The First Clash

Finished reading The First Clash by Jim Lacey today, a history of the battle of Marathon. As the author notes early on, people know Thermopylae better lately because of the movie 300...and maybe because 300 vs. 300,000 is cooler than 10000 vs. 60000. (Rough numbers, all around - I don't feel the need to get exact about them, since for every one - except the 300 Spartans - nobody else seems 100% sure either.)

He makes the good point that, without Marathon, Thermopylae wouldn't have happened. Athens gets taken over, all the other city-states submit to Persia, Sparta holds out for a while... but the best case there is a glorious but decisive defeat. By showing that the Persians were not invincible - not by a long shot - the Greeks had some expectation that a battle held the possibility of victory.

This appears, of course, to be a Crisis period, at least for the Greeks. It's not clear whether Thermopylae 10 years later is the final culmination of the Crisis, or if it was a relatively minor issue
 to the Greeks, so indicating that this was more of a First Turning war than a Peak Crisis one.  At the least, though, Lacey refers to the men at Marathon as a "Greatest Generation" indicating that, whatever side of the Crisis they were on, those who were there were the Heroes of their day.

Now

Turned on The Spectacular Now, expecting to see a Civic coming of age story or something similar.

But rather quickly it didn't seem like it was working. And the possibility came to mind that maybe it was a not a good match for the Four Stories model - the idea that people from a particular generation tend to set up a standard story that fits them best, and that stories will tend to do better if targeted in that way. That is, this one should have been a Heroic arc, with success coming through working with friends and sacrifice in support of the greater good.

Instead, though, the main character is clearly Bad right from the start.  Not a bad person, really  - he seems to be the guy at parties who is Liked and maybe even Well Liked - but he obviously and seriously has a drinking problem right from the start. The Civic generations - what were called Hero archetypes in The Fourth Turning and later books - might be depicted as flawed but not so severely. That makes it easier for their stories to focus on winning their struggles, while Nomad stories are more often about redemption. If anything, though, this film was looking like it matched the "everyone is Doomed or Damned" model of an Artist story. Still, there was stretches where it seemed like it had to be heading in a redemptive direction, so maybe not that ... but ultimately it just couldn't be Heroic. Which didn't fit well with high school students who were clearly in recent times.

Of course, Four Stories is a simple model of a complex world, which certainly may have flaws. There's not a problem if it doesn't explain everything - that helps ensure that it's being honestly compared with it's subject. Maybe there's something to be added to it....

Eventually, though,  the disconnect about where it seemed to be heading became too much. To the extent that I had to check where the story came from and sure enough, the screenwriter is Generation X, as is the director. Although the original novel is from a late Boomer (Tim Tharp, 1957), not a Reactive. Which makes him the same age as Cameron Crowe, who came to mind because Sutter seems like a much more flawed Lloyd Dobler.

All of which might explain why it didn't do super well at the box office, although critics - mostly Boomer and GenX - did like it. It was marketed in one direction but with a narrative that doesn't match what's expected. It does, in fact, turn into a perfectly fine redemptive story, so it might have worked if marketed that way - i.e. as a troubled teen redemption story rather than romantic comedy or coming of age.

Millennials

Even if you don't think that Millennials are necessarily only about Me, this article on Linked In is worth considering.

One of the attributes of the model that can be difficult to grasp, here, is the idea that the Millennials are supposed to be the next Greatest Generation. As a Civic/Hero generation, they are similar in outlook to the folks who fought Hitler, or King George, or defeated the Spanish Armada.

Or maybe it's less that it's difficult to grasp than difficult to believe. These kids - not all kids, anymore, the youngest are in their early teens but the oldest are 32 - coddled and protected, self-centered and insular - are going to rise up and willingly take on the greatest threats to our nation and our world?

There are other parts that seem to make sense, even if they are similarly paradoxical. The teamwork thing, for example, where the end result of being coddled and protected is being able to work together  exceptionally well. They watch out for each other, they do activities together, they are willing to take risks for their friends. And perhaps that goes along - perhaps the willingness to step up when needed follows on from the interest in their fellows which is a unexpected but result of being brought up knowing that someone has your back.

Hunger

Let's just say it again: The Hunger Games is such a Crisis novel/movie/universe, and Katniss is such a Hero. She volunteers to save her sister at risk of her life,  gives her (likely-Nomad) mother the what-for after the Reaping, and changes the world just through trying to survive. Nomad Haymitch - winner of the games 24 years before - displays Bad qualities so perfectly while also being the best hope of Katniss and Peeta, with his practical and honest assessment of the situation and what is really needed to have a chance. The victory is won through the teamwork of the two District 12 tributes, plus of course Katniss' working with Rue - while the Careers work together as well.

