HBO MaxIn TV and movi that feature a teen g out story, we’ve gotten ed to seeg certa kds of are the on who, like, Jennifer Garner’s character Love, Simon, are the platonic ial, who know the exact right thg to say about acceptance, liverg a betiful monologue that any gay teenager would hope to hear om after g out. The phrase “you get to exhale now” has bee a thartic trigger thanks to Garner’s passnate livery that film’s scene—stant
Contents:
- JTICE SMH FALLY GETS TO BE ‘GAY AS F*CK’ ON ‘GENERA+N’
- HBO MAX’S ‘GENERA+N’: THE GEN Z SERI FORCG PARENTS AND KIDS TO TALK ABOUT FISTG THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT? VIA HBO MAXHOW A 19-YEAR-OLD WORKED WH HER GAY DADS (AND LENA DUNHAM) TO CREATE TV’S RNCHIT, MOST SHOCKG, AND REALT LOOK AT GEN Z TEENS YET. KEV FALLONSENR EDOR, OBSSEDPUBLISHED MAR. 11, 2021 5:05AM EST EARLY ON THE HBO MAX SERI GENERA+N, A HIGH-SCHOOL GIRL WATCH A YOUTUBE VIO ON HOW TO LIVER A BABY AS HER IEND, WHO CLAIMS TO NOT HAVE KNOWN SHE WAS PREGNANT, GO TO LABOR A MALL BATHROOM. A TW BROTHER AND SISTER ARE BOTH EAGER AND ANX TO SEXUALLY EXPERIMENT WH A GUY... THE SAME GUY. ERRANT SPUNK SHOOTS TO SOMEONE’S EYE. DICK PICS ARE SENT AROUND. DGS ARE PILFERED OM PARENTS AND SHARED. A SCHOOL-SHOOTER DRILL IS NOTED FOR S EXHSTG TEDIUM MORE THAN S TRMA.MORE REHGLY, THE FULL SPECTM OF GENR AND SEXUAL INTY IS CLAIMED AND CELEBRATED, NEVER ONCE JUDGED. WELL, NOT BY THE KIDS. THE PARENTS ARE STILL STGGLG TO TCH UP TO THE WARP-SPEED PROGRS THAT’S ALREADY BEEN NORMALIZED BY THEIR CHILDREN. AS JTICE SMH’S CHTER, A TRIUMPH OF QUEER NFINCE HIS MH CROP TOP AND NAILS PATED TO SAY “PSY POWER,” WARNS HIS OUT GAY GUIDANCE UNSELOR, POSSIBLY FLIRTATN: “I’M, LIKE, A LOT.” IT ALMOST PLAYS AS A MISSN STATEMENT FOR THE SHOW SELF.IT’S PERHAPS UNSURPRISG, THEN, THAT BEFORE A MUTE OF THE SERI HAD EVEN AIRED—THE FIRST THREE EPISOS PREMIERE THURSDAY ON HBO MAX— WAS ALREADY FORCG UNFORTABLE NVERSATNS BETWEEN PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN; A RE OF PASSAGE FOR ANY GENERATN, BUT ARGUABLY THE FIRST TIME THE TAILS SURROUND SPECIFICS LIKE THE. NEWSLETTERSTHE DAILY BEAST’S OBSSEDEVERYTHG WE N’T STOP LOVG, HATG, AND THKG ABOUT THIS WEEK POP CULTURE.SUBSCRIBEBY CLICKG "SUBSCRIBE" YOU AGREE TO HAVE READ THE TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY “WHEN THE TRAILER ME OUT, A IEND TEXTED THAT HE HAD TO HAVE A WHOLE NVERSATN WH HIS CHILD ABOUT FISTG,” SAYS BEN BARNZ, ONE OF THE SHOW’S PRODUCERS. (THE TRAILER CLUS AN EXPLIC JOKE ABOUT THE SEX ACT.) BUT THE IEND ALSO CLARIFIED THAT HE FELT THIS WAS A GOOD THG. “THE HOPE IS THAT YOU’RE GONNA BE LIKE, WOW, THIS IS CRAZY THAT I’M HAVG THIS NVERSATN— NOT NECSARILY ABOUT FISTG—BUT THAT THERE ARE GREAT NVERSATNS TO BE HAD ABOUT ANYTHG AND EVERYTHG THAT UP ON THE SHOW.” A LIVED- LOOK TO A GROUP OF GEN Z IENDS’ LIV AS THEY SEARCH FOR THEIR OWN INTI AND, NATURALLY, FUN WHILE NAVIGATG THE EVER-“WOKE” HALLS OF A CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOL, GENERA+N IS UNIQUE THAT, NOT ONLY IS A FAY AFFAIR, S -CREATOR IS NOW JT 19 YEARS OLD—AND WAS ONLY 17 WHEN SHE WROTE THE SCRIPT.ZELDA BARNZ -CREATED THE SHOW WH HER FATHER, DANIEL, A FILMMAKER BT KNOWN FOR THE DIE DRAMA CAKE, AND WHO ALSO HAPPENS TO BE BEN’S HBAND. IF YOU THOUGHT THE FAY IEND’S NVERSATN WH HIS CHILD ABOUT FISTG MIGHT HAVE BEEN AWKWARD, IMAGE WHAT NCEIVG, SCRIPTG, AND THEN MAKG THE SERI WAS LIKE FOR THE BARNZ FAY.“THERE WERE FELY MOMENTS WHEN WAS STRANGE TO TALK ABOUT BLOW JOBS AND STUFF LIKE THAT WH YOUR PARENTS, AND SHOULD BE,” ZELDA LGHS. BUT SHE TOUTS THAT DANIEL AND BEN WERE ALWAYS OPEN WH HER AND HER BROTHER, DASHIELL. “WHEN MY BROTHER AND I FIRST STARTED ASKG QUTNS ABOUT SEX, MY PARENTS WERE JT HONT WH . THEY DIDN'T WANT TO, LIKE, TELL MA-UP LI UNTIL THEY CID WE WERE OLD ENOUGH.”AS FOR GENERA+N’S DUAL VIEWG EXPERIENCE AS BOTH TNAL AND AN ABSOLUTE HORROR SHOW FOR PARENTS LEARNG WHAT, EXACTLY, KIDS THE DAYS ARE UP TO, DANIEL AND BEN ULD ALSO ONLY LGH. “LIKE WHEN OUR KIDS HAD A PARTY AT OUR HOE AND WE FOUND OUT A MONTH LATER THAT THE PS SHOWED UP?” DANIEL SAYS, RELAYG A REVELATN THAT ME UP WHILE SCRIPTG A HOE PARTY EPISO WH ZELDA.