision to reject passivity and face his worries head on. The first step taken was when he purchased a new green shirt to show that he wants to move on from his “old self”. When he decides to stop the construction of the kitchen area, he based it off his original feelings to change the look and feel of his own home (and investment). At the end of the episode, when we see that house party was over, Michael sees all his friends gathered and reminiscence to the “old days”. This may suggest that as his friends are still together, they have moved on from their hippie stage and become more conformed to the norms of society as yuppies.
Yuppie guilt appears to be central to the show in that there are no major complications in the program apart from Michael's internal struggles with his own success in business. Michael has a hard time accepting that he has departed from his prior mindset of the 1960s anti-consumerist ideals. At one point in the show he complained that he did not have enough money to buy a car that he didn't need. This epitomizes Michael's newly consumerist ideals. His yuppie guilt is then represented by his dreams and his unhappiness surrounding the new "problems" that he has that he believes he shouldn't even see as problems.
Later in the episode, Michael's wife Hope gives up on comforting him and instead begins to question why he feels a need to be unhappy, and thus questions the necessity of yuppie guilt in the first place. The way she sees it is that he has everything he could want, yet he still can't manage to be happy because he feels guilty about having the ability to have the things he wants. By calling Michael out in such a simplified manner, Hope almost lampoons the idea of yuppie guilt and suggests that it isn't necessary. Thirtysomething has an interesting representation of Yuppie guilt because it is central to the show, yet the program suggests that it may be excessive.
In thirtysomething, the main characters are former war protestors and anti-consumerists. However, now they are “30-somethings” with jobs and families and yuppie guilt. The people that they grew to hate during their protesting days were known as “yuppies” or people who had traded their free spirit for a more consumerist lifestyle, such as a desire to own a house, or a nice car. However, as they have out grown their college years and gotten families and jobs, Michael and his friends have become the “yuppies” that they despised so much. Because Michael knows that he sold out to satisfy his desire to have a happy family, he is racked with guilt as he tries to be a breadwinner, but also maintain the ideals he held so strongly as a college kid.
Michael traded real guilt for yuppie guilt. He traded yuppie guilt for responsibility. These “yuppies” worked in the corporate world and let their morals and “spirit” fade away because they have to. Spirit doesn’t pay the bills, as much as Michael would like it to. He had to get a job in the advertising business in order to support his family, because the career he desired as a youngster, a writer, was not going to be enough to raise a family on. As detailed in the article, Gary does not have any yuppie guilt, but he also has no responsibility. He maintains the dreaded hair, and is seen as they symbol for the revolutionary spirit that Michael is guiltily fighting with. It is very hard to have one without the other, as seen by Michaels emotional exhaustion by the end of the episode.
Yuppie guilt is central to thirtysomething and the episode that we watched in class in particular because without it there would not have been any conflict. Without the presence of yuppie guilt in the show it would have been about people doing everyday things but since yuppie guilt is a major theme of the show it's about people doing everyday things and complaining about their lives... which makes it more interesting (?). The main characters, Michael and Hope, who were once involved in 1960s counterculture now feel old and guilty because they have “bought in” to mainstream life since they now have a child, are homeowners, and have financial success even if it means compromising what they once believed in. In addition to guilt, the show also simultaneously provokes feelings of envy in the viewer, “envy is more easily evoked by visual images and guilt conveyed by narrative” (82). We see what Michael and Hope have and the life they built; however we also recognize how they “sold out” to get there. The show would not be able to function without yuppie guilt as the premise since all of the conflict (or at least the conflicts that we saw in the episode screen in class) stems from the internal conditions and struggle of characters grappling with who they once were and their former values while also trying to enjoy life and appreciate what they have.
Yuppie guilt is the primary plot driver in thirtysomething. Without it, the show would have no material. In the episode we watched in class, everything is actually going well for Michael and Hope. Michael has a budding career and they have just bought a new house with their beautiful child. The plot advances because Michael feels guilt due to all of these things. His job making television commercials can be particularly seen as selling out when Gary criticizes him for selling unknowing people items that they don't need. Michael simply can't shake the feeling that he's betrayed some of his core beliefs in order to achieve all of his success. In a dream, he imagines he's been kidnapped by terrorists and put on trial for being a yuppie. In the trial, he is declared guilty. Hope identifies that yuppie guilt is the centerpiece of the show when she essentially tells him he's being upset over his own success, which is silly.
