LOS ANGELES — Here's a Hollywood math problem for you: Feature filmmaking as we know it is well over 100 years old. Members of Generation Z, defined by Pew Research Center as those born between 1997 and 2012, are now between 10 and 25. How long will it take the entertainment industry to bridge the gap?
For a number of summer movies, the answer isn't just "not long" — it's "now." "Bodies Bodies Bodies," directed by Halina Reijn from a screenplay by Sarah DeLappe; "Sharp Stick," written and directed by Lena Dunham; and "Not Okay," written and directed by Quinn Shephard, are all part of a spate of recent films to grapple with how the medium can engage a generation versed in a new visual language and culture. Their 20-something, predominantly female characters are defined to a significant extent by the way they define themselves online, a mix of jokey memes, earnest questioning, engaged activism, real horniness, performative fakeness and the actual search for an authentic sense of self.
'Wi-Fi is our oxygen'