“THE THG THAT’S TERTG IS THAT PARENTS KNOW WHAT’S GOG ON BEE WE WERE CHILDREN ONCE,” BEN SAYS. “BUT CHILDREN THK THAT WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOG ON. SO, THE HOPE IS WH THIS SHOW THAT THOSE N START NNECTG AND YOU N ACTUALLY HAVE A NVERSATN TO SAY, ‘I WAS THERE, I KNOW.’”THAT NNECTN, THE BRIDGE BETWEEN TWO GENERATNS THAT, IF THE MEDIA IS TO BELIEVED, ARE HAVG AN CREASGLY HARD TIME UNRSTANDG EACH OTHER, IS AT THE CX OF GENERA+N’S EXISTENCE. ADVERTISEMENT BEE OF ZELDA’S VOLVEMENT, AND THE FACT THAT THE VERY IA WAS HER BRACHILD, THE LL, THIS SE, IS G OM SI THE HOE. THE GEN Z EXPERIENCE IS NOT BEG FILTERED THROUGH OLR, SCTIZG EY. IT’S TEENS LIVG HOW SHE LIVED—AND LIV—; THE PARENTAL BEFUDDLEMENT THAT PROVIS A PARALLEL ARC THE SERI IS WHERE HER OWN PARENTS AND LLABORATORS E . “WHEN THE TRAILER ME OUT, A IEND TEXTED THAT HE HAD TO HAVE A WHOLE NVERSATN WH HIS CHILD ABOUT FISTG.” THE SHOW’S ORIG STORY ULD BE STRETCHED BACK TO WHEN ZELDA WAS 15 AND ME OUT AS QUEER. WHILE AT SUMMER MP, SHE REALIZED THAT HAD BEEN ABOUT A YEAR SCE SHE REALIZED SHE INTIFIED AS QUEER AND THOUGHT WAS ABOUT TIME SHE TOLD HER PARENTS. SO SHE WROTE A LETTER HOME, A LONG TAILG OF WHAT SHE WAS UP TO AT MP ENDG WH, “OH, BY THE WAY, I’M BISEXUAL.”HER GAY DADS WERE OF URSE SUPPORTIVE, M SOME GOOD-NATURED TEASG ABOUT THE WAY SHE ME OUT. BUT STILL FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED THE FAY DYNAMIC. ZELDA’S BROTHER, DASHIELL, HAD E OUT THE SEVENTH GRA, SO THEY WERE NOW AN ENTIRELY QUEER FAY UN. THE DNER TABLE SUDNLY BEME AN IRREVERENT SALON OF SORTS HOSTG NVERSATNS ON SEXUALY, QUEERNS, AND INTY ACROSS GENERATNS. ONCE THE “OL PARENTS,” DANIEL AND BEN WERE NOW LEARNG JT HOW OUT OF TOUCH THEY WERE WH THE NEW GENERATN.ZELDA QUICKLY CID SHE WANTED TO WRE ABOUT HER HIGH-SCHOOL EXPERIENCE AND THE EXPERIENC OF HER IENDS, MOST OF WHOM ALSO INTIFY AS QUEER, AND WHO HAD YET TO SEE THEMSELV REPRENTED A REALISTIC WAY CULTURE.“QUEERNS IS OFTENTIM A BIG PART OF PEOPLE’S INTY, BUT ’S NEVER YOUR ENTIRE PERSONALY,” SHE SAYS. “I THK ’S IMPORTANT TO HAVE CHARACTERS WHO HAVE PERSONALI AND TERTS BIS SIMPLY BEG QUEER. A LOT OF OUR CHARACTERS ARE GAY AND THEY HAVE 1000 OTHER THGS GOG ON, AND THAT’S NOT NECSARILY THE MOST TERTG PART OF WHO THEY ARE.” ADVERTISEMENT BEE BOTH BARNZ PARENTS ARE FILMMAKERS, DIDN’T SEEM LIKE A LEAP TO AGREE TO HELP ZELDA ATTEMPT TO TURN HER IAS TO A TV SHOW. AT FIRST, THEY ASSUMED WAS GOG TO BE AN TN HOW THE BS WORKS: WHAT PCH MEETGS ARE LIKE, AND HOW TO HANDLE REJECTN. BUT THEN THGS SNOWBALLED, AND THE SERI BEME A REALY. AMONG OTHER KEY TURNG POTS, LENA DUNHAM JOED AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER.THE GIRLS CREATOR AND STAR HAD BEEN TALKG WH DANIEL AND BEN ABOUT LLABORATG FOR A WHILE WHEN THEY MENTNED ZELDA’S IA FOR A SHOW ABOUT GEN Z TEENS TOLD OM A GEN Z PERSPECTIVE. DUNHAM WASN’T JT STCK BY THE IA, SHE CID TO MENTOR ZELDA. WHEN DUNHAM WAS THE U.K. SHOOTG HBO’S INDTRY, WHICH SHE EXECUTIVE PRODUCED AND DIRECTED, SHE VED ZELDA OUT TO LIVE WH HER AND WORK AS AN TERN ON PRODUCTN, SHADOWG HER ON SET. “QUEERNS IS OFTENTIM A BIG PART OF PEOPLE’S INTY, BUT ’S NEVER YOUR ENTIRE PERSONALY.” THERE ARE NATURALLY, THEN, PARISONS TO BE MA BETWEEN HOW DUNHAM CHRONICLED THE LENNIAL EXPERIENCE AND HOW ZELDA WILL APPROACH PORTRAYG GEN Z, ALBE AT A YOUNGER AGE THAN THE CHARACTERS GIRLS WERE.IT’S HARD TO FET, FOR EXAMPLE, THAT THE GIRLS PILOT, DUNHAM’S CHARACTER TELLS HER PARENTS (WHILE STONED), “I THK THAT I MAY BE THE VOICE OF MY GENERATN. OR AT LEAST, A VOICE OF A GENERATN.” IT’S A GREAT, CHARACTER-FG LE, BUT ONE THAT HAD THE UNFORTUNATE SI EFFECT OF CRICS AND DIENC ASSUMG THAT DUNHAM WAS ALSO RONATG HERSELF, SUATG THAT HER SHOW WAS THE FIVE TAKE ON HER GENERATN.