The fact that many people saw the show as too whiny, as identified by Feuer, also shows that the conflicts in the show are perpetuated by yuppie guilt. The characters are seen as whiny because the conflicts are not true conflicts at all - they are only in the heads of the characters. For someone who is unable to relate to or understand the concept of yuppie guilt, this show is most likely not watchable.
Yuppie guilt seemed to be a very prevalent topic post 1960s. The revolutionary ways of the counter-culture were fading away to make room for a materialistic consumer mentality, and the name given to those that chose to given to those who transitioned was “yuppie”. In the episode of Thirtysomething that we viewed in class, the concept of guilt associated with such a transition was very apparent.
As Michael seeks to create a professional life for himself after a relatively recent graduation from college, he feels the distinct sting of guilt. His former beliefs in the ideals of the counter culture are now irrelevant, and he has shifted his focus to bettering the life of his new family through materialistic achievements such as remodeling his breakfast room. This internal struggle with yuppie guilt is really the only problem within the episode, and it is the dominant driving force in terms of the plot. This guilt is represented chiefly through his reoccurring nightmares, one that even has another character explicitly call him a yuppie, though he heatedly denies it.
I believe this guilt, as the central issue in the episode is unsuccessful and uninteresting. Michael has nothing to complain about in his life except for the fact that things are changing and he can no longer be a hippie in college. Many, myself included, cannot identify with his struggle. However perhaps an audience of the time would have something different to say on that front.
Yuppie guilt clearly played a large role in the episode of Thirtysomething we viewed in our screening. The characters in the show were growing out of the anti-consumerism, war protesting actions of their youth. Like many baby boomers, the characters in Thirtysomething grew up in a very antagonistic towards the government era, putting great effort in going against the system. This pattern of thought, however, directly conflicts with those of the main characters current aspirations. He went from being a teenager in the era to being a 'yuppie', going against all the ideals he was supposed to believe in. Originally this is seen as negatively, as the characters struggle to come to terms with their new attitudes. The main character battles with the demons of his choices, even dreaming of himself being prosecuted as a yuppie by a court of his friends. The issues that the characters face mirror problems that working baby boomer went through, seeing themselves as traitors to their former ideals. People had high aspirations in the workplace as they approached middle age, but also felt guilty for conforming to the viewpoints that they had so adamantly fought through their childhoods. I believe Thirtysomething was a great analogue for life of all the baby boomers at the time.
Considering that my peers have basically covered mostly everything to say about the given prompt on yuppie guilt presented in the episode of thirtysomething and I do not feel like repeating it, I am just going to discuss my own personal thoughts on the concept and we will see where it goes. I think it is so interesting that someone can look at a television show and see it as a representation of an entire generation, in this case the baby-boomers in the 1980s Reganism. This representation can divide audiences and create a lot of critics. Some people viewed the show as real life while others just saw it as illustration of all things yuppie or “yuppievision”, as the author refers to it. The characters whined about their lives while trading in hippie values for soulless jobs, babies, oversized houses, and unaffordable breakfast nooks. On a different note, it reminds of the current HBO drama Girls. Some viewers of this program rave about its realism while others just see it as a whiny and over-exaggerated look at the young white twentysomething lifestyle in New York, where parents front the bills for Brooklyn apartments while characters complain about guys and never seem to work for anything they get. In both cases, the characters may be difficult to identify with for most audiences but that does not mean that they are not realistic or important for others. I apologize that this post seemed a little off subject.