Then the events of the first part lead into a massive change in the way the world works, in part with a "revival of civic authority," as "people begin to locate themselves as part of a larger group." No coincidence, again, that it is happening roughly 80 years after the Treason that started the Games in the first place, placing these events where a new Crisis would be expected.

Ranking

Entertainment Weekly puts the two Captain America films at the top of its list of Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

Is it because they are inherently awesome? Because they have great action sequences? Or because they are the Hero films and that's what people want?

The Avengers (#3) is the real  Crisis situation,  and Iron Man (#4, with Iron Man 3 at #5) is a total Nomad tale.  Continuing through the list, the stories become less certain - Hulk is a Nomad forced to be a Hero, Thor is a Hero made up like a Nomad - so they don't work as well.

Thinking of those, it might be less that Captain America is a Hero and more that he is allowed to be one. By being true to the character, the story comes through better than in some of the others.

Hiccup

As previously noted, Hero stories often revolve around teamwork and sacrifice. Even when those aspects are obvious, other details can still find ways to be surprising.

In How to Train Your Dragon, it starts out as a young man who isn’t sure what his place is, not quite fitting in a world that has Always Been This Way. His different view of the world is tolerated at the start, even if nobody really agrees with him on it. That perspective then gains him a lucky break, and a chance to learn about dragons in a way nobody else has. And slowly - without even realizing it himself, at first - Hiccup begins changing the world around him, eventually transforming it completely.

All of which are more subtle attributes of a Hero’s tale, ones that aren’t always discernible.  It takes a little while for the teamwork aspects to lock in - Hiccup is the outsider for most of the film. And there is a moment at the end when it appears he will triumph without sacrifice. While he falls from a great height, there’s no real worry that the hero of an animated children's film will not survive the Final Conflict. One might even start thinking that it will turn into just another Disney Death, without meaningful consequence, there only to tug the heartstrings.

And, in fact, he does survive...but not unscathed. Moments later we find out that, like Toothless, he has lost a limb - enough to link them fully as survivors and fellow Heroes. 

Murder

Leopold and Loeb aren’t especially well-remembered any more. Not that they should be, considering the reason for what fame they had. They had a quick reference in Annie Hall, although comprehending it would probably require a re-reading of Beyond the Pleasure Principle.  “Rope” - one of the lost Hitchcocks that was made available for wide release in 1983 - was inspired by their story. One surprising thing is that they were Civics, the “good kids” of the Saeculum -  stories of “bad kids” are usually about Reactives. Perhaps the significant distinction is that Reactives are the pragmatic ones, and so require an actual reason to consider killing someone else - more than, say, just to find out what it’s like, or to commit a perfect crime. 

They are in mind, of course, because of the Slenderman stabbing.  Again, here are Civics who engaged in activity contemptuous of human life, for no reason worthy of the name.  Additional parallels are clear and easily found, if desired. Feel free to seek them out. 

It’s certainly worth noting that killers are not specific to any generation, and murder happens in every turning.  There's nothing special about Civics that makes this more likely. (One could point to the Heavenly Creatures murder, for example, even if the similarities there seem more superficial.) 

Still, some echoes seem to have stronger returns than others.

(Heroes and Nomads were called Civics and Reactives when the theory was first proposed in the book Generations.  That first term isn't well suited to a post such as this, though.)

Heroes

Harry Potter: Born July 31, 1980
Buffy Summers: Born January 19th, 1981

By straight Strauss & Howe numbering, both are Nomads. However, they are both Capital-H Heroes, taking on important roles in the Crisis, fighting their respective Big Bads, succeeding through teamwork and sacrifice - indeed, both make the ultimate sacrifice to save their friends and the world. (In Buffy's case, more than once.)

They also distinguish themselves as leaders, although evidently because they are forced into it by circumstances more than due to a specific need or aim.

Heroes show up when they are needed, and expected. Buffy and Harry showed up in the 1990s, just as an actual Hero generation was coming of age. It all goes together, even if it doesn't always line up exactly as expected.

President

Today's xkcd is simply too appropriate not to appropriate.

For what it's worth, Kennedy was the first G.I. Generation President, and he started a run of G.I. that lasted to Bush Senior. (Even if some say that he and Carter should be counted as Artists. ) His election was in 1960, and his generation's birth dates ran from 1901 to 1924.

As the Hero archetype was skipped during the Civil War Crisis, the previous equivalent would be Thomas Jefferson, who similarly was elected (in 1800) roughly 60 years after the start of his cohort (1742).