“WHAT SHE ACPLISHED WH GIRLS WAS A REALLY THENTIC LOOK AT LENNIAL WOMEN, AND I THK WE ARE KD OF TRYG TO GET A SIAR GLIMPSE TO QUEER GEN Z YOUTH,” ZELDA SAYS. AS FOR WHETHER SHE FEELS ANY BURN OF RPONSIBILY, THE KD OF WHICH WAS THST ONTO DUNHAM, BEE THE SHOW IS BROADLY LLED GENERA+N, SHE SAYS, “WE’RE FELY NOT TRYG TO SPEAK FOR THE GENERATN. WE'RE JT GIVG A LTLE PICTURE OF, LIKE, ONE PART OF THIS GENERATN.” ADVERTISEMENT ADDS DANIEL, “THE TLE WAS TO SUGGT THAT THIS WAS A SHOW THAT HAD AN SI-OUT PERSPECTIVE ON GEN Z BEE ONE OF S CREATORS IS GEN Z RIGHT NOW. THE OTHER POT OF THE TLE WAS TO SUGGT SOMETHG ABOUT HOW KIDS THE DAYS ARE GENERATG SO MUCH. THEY’RE GENERATG LOOKS AND INTI, AND THERE’S THIS SORT OF CREDIBLE ORIGALY.”ALL THE BARNZ REGNIZE THAT THERE WILL BE A FASCATN WH THE SHOW’S DIVERSY AND S ANK PICTN OF TEENS HAVG SEX. BUT THERE WAS A NSC EFFORT TO ENSURE THAT SCEN OF SEXUAL TIMACY DID NOT EXIST TO TILLATE, BUT RATHER TO ILLTRATE HOW THE SHOW’S CHARACTERS ARE G SEX TO FIGURE OUT WHO THEY ARE—AND, OFTEN, LOOK AS AWKWARD AND BUMBLG WHILE DOG AS MOST REAL TEENS.“WHAT WE WANT TO DO WH THIS SHOW IS TO EVOKE A FEELG OF WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE A TEENAGER,” DANIEL SAYS. “WHETHER YOU ARE A TEENAGER WATCHG THE SHOW OR AN ADULT WATCHG THE SHOW, YOU’LL EHER HAVE THE REACTN OF, ‘OH YEAH, THAT IS WHAT FEELS LIKE FOR ME NOW,’ OR, ‘YEAH THAT’S WHAT FELT LIKE FOR ME THEN.’”THEN, HOPEFULLY, PEOPLE OF ALL GENERATNS WILL TALK ABOUT TOGETHER... FISTG OR OTHERWISE. KEV FALLON
JTICE SMH FALLY GETS TO BE ‘GAY AS F*CK’ ON ‘GENERA+N’
HBO MaxThere is a sequence the fourth episo of HBO Max’s Genera+n that is a verable gay song “Lucky” by Brney Spears begs blastg, a mpy bubblegum ballad om the pop star so unrrated and beloved by her most voted fans that the synthized “thunks” of the tro trigger Pavlovian shrieks of, “Oh my god, ’s ‘Lucky!’” om any gay man wh earshot.Chter, the gay water polo star and rint rabble roer played by Jtice Smh, is gettg ready for school. Lhe and shirtls, his lavenr hair dye glisteng the morng light, he starts admirg himself the mirror. Workg his angl, he begs applyg eyhadow and some sparklg highlighter, offsettg the fuchsia psy-bow bloe, strg of pearls, and striped rdigan he cis to put on. Then ’s time to film the selfie vio for social media, sellg the look for the some olr gay men watchg, ’s a wish-fulfillment fantasy, glterg wh the nfince and openns they uld not have. For about two mut, seems as if Chter’s sk is peeled back to reveal every flamboyance, anti-genr flourish, and quirk—not to mentn the fort of knowg that others thk he’s fly, too. For some queer members of Gen Z, ’s jt the realy of how they live their liv, which is s own, betiful thg. But for others, ’s still not. That’s what Jtice Smh grappled wh, and why he felt himself blossom after actg out the scene.“I remember feelg really secure that day,” Smh says, the 25-year-old actor’s cheekbon threateng to burst through the Zoom screen as he giggl at himself while we talk. There’s already an embarrassg sense of solu when an actor has to shoot a scene like that solo, let alone one that requir them to work their angl and, for lack of a better phrase, “feel themselv” for a selfie ‘Kid 90’ and Punky Brewster Helped Soleil Moon Frye Release the Pa—and Shame—of Her Past“Sometim when I have to be, like, ‘hot’ as a character, I n play the humor of that, where I’m makg a joke of ,” he says. “But Chter genuely is like, ‘I look hot, I look really good. I have my makp done. I’m gonna do my ltle angl.’ So I’m lookg at myself the selfie mera beg like, I hope this works out…” He doubl over lghg. “Bee I don’t have any experience lookg good.”Clockg the eyeroll g om the other end of the Zoom nnectn, he grs sheepishly. Jtice Smh looks very good. “OK, OK, OK…” he says. “But Chter has really tght me about athetics and angl, and fashn and makp and all this kd of stuff.”Born Anaheim, the fifth of ne siblgs, Smh got his biggt break 2016 when he was st as one of the young leads Baz Luhrmann’s amb Netflix seri The Get Down, a mil drama about life the South Bronx the late 1970s. While at the time one of the most expensive TV shows history, s n was short-lived at jt 11 , nnoned him to the top of Young Hollywood stg wishlists, and soon Smh went om sgg and dancg for the director of Moul Rouge! to the dtry’s new -mand actn star, wh lead rol Jurassic World: Fallen Kgdom and the Pokémon film Detective Pikachu. So when Smh ma his but as Chter Genera+n, was treated by crics as somethg of a seri is created by 19-year-old Zelda Barn and her father, Daniel, makg the rare look at growg up Gen Z that is actually ma by a member of Gen Z. It’s a spotlight for the full spectm of genr and sexual inty that the younger generatn has e to embrace. And ’s a batn tn and horror film for those unaware of the nversatns the kids the days are havg, and the sex and partyg that they’re as culture wrer Joseph Longo wrote Mel magaze, uld also be nsired one of the first exampl of “post-‘It Gets Better’ TV,” shakg the mandate for satly portrayals of queer people, or the ia that “visibily is the same as diversy.” Longo wr: “Queer people n be problematic, toxic and flawed, and Genera+n mak that abundantly clear. It’s good we’re fally seeg our ms splayed on screen, not exced.”Smh’s Chter has issu wh boundari and thory. He suffers om anxiety, which n sometim manift as beg a total jackass. He’s popular, and sometim a bully. But he’s also a solar flare of light a trated generatn: om his fashn to his attu, he is the epome of Smh, ’s a personal role, too. Over the summer, he me out as queer—though he rejects the polics of the phrase “g out.”“I’m so happy to be on this show that is gay as fuck,” he says, practilly bellowg those last three words.“All the characters are gay as hell!” he ntu, his energy cracklg off his limbs as he gticulat. “I mean, not all of them, but I like to say that. But to jt like give a show to queers by queers. Like sure, straight people, you n watch , too. But for so long, queer people have had to try to fd their like reprentatn straight material. And, like, now ’s kd of the other way around.”Comg Out, or Fleeg the ‘Hoe of Assumptn’When Smh starts talkg about the rearch he did to play Chter, he starts gigglg aga. He watched every season of Ameri’s Next Top Mol (and is happy to do his bt Tyra Banks “we were all rootg for you!” imprsn), as well as every episo of RuPl’s Drag Race, cludg the recent ternatnal seasons. “I mean… I jt got to s ont of the TV all day.”It’s a syllab that paid off of the most memorable scen the Genera+n premiere after Chter is sent to the guidance unselor and asked to change his cloth after vlatg the drs ; turns out a rabow-striped, kn crop top secured by overall straps that’s barely long enough to ver your nippl is not school-appropriate. (Let be known that ’s accsorized wh a yellow dog-llar choker, red half-moon sunglass, and tartan harem pants.)To make a show of thgs, he snters to the school’s urtyard, starts shoutg if anyone n sell him a new shirt for a dollar, and strips the crop top off entirely, swivelg his hips and posg as his classmat gawk. Warrick Page/HBO Max “I was jt like, I hope I’m dog Miss J proud,” Smh says, referrg to the legendary Top Mol molg ach. But scen like that tend to feel ls like stttg down the nway and more like teeterg on a tightrope between thartic and trmatizg for the one hand, was impossible not to feel amazg once he put on Chter’s cloth, to the pot that he noticed even his body would move differently.