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Cruel meme about time has Gen X feeling 'dazed and confused'

Uh, there's no way this math is right. Right? [Grabs calculator.]

Photo (left) by Oskars Sylwan on Unsplash, Photo (right) by Taylor Flowe on Unsplash

The difference between 1976 and 1993 felt like ages.

The "forgotten generation" has hit peak mid-life crisis time, as Gen Xers find themselves careening through their 40s and 50s. And like presumably every generation before them, they're reeling a bit, asking, "How did I get here already?" as they pluck gray hairs out of weird places, send kids off to college and obsessively check their retirement accounts.

And now a meme that hits right at the heart of that crisis has Gen Xers feeling even more dazed. One might even say…confused.

In cruel bit of calculation, X user @AZNotoriousJPG shared a screenshot image from the cult classic "Dazed and Confused" with this caption:

"Dazed and Confused came out in 1993 and was based in 1976. A comparable movie today would be based in 2007."

Wait, what? No. NO. That can't be right. That math isn't mathing. Where's the calculator?

[Frantically calculates this very basic subtraction problem four times because there's no way.]

It's right. How? How is this possible? The '70s felt like they were ages from the 90s, while 2007 was only like three years ago. Right?

First of all, I'm wrong. 2007 was 17 years ago—that's basically an entire generation ago. (I know, I have to let that one sit for a minute.) But secondly, it seems like there was much more of a cultural difference between the 1970s and the 1990s than there was between the 2020s and the 2000s.

But why? In some ways, the 2000s feel like they've all been one long decade, at least in terms of "feel." The 1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s each felt like they had a distinct feel in terms of style and culture. We can pinpoint fashions, slang, musical genres and what was popular during those decades. Can the same be said for the 2000s and the 2010s?

Maybe it can. Facebook came out in 2004 and the iPhone came out in 2007, so I'm sure that changed things significantly. Social media and smartphones? That's huge. Is it just because we're (gulp) so old now that Gen Xers can't differentiate between recent decades? Are we just so out of touch with young fashions and hip culture that we don't even see it?

Honestly? Yeah, probably. I've heard my teens say something along the lines of, "That's giving, like, early 2000s" when referring to a song or a fashion choice. I guess I should be happy that I'm "with it" enough to know what "giving" means, but I'd never be able to tell you how something from the early 2000s is any different than something from two years ago.

Gen Xers have not taken kindly to having this timeline change thrown in their faces:

"Oh!! This hurts!!"

"Lies."

"I was having a good day. We were all having a good day."

"I get, we’re old!!! Quit reminding us!"

"All I see from this is that I am old AF."

"That doesn’t make any sense. 2007 was last week. I have medicine in the closet which expired earlier than that. Not possible."

"Nope, that’s not okay."

"You didn't have to choose violence, yet here we are."

You can tell the Gen Xers from the millennials and Gen Zers in the comments because the younger folks just keep commenting with "Superbad," a coming-of-age comedy that came out in 2007. What they don't understand is it's not the number of years that hits hard with this meme, it's the vast difference between how 17 years felt between the 70s and 90s and how they feel in the 2000s.

You have to have lived it to get it, I suppose, but "Dazed and Confused" in 1993 felt more like a movie made now based in the '80s would feel. Think "Stranger Things." That's what the time difference felt like for us.

Time is weird, man. But even 30 years later (wait, what?) "Dazed and Confused" is still a fabulous film, and Gen X is still the coolest generation.

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Pop Culture

Michelle Yeoh gave a perfect response to being rushed through her Golden Globes speech

Her reaction to the music cue was immediate, authoritative and hilarious.

Georges Biard/Wikimedia Commons

Michelle Yeoh has been acting in films for 40 years.

Michelle Yeoh won the award for Best Actress in a Comedy at the 2023 Golden Globes for her leading role as Evelyn Wang in the acclaimed film "Everything Everywhere All at Once." It was a moment the actress had been waiting 40 years to have, and she wasn't about to let anyone rush her through it.

Yeoh, 60, has been acting in action films in Hong Kong since the 1980s and in the U.S. since the late '90s, kicking martial arts butt alongside the likes of Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan's 007. With major roles in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Crazy Rich Asians," among other films, she's become a well-recognized face to any regular filmgoer. But until "Everything Everywhere All at Once," she had never played the lead role in a Hollywood film.

Winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy was Yeoh's moment to revel in her success after decades of uphill battles as an Asian actress in an industry filled with underrepresentation and misrepresentation. So when the music cue indicated she needed to wrap up her acceptance speech at the two-minute mark, she simply wasn't having it.

It's a common annoyance in award shows for winners to be interrupted by the music during their speeches, which must be kept short so the event doesn't drag on for too long, but Yeoh could have won an award for how quickly and decisively she reacted as soon as the piano music started up.

"Shut up, please," she said, mid-sentence. "I can beat you up, OK? And that's serious."

Watch:

As if this woman wasn't legendary enough already. Congratulations on your Best Actress win, Michelle Yeoh. You deserve it, and you have most certainly earned your full moment in the spotlight.

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Pop Culture

Steven Spielberg went the extra mile to keep E.T. 'alive' on set for Drew Barrymore

7-year-old Barrymore thought E.T. was real, so Spielberg kept the illusion going even when they weren't filming.

Phoo by zuko1312

Drew Barrymore believed E.T. was real.

