In 1994, Ben Stiller codified the generation X ethos into celluloid with Reality Bites, which he directed and co-starred in as the film’s villain. We know he’s the villain because he works in an office and earns a real living, a marked contrast to the film’s four underemployed, holier-than-thou hipster protagonists.
The tragic uncoolness of office life would go on to define the Gen X film-making of the 90s; Fight Club, Office Space, The Matrix, and even Good Will Hunting hinged on its main characters rejecting the yuppie, office-bound lifestyle in favor of a more authentic existence. Stiller has never left his generation far behind, as his 2013 remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty similarly warned of getting stuck in a soul-crushing office job. But he has returned to his generation’s ground zero with Severance, a hit series on AppleTV+ produced by Stiller (he also directed six of its nine episodes) that presents a uniquely dystopian view of office life. Its success with a new generation shows how the values of Gen X continue to reverberate through the years.