“It’s jt utter, pure self-love,” he says. “And I thk that’s somethg that everyone should experience bee ’s been credible to my own evolutn of self-love and thkg that I look good.” He smirks: “Sometim bleeds to arrogance. I will say that. But that’s not bee of Chter. That’s jt bee I’m a Leo and I am gog to be va.”Even wearg Chter’s nfince, though, he was a ms of nerv shootg the scene. He didn’t breathe, tensg every mcle he had and suckg his stomach as much as possible. Here he was playg a scene which his character uldn’t be more fortable his own sk, yet he was so unrelaxed he uldn’t stop sweatg.“I got a glimpse to how actrs, specifilly, have to do that nstantly,” he says. “Even rol where the pot is not even like, ‘Oh, she’s so hot.’ But bee of this double standard that society has, they’re forced to, like, be hot when they cry. To have their hair done perfectly when they’re emotnal. It’s fucked up. It was a glimpse to that: How do I look attractive and also play my character? So that was really tertg.”While he uldn’t brg himself to say at the time, when he watch the scene back, he n adm, “Damn, Chter looks good.” That’s the kd of revolutnary thg about intifi as queer. In an Instagram post this summer, he exprsed his solidary for Black queer and Black trans liv, wrg his support “as a Black queer man myself” and clarg his love for his boyiend, Nicholas marks the rare ocsn where an actor who publicly intifi as queer is playg a character that isn’t jt also queer, but fierce and nfint. The narrative isn’t rooted his margalizatn or the trma and stggle he experienc. His inty is celebrated, a posive portrayal that queer actors Hollywood still fight for the opportuny to play.“There’s all the amazgly dynamic queer characters, and they go to straight actors. Then those straight actors are lled ‘brave,’ which mak no sense to me,” Smh says. “That’s so sultg. I don’t unrstand how ’s brave to, like, prs your lips agast another human beg’s lips. That is jt somethg that human begs do. It’s not a brave thg to do.” HBO Max The biggt pot for Smh is that he, as a person, is nothg like Chter. He is actg. Playg him is a stretch. They both are queer Black men, but they are not the same person. Not only do he get to play a queer character, but, as an actor, he’s gettg to do real character work—the kd that straight actors are so often ld for when they take on queer , Chter isn’t relegated to beg someone’s bt iend, or the show’s ic relief. “Whenever we’re nonted wh personali that are loud and effervcent and big, society assum that they lack profundy,” he says. “That’s not fair. Extroverted, big personali are jt as plex as the kid the back of the classroom wrg poetry his notebook.”Bee of his feelgs about straight actors playg queer characters, Smh had always planned to, as he lls , “step out of the hoe assumptn” and let people know that he intifi as queer before the show premiered. “Like, I don’t want anyone to ever assume that I’m straight,” he says, sg to say he’s (mostly) kiddg. “That’s so dumb. Don’t assume that. That’s like such an sult.”But he also rejects the ia of “g out,” the ia that dividuals owe the rt of the world an announcement about their sexualy. “When you’re a public figure, the hoe of assumptn is built around you,” he says. “And then everyone cid, you need to tell who you fuck.”It was durg the Black Liv Matter ralli over the summer—”the revolutn,” he lls —that he need to get out of the hoe of assumptn, and he wanted to associate himself wh the msage of protectg Black queerns when he did .Brgg back to Genera+n, he says, “I jt love that this show kd of celebrat all that progrs. The characters are open and fluid and alg wh the nuanc of sexualy, and not jt sexualy self.”It’s about gettg to be “gay as fuck”—but also so much more at The Daily our top stori your box every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Insi go eper on the stori that matter to you. Learn more. * genera ion gay *
He’s bisexual or possibly gay—the show, to s cred, is slow to suggt simple fns—and has taken a recent likg to Chter.