Which means the equivalent election for Millennials - that is, about 60 years from the start of the cohort (1982) -  would be 2040. 

Idiocy

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

It's understandable: You and your fellow cyclists want to make a statement. You want to assert your existence on the asphalt, remind auto drivers that they are supposed to share the road.

Still: It's 9:30 at night, you have a couple of riders with surprisingly weak headlights, and a very few with visible  reflectors. You and your peloton - probably 50 cyclists - have taken over both lanes, and with a top speed of roughly 11 miles an hour, preventing automobiles on the same road from a speed any faster than that.

It's a little too easy to look at Kids These Days and blame actions on the agglutinative aspects of a Civic generation, of wanting to go along with the crowd and work in large groups. See this sort of thing, though, and it's easier than ever to say "...Yeah."
.

Data

There are times when it appears the Crisis is going to be about all this data that is flying around the cloud - information about who people are, what they do, what sites they visit, what they use online services for. To date, it has been about marketing and advertising: You like The Hunger Games?  Why don’t you post how much you like Katniss, or whether she and Peeta really should get married. Perhaps you would like to see Divergent.  Mention Amazon and we’ll give you a dime - sell items through us and we’ll give you a cut. It could soon be a bigger deal than what your genetic code says about you. It can be used to tell what you thought, what you are thinking now - what you will be thinking about in a day, a month, maybe in a year.

There’s a black-and-white picture of a group of young adults in the 1940s, skiing in New Mexico. They’re smiling at the camera, clearly having a fine day on the slopes. There was a war on, though, and they were on a major front: The Manhattan Project. Although it was a day off, and looking at them there’s nothing that tells that they were doing anything exceptional.  Even less says that they were doing something that would eventually end the war - killing thousands along the way. One can further imagine asking, at that time, if that had occurred to them, and receiving in reply - what? “We’re doing something that has to be done,” or “If we don’t do this, they will.”   And references to brothers or uncles or husbands or ex-boyfriends who were (or had been) at Normandy, Ardennes, Bataan, or Pearl Harbor. One cannot easily hear them responding with apologies or second thoughts. 

Ten years before Hiroshima, only a few people even imagined that such a weapon could ever be produced. It seems ridiculous to think that a similar situation is possible from our online world. Whether in terms of  the growing knowledge that nothing can be hidden, or predicting what people (or groups of people) will do, or the vulnerabilities of connected infrastructure, it couldn’t be that world-changing.  

But still... but still... It is too easy to think of the young, earnest people at Google, Facebook, or Apple, not to mention less technical industries with similar reach. No doubt those Civics go out for recreation - to the slopes or the sand or elsewhere between - without any concern for what might be done, eventually. Except to think “If we don’t do this, they will.”

Soldier

As previously noted, hope it's good. 

Okay, really, I previously noted that it might continue with the concept of Captain America as Hero. Presumably contrasted with the (Nomadic) Black Widow.

Still hope it's good, though.

Whiner

The “whiner” comment about Captain America comes from a time I asked my (Civic) niece what she thought of that (fundamentally Civic) movie. She thought it was fine, although that attribute of his was tiresome. And it’s not unwarranted: He complains when he’s not able to get in the Army, complains when he is a super-soldier who’s only doing bond drives, and doesn’t really stop until he’s complaining about being tossed into the 21st century. His reason for doing what he does is mostly not high-minded or morally exceptional, beyond “I don’t like bullies.” When Erskine is killed it sets him on the path to take down Hydra, even though his justification at each step along the way feels a lot like a personal vendetta of retribution.  Not a soul-stripping sort of vengeance, though, and he seems to internalize it in terms of justice and appropriate response. Still, he can’t seem to move on, can’t seem to let go of his anger and disappointment with the hand that Life has dealt him. 

At least, compared to the other Avengers. Barton and Romanoff appear to be well-satisfied with what they do and how they do it. Thor’s anger seems more of a personality trait that he encourages for tradition’s sake.  Bruce Banner and Tony Stark have some right to be similarly disappointed: The Hulk is too dangerous to everything around him, and being on the verge of your last heartbeat every second has to be life-changing. With them, though, there is  least have the alternate explanation that They Deserve It, whether as an assassin with a guilt complex or a weapons dealer injured in a war zone. It’s a far cry from the way Steve Rogers has had his dreams repeatedly answered and dashed. Which is, lets face it, just what is likely to happen in Hero stories, if not to heroes. I’ll be interested to see if they continue with that theme in The Winter Soldier.