The millennial generation has been over-analyzed for years now, but what exactly made us this way? Millennials are unique when it comes to media because we grew up before streaming had completely fractured American monoculture, so there are some movies and TV shows you can safely assume most millennials have seen. If any of those are to blame for our generation’s quirks, they’re listed below.
The NeverEnding Story
Opinions vary, but most authorities agree that millennials are those born between 1981 and 1997, so the 1984 fantasy The NeverEnding Story might be a bit on the early side for this group. If they weren’t there when it came out, they likely saw it on VHS thanks to an older sibling or cousin. This movie was a hit for the whole family, but for its youngest, most impressionable audience, it was also a source of some hard truths.
The NeverEnding Story forced many children to confront the truth that their beloved household pet would die some day — likely much sooner than they realized. The movie also depicted a magical stand-in for depression with “The Nothing,” which was an ominous bit of foresight for many of us. There’s a lot going on in this movie, and if you haven’t watched it since you were a kid, you may find some insight in revisiting it.
Gremlins
That same year, the MPAA itself had to step in on behalf of millennials who were caught off guard by the crafty little Gremlins. If you haven’t heard, Gremlins along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom were both right on the cusp of PG and R ratings, and studios managed to secure PG ratings to sell more tickets. After much consideration, the MPAA actually created a new category called PG-13 to better warn parents about what they were taking their children to see.
If you’re laughing this one off, that’s fair. At the end of the day, Gremlins isn’t really that scary and much of the complaining likely came from our infamous “helicopter parents,” while millennials themselves look back on the movie fondly. Still, taking the blame as the industry reshaped itself around us may have been traumatic as well, if you think about it.
The Transformers: The Movie
Two years later, millennials everywhere became jaded before their time when they showed up to the theater hoping to root for Optimus Prime and his friends in The Transformers: The Movie, only to see most of the characters die within the first act. Even for kids, it wasn’t too hard to understand that this was a way to introduce a whole new cast of characters — and a whole new batch of toys to buy.
In fairness, the movie is great once you get past the callous sales tactics at play, and it did make The Transformers a lot more exciting by opening up space travel and other fun new elements for the franchise. Still, for millennials still plagued with mistrust and suspicion, this is probably one of the reasons why.
The Lion King
If you think you weren’t traumatized by The Lion King, you might need to find a cloudy view of the sky and take a closer look at your feelings. This movie is pretty brutal for its target audience, which is not to say it’s bad or that it’s too much. Children should be moved by art, and should even begin to understand mortality when they’re ready, but it’s a little funny to look back and realize that your understanding of all those concepts started with a cartoon about cats made by a frighteningly powerful corporation.
The Matrix
The Matrix was rated R, but let’s be honest: many of us saw it whether our parents wanted us to or not. “Traumatized” may be a strong word, but it’s undeniable that millennials are still preoccupied with this movie — just look at how the term “red pill” and the suffix “-pilled” has taken hold in our vernacular.
Sadly, the lasting impact of The Matrix is hard to pinpoint because many viewers seem to remember it’s big action sequences but not its themes and characters. The movie has a clear social and political agenda, but it’s so good that everyone claims it for themselves. In the meantime, the sequels toil under unduly harsh criticism to this day.
Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace
We may not have been there when the Ewoks offended our Gen X predecessors so badly, but after growing up with The Phantom Menace, I’d say we’re even. The Star Wars prequel trilogy began in 1999, leaving young millennials in an untenable situation. If we hated it, we were left with no Star Wars of our own; if we loved it, we were scoffed and dismissed by older fans. Whichever side we chose, we ourselves were forced to go back and confront those takes over years of rewatches, and many of us came to doubt what we saw.
If there’s a silver lining here, it’s in other forms of media. Millennials were served up some truly great Star Wars video games and TV shows, and those that really wanted to love the franchise had books and comics to seek out as well. There are plenty of life-long readers who formed the habit this way, which must be a good thing.
The Ring
That relatively new PG-13 rating mentioned above may have come back to bite millennials with the release of The Ring in 2002. This movie forged some hardened horror fans for life and left others scarred by the genre. Talk to a few people in the millennial age range and you’ll hear at least a few unique but traumatic stories about a childhood screening of The Ring. It ruined sleepovers, ended friendships and made VHS tapes into objects of horror just before they went obsolete.
To be fair, a few other movies helped shape millennials’ relationship with the horror genre. That could be another list all its own, but honorable mentions include The Grudge and the Saw franchise. The latter, in particular, confused some young viewers about the point of horror movies in general for years to come.
Toy Story 3
Finally, millennials didn’t become immune to trauma once they grew up. There are two groups of people with an unreasonably strong emotional stake in Toy Story 3 — millennials and their kids. The movie defined all sequel syndromes to confront its own premise in a surprisingly blunt way, and put some of our favorite characters in mortal peril in the process. You’d likely hear a lot more grumbling about the prospect of a Toy Story 5 if it weren’t for the success of Toy Story 3.
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