For my junior high school 1-week work experience placement, I was placed at a local Blockbuster store. I had indicated in my future career goals that I wanted to work in the movies and hopefully become a screenwriter. I even got to do a telephone interview with the local newspaper entertainment journalist. What’s funny is back then, I had no doubts that that journalist would agree to do an info session with me about his job. I was making a perfectly honest request and isn’t that how the world works? But now I realize how extremely generous and kind the offer was as busy entertainment reporters probably don’t even respond to messages from a teenager let alone other adults who may have actual business to discuss.
I spent a lot of my time at video stores back in the day as did a lot of my peers and families alike. There’s not enough appreciation for artists and creatives in this world. I can only imagine how much more boring and small my life would have been if I didn’t have access to the movies and television. Before Blockbuster and video stores alike went away like Napster, a lot of my time outside of movie theatres and in front of the TV was spent at the local video store. Now, this Blockbuster was a bit further from the house, so we never really went to this video store, but they all sort of work the same.
It’s like a bookstore really with stacks of plastic video covers in which you either ask if there is a copy available. Or, some stores would have the actual video in or behind the plastic cover and that’s how you know there’s a copy to rent. A big part of my job during my 35 hours as an unpaid Blockbuster work experience student was to put the videos back to where they belong and to shelve new videos. And now that the store and the whole chain has gone away, I can admit that I may have accidentally damaged several of those new videos. One of the regular employees showed me how to insert a security tag into the plastic wrapped video case. He took a box cutter and slit a discreet opening in the box and then slid the tag in there. I think I misunderstood his process as after doing the same thing for several videos, I suddenly realized that he didn’t cut through the box itself. He had actually cut the plastic by the top where you would open the sleeve of the video case. So when you slice that part of the plastic, you’re not slicing into the box, but there’s a tiny bit of slack there in the plastic and room for the security tag to fit underneath the sleeve of the opening. I did eventually start doing it the correct way but after I don’t know how many boxes I accidentally cut through. They were pretty discreet, so I’m not certain if anyone who ultimately purchased those videos even noticed there’s a scratch along the box that shouldn’t be there.
Anyway, it was kind of a strange experience as a kid to be around adults or young people moving into that adult stage. I recall they would look through the flyers for deals and one time they flagged that kitchen towels were on sale. Another thing they talked about were actors they thought were good looking. Brad Pitt was one girl’s most favorite. I couldn’t understand why. Another thing they talked about were movies that they loved. One guy I recall grabbing a copy of Reality Bites and saying how it was the best movie ever. I kind of recall seeing commercials for Reality Bites and other on the chin Gen X tributes like Empire Records and Singles, but I didn’t really understand them. If I’m checking for movies that came out in the early to late 90’s, I was more interested in comedies, action, and thriller. I wasn’t looking for movies that I could identify my life with. I was more enthralled by the Hollywood A-listers and what movies they were in like Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves, Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, and so on. The Gen X grunge darlings like Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke weren’t it for me as a kid.
I wasn’t there yet of being disillusioned. I didn’t understand yet that we’re all just cogs in a system and what we dream about and work hard towards doesn’t really turn out the way it does in the movies. My sincere effort at striving towards my dream of working in cinema by doing this work experience and by interviewing professionals in the business was of no use. Life does eventually boil down to what’s on sale in the flyers and making sure you have enough kitchen towels on hand.
I can’t quite remember when I watched Reality Bites for the first time. I think it was on TV late at night on one of those channels that runs random movies late in the evening. But when I finally watched it was when I could finally relate to it. Even after nearly 30 years later, Reality Bites is still completely relevant. You can be Gen X, Millennial, Gen Z, even the generations before, and you can understand exactly what these characters are going through.
When I watch Reality Bites now, it’s very easy to neatly categorize each character in their respective archetypes. Lelaina is the top of the class go getter who actually lands an entry level job in her field after graduating as the valedictorian. Troy is the good looking and talented artist who is highly intelligent but refuses to bow down to the system. Vickie is the average Jane who ends up working in retail and is content with earning an honest living at the Gap. Sammy is the nice guy and everyone’s friend who I can’t recall what job he did. He was like the house cat everyone is okay with taking in as he can’t live at home anymore because of his sexuality. And Michael is the guy that all of them are supposed to aspire to be when they’re five to ten years down in life. A relatively young and successful executive who has his own office and car.
What I like about Reality Bites is that it’s kind of depressing, but it’s not entirely nihilistic. There’s no violence. There’s no real sex. There’s no vulgarity. What could easily be a bunch of caricatures and stereotypes are And yet it still gets it point across. There’s a lot of innocence to Reality Bites that is retained despite it being a realistic take on how adulthood sucks. Perhaps it’s because the film was set knee deep in the 90’s and it was before smart phones and social media and there was actually still hope for a better future. You could probably be a manager at the Gap and afford a reasonable place to stay, a car, a yearly vacation, and save for retirement back in those days.
What I don’t like is that Reality Bites is still relevant today, but what these post grads experienced is probably still a great reality compared to a lot of young people today and the generation since. I’m not certain if barely minimum wage people can afford to live in a apartment/house unit the way these guys did in the movie. I’m not even certain if everyone would be able to graduate from school on time.
But the best part of Reality Bites that hopefully will forever remain timeless is when Troy reminds a defeated Lelaina that all they really need is $5 bucks and a little conversation. Their $5 was some coffee and some smokes, but it can be anything to hold you down while you’re talking to a friend. When I think about the funnest times I’ve had with friends or family, if we took away all the bells and whistles, it was not much. A drive. A meal. A walk. A movie. You technically don’t need a lot of money to have a good time. But this world and system we’re in is constantly trying to advertise to us that we need another toy or trinket to truly be happy.
Like the Before Sunrise triology, I wonder if Reality Bites will be rebooted with the same cast but 30 years later. It would be interesting to see how these characters made it to their 50’s but in this fast paced world that can be even more corporate and fake than the MTV they portrayed in the movie. Reality Bites, it still totally does!
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