HBO MAX’S ‘GENERA+N’: THE GEN Z SERI FORCG PARENTS AND KIDS TO TALK ABOUT FISTG THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT? VIA HBO MAXHOW A 19-YEAR-OLD WORKED WH HER GAY DADS (AND LENA DUNHAM) TO CREATE TV’S RNCHIT, MOST SHOCKG, AND REALT LOOK AT GEN Z TEENS YET. KEV FALLONSENR EDOR, OBSSEDPUBLISHED MAR. 11, 2021 5:05AM EST EARLY ON THE HBO MAX SERI GENERA+N, A HIGH-SCHOOL GIRL WATCH A YOUTUBE VIO ON HOW TO LIVER A BABY AS HER IEND, WHO CLAIMS TO NOT HAVE KNOWN SHE WAS PREGNANT, GO TO LABOR A MALL BATHROOM. A TW BROTHER AND SISTER ARE BOTH EAGER AND ANX TO SEXUALLY EXPERIMENT WH A GUY... THE SAME GUY. ERRANT SPUNK SHOOTS TO SOMEONE’S EYE. DICK PICS ARE SENT AROUND. DGS ARE PILFERED OM PARENTS AND SHARED. A SCHOOL-SHOOTER DRILL IS NOTED FOR S EXHSTG TEDIUM MORE THAN S TRMA.MORE REHGLY, THE FULL SPECTM OF GENR AND SEXUAL INTY IS CLAIMED AND CELEBRATED, NEVER ONCE JUDGED. WELL, NOT BY THE KIDS. THE PARENTS ARE STILL STGGLG TO TCH UP TO THE WARP-SPEED PROGRS THAT’S ALREADY BEEN NORMALIZED BY THEIR CHILDREN. AS JTICE SMH’S CHTER, A TRIUMPH OF QUEER NFINCE HIS MH CROP TOP AND NAILS PATED TO SAY “PSY POWER,” WARNS HIS OUT GAY GUIDANCE UNSELOR, POSSIBLY FLIRTATN: “I’M, LIKE, A LOT.” IT ALMOST PLAYS AS A MISSN STATEMENT FOR THE SHOW SELF.IT’S PERHAPS UNSURPRISG, THEN, THAT BEFORE A MUTE OF THE SERI HAD EVEN AIRED—THE FIRST THREE EPISOS PREMIERE THURSDAY ON HBO MAX— WAS ALREADY FORCG UNFORTABLE NVERSATNS BETWEEN PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN; A RE OF PASSAGE FOR ANY GENERATN, BUT ARGUABLY THE FIRST TIME THE TAILS SURROUND SPECIFICS LIKE THE. NEWSLETTERSTHE DAILY BEAST’S OBSSEDEVERYTHG WE N’T STOP LOVG, HATG, AND THKG ABOUT THIS WEEK POP CULTURE.SUBSCRIBEBY CLICKG "SUBSCRIBE" YOU AGREE TO HAVE READ THE TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY “WHEN THE TRAILER ME OUT, A IEND TEXTED THAT HE HAD TO HAVE A WHOLE NVERSATN WH HIS CHILD ABOUT FISTG,” SAYS BEN BARNZ, ONE OF THE SHOW’S PRODUCERS. (THE TRAILER CLUS AN EXPLIC JOKE ABOUT THE SEX ACT.) BUT THE IEND ALSO CLARIFIED THAT HE FELT THIS WAS A GOOD THG. “THE HOPE IS THAT YOU’RE GONNA BE LIKE, WOW, THIS IS CRAZY THAT I’M HAVG THIS NVERSATN— NOT NECSARILY ABOUT FISTG—BUT THAT THERE ARE GREAT NVERSATNS TO BE HAD ABOUT ANYTHG AND EVERYTHG THAT UP ON THE SHOW.” A LIVED- LOOK TO A GROUP OF GEN Z IENDS’ LIV AS THEY SEARCH FOR THEIR OWN INTI AND, NATURALLY, FUN WHILE NAVIGATG THE EVER-“WOKE” HALLS OF A CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOL, GENERA+N IS UNIQUE THAT, NOT ONLY IS A FAY AFFAIR, S -CREATOR IS NOW JT 19 YEARS OLD—AND WAS ONLY 17 WHEN SHE WROTE THE SCRIPT.ZELDA BARNZ -CREATED THE SHOW WH HER FATHER, DANIEL, A FILMMAKER BT KNOWN FOR THE DIE DRAMA CAKE, AND WHO ALSO HAPPENS TO BE BEN’S HBAND. IF YOU THOUGHT THE FAY IEND’S NVERSATN WH HIS CHILD ABOUT FISTG MIGHT HAVE BEEN AWKWARD, IMAGE WHAT NCEIVG, SCRIPTG, AND THEN MAKG THE SERI WAS LIKE FOR THE BARNZ FAY.