New Book Release: "Screening Generation X"

I am pleased to announce the 2010 book release from Scarlett contributor Christina Lee.  The text, Screening Generation X: The Politics and Popular Memory of Youth in Contemporary Cinema, is Christina's second publication in just a few short years.  As mentioned, and full disclosure, she is an occasional contributor here at Scarlett, and was the editor of the text Violating Time: History, Memory, and Nostalgia in Cinema, a book to which I also contributed a chapter in 2008.  While I can personally attest to Ms. Lee's academic and professional integrity, there are others with far greater credibility than myself who also agree.

In July 2010 she spoke with Split Reel's Kevin Fullam on CHIRP Radio in Chicago.  You can listen to their full interview and discussion at the Split Reel website.  They discuss her work in depth, particularly teen films from the 1980s--from John Hughes' Pretty in Pink (1986) to Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and the strong sense of teen cultural identity for Gen X during that decade, an identity which seems to become fragmented with subsequent generations. 

You can find a full description of Ms. Lee's text at the Ashgate Publishing website, but below is a bite-sized summary of her thesis:

Screening Generation X: The Politics and Popular Memory of Youth in Contemporary Cinema examines popular representations of Generation X in American and British film. In arguing that the various constructions of youth are marked by major cultural shifts and societal inequalities, it analyzes the iconic 'Gen X' figures ranging from the slacker, the teenage time traveller, and third wave feminists, to the oeuvre of Molly Ringwald and Richard Linklater. 

Many congratulations to Christina Lee for her major accomplishment in 2010.