In the episode screened in class, the primary situation Michael faced with yuppie guilt was shown through his various nightmares throughout the episode. One of the nightmares was where he faced a trial by other hippies and was accused of taking advantage of the consumers. His defense was “I am not a yuppie. Yuppies only want new cars and CDs. I want those things too, but I can’t afford them. Doesn’t that count?” (Feuer 74). However, he as pronounced guilty for desiring to want to have better things in life. In another dream, his grandfather talks about his past encounter in Russia as all his belongings were taken away by force. With that, those fears caused Michael to be discontent throughout the episode as he faced with many decisions to make such as remodeling his home, making a deal for a commercial, hosting a house party and other decisions at work. We see that through this development, Michael finally makes the decision to reject passivity and face his worries head on. The first step taken was when he purchased a new green shirt to show that he wants to move on from his “old self”. When he decides to stop the construction of the kitchen area, he based it off his original feelings to change the look and feel of his own home (and investment). At the end of the episode, when we see that house party was over, Michael sees all his friends gathered and reminiscence to the “old days”. This may suggest that as his friends are still together, they have moved on from their hippie stage and become more conformed to the norms of society as yuppies.
ReplyDeleteYuppie guilt appears to be central to the show in that there are no major complications in the program apart from Michael's internal struggles with his own success in business. Michael has a hard time accepting that he has departed from his prior mindset of the 1960s anti-consumerist ideals. At one point in the show he complained that he did not have enough money to buy a car that he didn't need. This epitomizes Michael's newly consumerist ideals. His yuppie guilt is then represented by his dreams and his unhappiness surrounding the new "problems" that he has that he believes he shouldn't even see as problems.
ReplyDeleteLater in the episode, Michael's wife Hope gives up on comforting him and instead begins to question why he feels a need to be unhappy, and thus questions the necessity of yuppie guilt in the first place. The way she sees it is that he has everything he could want, yet he still can't manage to be happy because he feels guilty about having the ability to have the things he wants. By calling Michael out in such a simplified manner, Hope almost lampoons the idea of yuppie guilt and suggests that it isn't necessary. Thirtysomething has an interesting representation of Yuppie guilt because it is central to the show, yet the program suggests that it may be excessive.
In thirtysomething, the main characters are former war protestors and anti-consumerists. However, now they are “30-somethings” with jobs and families and yuppie guilt. The people that they grew to hate during their protesting days were known as “yuppies” or people who had traded their free spirit for a more consumerist lifestyle, such as a desire to own a house, or a nice car. However, as they have out grown their college years and gotten families and jobs, Michael and his friends have become the “yuppies” that they despised so much. Because Michael knows that he sold out to satisfy his desire to have a happy family, he is racked with guilt as he tries to be a breadwinner, but also maintain the ideals he held so strongly as a college kid.
ReplyDeleteMichael traded real guilt for yuppie guilt. He traded yuppie guilt for responsibility. These “yuppies” worked in the corporate world and let their morals and “spirit” fade away because they have to. Spirit doesn’t pay the bills, as much as Michael would like it to. He had to get a job in the advertising business in order to support his family, because the career he desired as a youngster, a writer, was not going to be enough to raise a family on. As detailed in the article, Gary does not have any yuppie guilt, but he also has no responsibility. He maintains the dreaded hair, and is seen as they symbol for the revolutionary spirit that Michael is guiltily fighting with. It is very hard to have one without the other, as seen by Michaels emotional exhaustion by the end of the episode.
Yuppie guilt is central to thirtysomething and the episode that we watched in class in particular because without it there would not have been any conflict. Without the presence of yuppie guilt in the show it would have been about people doing everyday things but since yuppie guilt is a major theme of the show it's about people doing everyday things and complaining about their lives... which makes it more interesting (?). The main characters, Michael and Hope, who were once involved in 1960s counterculture now feel old and guilty because they have “bought in” to mainstream life since they now have a child, are homeowners, and have financial success even if it means compromising what they once believed in. In addition to guilt, the show also simultaneously provokes feelings of envy in the viewer, “envy is more easily evoked by visual images and guilt conveyed by narrative” (82). We see what Michael and Hope have and the life they built; however we also recognize how they “sold out” to get there. The show would not be able to function without yuppie guilt as the premise since all of the conflict (or at least the conflicts that we saw in the episode screen in class) stems from the internal conditions and struggle of characters grappling with who they once were and their former values while also trying to enjoy life and appreciate what they have.