“THERE WERE FELY MOMENTS WHEN WAS STRANGE TO TALK ABOUT BLOW JOBS AND STUFF LIKE THAT WH YOUR PARENTS, AND SHOULD BE,” ZELDA LGHS. BUT SHE TOUTS THAT DANIEL AND BEN WERE ALWAYS OPEN WH HER AND HER BROTHER, DASHIELL. “WHEN MY BROTHER AND I FIRST STARTED ASKG QUTNS ABOUT SEX, MY PARENTS WERE JT HONT WH . THEY DIDN'T WANT TO, LIKE, TELL MA-UP LI UNTIL THEY CID WE WERE OLD ENOUGH.”AS FOR GENERA+N’S DUAL VIEWG EXPERIENCE AS BOTH TNAL AND AN ABSOLUTE HORROR SHOW FOR PARENTS LEARNG WHAT, EXACTLY, KIDS THE DAYS ARE UP TO, DANIEL AND BEN ULD ALSO ONLY LGH. “LIKE WHEN OUR KIDS HAD A PARTY AT OUR HOE AND WE FOUND OUT A MONTH LATER THAT THE PS SHOWED UP?” DANIEL SAYS, RELAYG A REVELATN THAT ME UP WHILE SCRIPTG A HOE PARTY EPISO WH ZELDA.“THE THG THAT’S TERTG IS THAT PARENTS KNOW WHAT’S GOG ON BEE WE WERE CHILDREN ONCE,” BEN SAYS. “BUT CHILDREN THK THAT WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOG ON. SO, THE HOPE IS WH THIS SHOW THAT THOSE N START NNECTG AND YOU N ACTUALLY HAVE A NVERSATN TO SAY, ‘I WAS THERE, I KNOW.’”THAT NNECTN, THE BRIDGE BETWEEN TWO GENERATNS THAT, IF THE MEDIA IS TO BELIEVED, ARE HAVG AN CREASGLY HARD TIME UNRSTANDG EACH OTHER, IS AT THE CX OF GENERA+N’S EXISTENCE. ADVERTISEMENT BEE OF ZELDA’S VOLVEMENT, AND THE FACT THAT THE VERY IA WAS HER BRACHILD, THE LL, THIS SE, IS G OM SI THE HOE. THE GEN Z EXPERIENCE IS NOT BEG FILTERED THROUGH OLR, SCTIZG EY. IT’S TEENS LIVG HOW SHE LIVED—AND LIV—; THE PARENTAL BEFUDDLEMENT THAT PROVIS A PARALLEL ARC THE SERI IS WHERE HER OWN PARENTS AND LLABORATORS E . “WHEN THE TRAILER ME OUT, A IEND TEXTED THAT HE HAD TO HAVE A WHOLE NVERSATN WH HIS CHILD ABOUT FISTG.” THE SHOW’S ORIG STORY ULD BE STRETCHED BACK TO WHEN ZELDA WAS 15 AND ME OUT AS QUEER. WHILE AT SUMMER MP, SHE REALIZED THAT HAD BEEN ABOUT A YEAR SCE SHE REALIZED SHE INTIFIED AS QUEER AND THOUGHT WAS ABOUT TIME SHE TOLD HER PARENTS. SO SHE WROTE A LETTER HOME, A LONG TAILG OF WHAT SHE WAS UP TO AT MP ENDG WH, “OH, BY THE WAY, I’M BISEXUAL.”HER GAY DADS WERE OF URSE SUPPORTIVE, M SOME GOOD-NATURED TEASG ABOUT THE WAY SHE ME OUT. BUT STILL FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED THE FAY DYNAMIC. ZELDA’S BROTHER, DASHIELL, HAD E OUT THE SEVENTH GRA, SO THEY WERE NOW AN ENTIRELY QUEER FAY UN. THE DNER TABLE SUDNLY BEME AN IRREVERENT SALON OF SORTS HOSTG NVERSATNS ON SEXUALY, QUEERNS, AND INTY ACROSS GENERATNS. ONCE THE “OL PARENTS,” DANIEL AND BEN WERE NOW LEARNG JT HOW OUT OF TOUCH THEY WERE WH THE NEW GENERATN.ZELDA QUICKLY CID SHE WANTED TO WRE ABOUT HER HIGH-SCHOOL EXPERIENCE AND THE EXPERIENC OF HER IENDS, MOST OF WHOM ALSO INTIFY AS QUEER, AND WHO HAD YET TO SEE THEMSELV REPRENTED A REALISTIC WAY CULTURE.“QUEERNS IS OFTENTIM A BIG PART OF PEOPLE’S INTY, BUT ’S NEVER YOUR ENTIRE PERSONALY,” SHE SAYS. “I THK ’S IMPORTANT TO HAVE CHARACTERS WHO HAVE PERSONALI AND TERTS BIS SIMPLY BEG QUEER. A LOT OF OUR CHARACTERS ARE GAY AND THEY HAVE 1000 OTHER THGS GOG ON, AND THAT’S NOT NECSARILY THE MOST TERTG PART OF WHO THEY ARE.” ADVERTISEMENT BEE BOTH BARNZ PARENTS ARE FILMMAKERS, DIDN’T SEEM LIKE A LEAP TO AGREE TO HELP ZELDA ATTEMPT TO TURN HER IAS TO A TV SHOW. AT FIRST, THEY ASSUMED WAS GOG TO BE AN TN HOW THE BS WORKS: WHAT PCH MEETGS ARE LIKE, AND HOW TO HANDLE REJECTN. BUT THEN THGS SNOWBALLED, AND THE SERI BEME A REALY. AMONG OTHER KEY TURNG POTS, LENA DUNHAM JOED AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER.THE