The Revolution Generation

Directors Joshua Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell did an incredible job with The Revolution Generation: How Millennials Can Save America and the World. Through the years millennials have been called everything from lazy to selfish. Over the course of this film I was amazed at how much I didn't know about millennials. The Revolution Generation opens your eyes to many things that before watching you wouldn't even be open to knowing. Getting Michelle Rodriguez to narrate was an inspired choice. As a millennial and woman she is a part of the story they are telling in the documentary. The Revolution Generation is all about reclaiming a nation's lost voice. The most interesting part of the film is how the Tickells are able to create a powerful dynamic between old and new information. Having information thrown at you can seem tedious but, The Revolution Generation finds a way that makes people want to learn more about each topic. They were also able to find relatability in adding in familiar faces like AOC, Shailene Woodley, and Corbin Bleu. Millennials know these faces, they trust these faces. These are the things that make a film relatable for an audience. When you go see a movie you want to be able to relate to it in some way. For documentaries adding in faces your target audience will know make that possible. The Revolution Generation makes sure to put an emphasis on the need for a spark to ignite change in today's society. Leaving the theater will make you feel like you could be that spark for yourself or someone else.

A paramount documentary, covering a multitude of current events all circling one phenomena: the adulthood of the millennial. Josh and Rebecca Tickell's new documentary, The Revolution Generation: How Millennials Can Save America and the World, addresses the negative connotations of upcoming younger generations and uses history and evidence to offer concise, lucid rebuttals. It effectively proves how all of the traits allocated to millennials that have been deemed unworthy, are the key to the progression of the planet. A wide range of topics including social justice, student debt, climate control, and more amalgamate to form a cohesive story of a generation fighting with all that they have to create a world better than the one they grew up in. Metaphorical sound design brings to life the emotions of a generation; run and gun footage symbolizes the grit and hard work millennials are ready to put in; and top-tiered structuring brings together an explicit, successful argument. The Revolution Generation becomes one more well-spoken leader in the ongoing fight for human and earthly rights.

The Revolution Generation: How Millennials Can Save America and the World, like the youth movements they depict, is unapologetic, bombastic, and impactful. Directors Josh and Rebecca Tickell of Kiss the Ground once again capture the urgency of our societal situation in another call to action, a loud siren demanding attention towards this world's grave injustices and the young people fighting against them. The extended adolescence of millennials has cultivated their negative stereotype of being immature and inactive - which the Tickells prove cannot be further from the truth. Their responses to these claims are explicated with cogent references to historical trends and sociological tendencies. They conclude that millennials react to their crumbling world in the most natural way imaginable. The youth's reaction could even be called extraordinary as they take the initiative to fight for racial, economic, and gender equality under the global threat of climate change. The commanding voice of the people is embodied by Michelle Rodriguez's narration and echoed by the many prominent interviewees such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Corbin Bleu, and Shailene Woodley. By the end of the film, all the members of this great chant are working together to motivate the young viewership to join them in their organizations to work towards a better future.

The way that this film connects the idea of the "Hero" generation to social justice movements, specifically to the importance of climate action, is brilliant, and makes the thesis of the film- how millennials can save the world- rock solid. Starting the film off with the ideas of cyclical generational patterns and the designation of millennials as the newest "Hero" generation ties in just perfectly with the almost hopeless, world-ending perspective that most people have of modern crises today, specifically climate change. By identifying all of these major issues as something that millennials have been solving, the film beautifully asserts that Gen Y is fulfilling its "Hero" role by literally saving the world, whether that be by protesting systemic racism with the BLM movement, fighting for women's rights, or hosting massive climate demonstrations and marches in impacted areas. The activists and politicians featured within the film also bolster this assertion- Michelle Rodriguez gives a very balanced and down-to-earth performance as the film's witty narrator, and other interview subjects like Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Shailene Woodley, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez each do wonders to keep the inspiration feel of the documentary high while conveying important information about the major issues they each cover, like climate change. The clear-cut nature of this thesis also serves as a buoy to keep the film grounded- both emotionally and in terms of keeping the narrative consistent. The idea that millennials are working actively to save the world runs through every aspect of the film, bringing a much-needed hopeful note to the serious topics it addresses that lingers long after the first watch.

Increasingly topical and impressively in-depth with its research, analysis, and documentation of the world of activism and the negative stigmas that surround the millennial generation that holds major numbers within it, the Revolution Generation: How Millennials Can Save America and the World delivers on a film that both empowers and educates its viewers. Directing team Joshua Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell seek to put an explanation to the common and tired stereotypes that claim millennials to be lazy or entitled and do so by confronting the sociological perceptions that shape the personas and interactions of each generation, commenting on the financial and political crises of the 21st century that have put many within the millennial generation in debt or states of pessimism towards society. Interesting enough on its own, the Tickell's go beyond this to document the astonishing and inspiring amount of millennials who refute these claims, specifically those who have given themselves and their voices to activist causes and political spheres to better shape the world themselves, no longer willing to wait for their older generations to fix their own messes. It's not just a documentary that advocates for the significance of the millennial generation, but it is one that seeks to highlight the human desire to help one another and improve the lives of future generations, desires that represent the millennial generation tenfold. Speaking with millennial political and activist leaders such as Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Shailene Woodley, Chase Iron Eyes, Michelle Rodriguez, who strongly and passionately narrates the film, and many more, Revolution Generation keeps an attentive and dedicated focus and appreciation to its subject matter, holding the weighty subjects of generational divides and social justice in the respect and care they need. This film is wonderful for those interested in activist documentaries but is even better for those who wish to learn more about the systemic and sociological conditions that shape the lives and minds of a generation, something that is as fascinating as it is thought-provoking.