ReplyDeleteYuppie guilt is the primary plot driver in thirtysomething. Without it, the show would have no material. In the episode we watched in class, everything is actually going well for Michael and Hope. Michael has a budding career and they have just bought a new house with their beautiful child. The plot advances because Michael feels guilt due to all of these things. His job making television commercials can be particularly seen as selling out when Gary criticizes him for selling unknowing people items that they don't need. Michael simply can't shake the feeling that he's betrayed some of his core beliefs in order to achieve all of his success. In a dream, he imagines he's been kidnapped by terrorists and put on trial for being a yuppie. In the trial, he is declared guilty. Hope identifies that yuppie guilt is the centerpiece of the show when she essentially tells him he's being upset over his own success, which is silly.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that many people saw the show as too whiny, as identified by Feuer, also shows that the conflicts in the show are perpetuated by yuppie guilt. The characters are seen as whiny because the conflicts are not true conflicts at all - they are only in the heads of the characters. For someone who is unable to relate to or understand the concept of yuppie guilt, this show is most likely not watchable.
Yuppie guilt seemed to be a very prevalent topic post 1960s. The revolutionary ways of the counter-culture were fading away to make room for a materialistic consumer mentality, and the name given to those that chose to given to those who transitioned was “yuppie”. In the episode of Thirtysomething that we viewed in class, the concept of guilt associated with such a transition was very apparent.
ReplyDeleteAs Michael seeks to create a professional life for himself after a relatively recent graduation from college, he feels the distinct sting of guilt. His former beliefs in the ideals of the counter culture are now irrelevant, and he has shifted his focus to bettering the life of his new family through materialistic achievements such as remodeling his breakfast room. This internal struggle with yuppie guilt is really the only problem within the episode, and it is the dominant driving force in terms of the plot. This guilt is represented chiefly through his reoccurring nightmares, one that even has another character explicitly call him a yuppie, though he heatedly denies it.
I believe this guilt, as the central issue in the episode is unsuccessful and uninteresting. Michael has nothing to complain about in his life except for the fact that things are changing and he can no longer be a hippie in college. Many, myself included, cannot identify with his struggle. However perhaps an audience of the time would have something different to say on that front.
Yuppie guilt clearly played a large role in the episode of Thirtysomething we viewed in our screening. The characters in the show were growing out of the anti-consumerism, war protesting actions of their youth. Like many baby boomers, the characters in Thirtysomething grew up in a very antagonistic towards the government era, putting great effort in going against the system. This pattern of thought, however, directly conflicts with those of the main characters current aspirations. He went from being a teenager in the era to being a 'yuppie', going against all the ideals he was supposed to believe in. Originally this is seen as negatively, as the characters struggle to come to terms with their new attitudes. The main character battles with the demons of his choices, even dreaming of himself being prosecuted as a yuppie by a court of his friends. The issues that the characters face mirror problems that working baby boomer went through, seeing themselves as traitors to their former ideals. People had high aspirations in the workplace as they approached middle age, but also felt guilty for conforming to the viewpoints that they had so adamantly fought through their childhoods. I believe Thirtysomething was a great analogue for life of all the baby boomers at the time.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that my peers have basically covered mostly everything to say about the given prompt on yuppie guilt presented in the episode of thirtysomething and I do not feel like repeating it, I am just going to discuss my own personal thoughts on the concept and we will see where it goes. I think it is so interesting that someone can look at a television show and see it as a representation of an entire generation, in this case the baby-boomers in the 1980s Reganism. This representation can divide audiences and create a lot of critics. Some people viewed the show as real life while others just saw it as illustration of all things yuppie or “yuppievision”, as the author refers to it. The characters whined about their lives while trading in hippie values for soulless jobs, babies, oversized houses, and unaffordable breakfast nooks. On a different note, it reminds of the current HBO drama Girls. Some viewers of this program rave about its realism while others just see it as a whiny and over-exaggerated look at the young white twentysomething lifestyle in New York, where parents front the bills for Brooklyn apartments while characters complain about guys and never seem to work for anything they get. In both cases, the characters may be difficult to identify with for most audiences but that does not mean that they are not realistic or important for others. I apologize that this post seemed a little off subject.
ReplyDelete