GIRLS CREATOR AND STAR HAD BEEN TALKG WH DANIEL AND BEN ABOUT LLABORATG FOR A WHILE WHEN THEY MENTNED ZELDA’S IA FOR A SHOW ABOUT GEN Z TEENS TOLD OM A GEN Z PERSPECTIVE. DUNHAM WASN’T JT STCK BY THE IA, SHE CID TO MENTOR ZELDA. WHEN DUNHAM WAS THE U.K. SHOOTG HBO’S INDTRY, WHICH SHE EXECUTIVE PRODUCED AND DIRECTED, SHE VED ZELDA OUT TO LIVE WH HER AND WORK AS AN TERN ON PRODUCTN, SHADOWG HER ON SET. “QUEERNS IS OFTENTIM A BIG PART OF PEOPLE’S INTY, BUT ’S NEVER YOUR ENTIRE PERSONALY.” THERE ARE NATURALLY, THEN, PARISONS TO BE MA BETWEEN HOW DUNHAM CHRONICLED THE LENNIAL EXPERIENCE AND HOW ZELDA WILL APPROACH PORTRAYG GEN Z, ALBE AT A YOUNGER AGE THAN THE CHARACTERS GIRLS WERE.IT’S HARD TO FET, FOR EXAMPLE, THAT THE GIRLS PILOT, DUNHAM’S CHARACTER TELLS HER PARENTS (WHILE STONED), “I THK THAT I MAY BE THE VOICE OF MY GENERATN. OR AT LEAST, A VOICE OF A GENERATN.” IT’S A GREAT, CHARACTER-FG LE, BUT ONE THAT HAD THE UNFORTUNATE SI EFFECT OF CRICS AND DIENC ASSUMG THAT DUNHAM WAS ALSO RONATG HERSELF, SUATG THAT HER SHOW WAS THE FIVE TAKE ON HER GENERATN.“WHAT SHE ACPLISHED WH GIRLS WAS A REALLY THENTIC LOOK AT LENNIAL WOMEN, AND I THK WE ARE KD OF TRYG TO GET A SIAR GLIMPSE TO QUEER GEN Z YOUTH,” ZELDA SAYS. AS FOR WHETHER SHE FEELS ANY BURN OF RPONSIBILY, THE KD OF WHICH WAS THST ONTO DUNHAM, BEE THE SHOW IS BROADLY LLED GENERA+N, SHE SAYS, “WE’RE FELY NOT TRYG TO SPEAK FOR THE GENERATN. WE'RE JT GIVG A LTLE PICTURE OF, LIKE, ONE PART OF THIS GENERATN.” ADVERTISEMENT ADDS DANIEL, “THE TLE WAS TO SUGGT THAT THIS WAS A SHOW THAT HAD AN SI-OUT PERSPECTIVE ON GEN Z BEE ONE OF S CREATORS IS GEN Z RIGHT NOW. THE OTHER POT OF THE TLE WAS TO SUGGT SOMETHG ABOUT HOW KIDS THE DAYS ARE GENERATG SO MUCH. THEY’RE GENERATG LOOKS AND INTI, AND THERE’S THIS SORT OF CREDIBLE ORIGALY.”ALL THE BARNZ REGNIZE THAT THERE WILL BE A FASCATN WH THE SHOW’S DIVERSY AND S ANK PICTN OF TEENS HAVG SEX. BUT THERE WAS A NSC EFFORT TO ENSURE THAT SCEN OF SEXUAL TIMACY DID NOT EXIST TO TILLATE, BUT RATHER TO ILLTRATE HOW THE SHOW’S CHARACTERS ARE G SEX TO FIGURE OUT WHO THEY ARE—AND, OFTEN, LOOK AS AWKWARD AND BUMBLG WHILE DOG AS MOST REAL TEENS.“WHAT WE WANT TO DO WH THIS SHOW IS TO EVOKE A FEELG OF WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE A TEENAGER,” DANIEL SAYS. “WHETHER YOU ARE A TEENAGER WATCHG THE SHOW OR AN ADULT WATCHG THE SHOW, YOU’LL EHER HAVE THE REACTN OF, ‘OH YEAH, THAT IS WHAT FEELS LIKE FOR ME NOW,’ OR, ‘YEAH THAT’S WHAT FELT LIKE FOR ME THEN.’”THEN, HOPEFULLY, PEOPLE OF ALL GENERATNS WILL TALK ABOUT TOGETHER... FISTG OR OTHERWISE. KEV FALLON
* genera ion gay *
Jtice Smh (The Get Down, Detective Pickachu) plays Chter, a gay water polo star wh a 4. There’s also Martha Plimpton as the cliched villao mother who ref to believe that her son uld be gay spe two of her close iends beg gay.
In TV and movi that feature a teen g out story, we’ve gotten ed to seeg certa kds of are the on who, like, Jennifer Garner’s character Love, Simon, are the platonic ial, who know the exact right thg to say about acceptance, liverg a betiful monologue that any gay teenager would hope to hear om after g out.