It's understandable that a young child seeing a movie like "E.T." might think the wide-eyed creature from another planet is real. After all, it's an award-winning film with still-impressive animatronics that bring E.T. to life. One would probably assume, however, that a child who acted in the movie and saw the behind-the-scenes filmmaking process firsthand would know he wasn't real.

However, that wasn't the case for actress Drew Barrymore.

Barrymore played the main character's younger sister, Gertie, in the film. After an initial scare, Gertie adored E.T.—and as it turns out, so did 7-year-old Barrymore.

Barrymore recently had some of the cast members on her daytime talk show for the film's 40th anniversary and they described how she would interact with the E.T. character, even in-between takes. Henry Thomas, who played the main character Elliott, shared that it had been cold on the set one day and Barrymore asked the wardrobe lady for a scarf to put on E.T. so he wouldn't get cold.

"I really, really loved him, in such a profound way," said Barrymore, adding that she would take lunch to the adorable alien on set.

Dee Wallace Stone, who played Elliott and Gertie's mother in the film, said "We found you over there just talking away to E.T., and so we let Steven [Spielberg] know. And so Steven, from that time on, appointed two guys to keep E.T. alive so whenever you came over to talk to him, he could react to you."

How incredibly sweet is that?

For young children, the line between reality and fantasy can be quite fuzzy. Kids' imaginations allow them to believe in everything from fairies to Santa Claus to monsters in their closets, and the fact that Barrymore believed E.T. to be real is such a pure example of childhood innocence.

That Spielberg took care to honor that innocence and nurture Barrymore's imagination even when they weren't filming is so touching. It's particularly moving in this case, considering how key adults in Barrymore's life were famously not protective of her childhood.

Barrymore has shared that Spielberg has been "a big father figure" in her life and that he refers to her as his first kid. The two have been close since E.T. was filmed four decades ago and she credits Spielberg and the entire E.T. cast with showing her the true meaning of family.

The full reunion episode of "The Drew Barrymore Show" with the "E.T." cast is set to air on Monday, Oct. 31.

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Health

How watching horror films can actually help some people manage their anxiety

Seems counterintuitive, doesn't it?

Photo by Nong V on Unsplash

Some people who struggle with anxiety find relief in scary movies.

The idea that watching "The Shining" or "Psycho" or "The Invisible Man" could make you less anxious might sound backward. Anxiety is basically fear, after all—how could making yourself afraid on purpose by watching a horror movie possibly help? Scare yourself to be less scared? Doesn't make sense.

Or does it?

One of the first things my daughter's therapist said when she started phobia treatment was that anxiety thrives on avoidance. The more you try to avoid what scares you, the stronger the anxiety over it becomes.

That concept forms the basis of exposure therapy, which can be an effective way of overcoming clinical fears. Instead of avoiding things that make you anxious, exposure therapy involves approaching what scares you step by step, little by little and processing your fear at each step. Eventually, your tolerance builds up and those fears become greatly diminished.

Watching horror films as an anxiety management tool isn't for everyone, but for those it helps, it can function as a form of exposure therapy. Basically, by putting yourself in a scary situation—but one that isn't truly dangerous and that has a defined time frame—you give yourself a place to practice managing your fear.

Jocelyn McDonnell, a therapist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University, told HuffPost that horror films can be a useful tool for therapists to help clients learn to tolerate and manage the physical sensations of anxiety, such as a racing heart, sweating and heavy breathing.

“A client could see that even though their heart is racing, and their muscles are tight during the movie, they really aren’t in any danger,” McDonnell said. “This realization could help them in future situations in which physical sensations of anxiety are present, because they could remember that even though their bodies are preparing for possible danger, it is likely just a false alarm.”

Kurt Oaklee, MA, MFT, founder of Oaklee Psychotherapy in San Francisco, explained to Healthline how watching horror can help us learn to cope with stress.

“[Horror] can actually teach us how to handle real-world stress better,” Oaklee said. “During a stressful film, we are intentionally exposing ourselves to anxiety producing stimuli. We usually don’t engage in the same unhealthy coping mechanisms that we utilize in real life. We learn how to manage the stress in the moment. This practice can translate to helping us manage everyday stressors and fears.”

(On a related note, a study published in January 2021 found that horror fans exhibited greater resilience during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Perhaps the exposure to stress in scary movies helped prepare them for the horror of a once-in-a-century global viral outbreak.)

There are other theories on why watching horror can provide relief from anxiety for some people, such as the post-adrenaline letdown that leads to relaxation, the sense of control a person has over the scary movie and even the realization that whatever the person is afraid of in real life isn't as terrifying as what's in the film.

Some people, of course, do not find any relief from horror movies and may actually find them more anxiety-producing. While some people with anxiety find horror helpful, people with anxiety are more likely than the general population to respond negatively to horror films, so it's wise to do what feels right for you and discuss the idea with a therapist if you're unsure.

Therapists may not be regularly assigning horror flicks to their clients as direct treatment at this point, but there has been an increase in research and exploration of horror's potentially therapeutic applications in the mental health world. The weekly podcast "Psychoanalysis: A Horror Therapy Podcast," co-hosted by a licensed therapist, looks at mental health through the lens of horror. There's even a full-length documentary on this subject, "Mental Health and Horror: A Documentary," that's currently in production. And there are many books and articles that delve into how horror can help people with certain mental health conditions.

Scary movies may not be for everyone, but they surprisingly might be right for people who already do daily battle with their own fears.

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