Satisfied generation

What's great about Amsterdam is that there's a big underground movie scene. It's full of cult cinemas and cultural places like Nieuwe Anita and OT301 where they play quality movies. In other words: movies that do not need 3D, because they have depth from themselves.

Recently, I saw two great documentaries: Jesus Christus Erlöser and William Burroughs: a Man Within. In the first film actor Klaus Kinsi had to endure hecklers who insulted and asked questions during a performance in the 70's. The second documentary was about William Burroughs, the author of Naked Lunch. About his bizarre life, his books, his creativity and the ideals that people had. After the film there were people who told that they knew Burroughs and the people who surrounded him. One woman told about the beliefs in that time and how she wished that people would become more of an activist.

I think there isn't a lot that people in Holland are fighting for nowadays. Even in a place like Nieuwe Anita, where people are quite open minded. I most people accepted the lovely speech of the woman, but afterwards did nothing about it. There wasn't even somebody who disagreed, or who asked further questions. Afterwards everybody just drank a beer and talked about how impressive the movie was.

We live in a satisfied generation. A society without a lot of problems, where everybody gets equal chances and without movements, leaders or enemies. Even subcultures seem to disappear or become less extreme. The rave generation, the alternatives and the gabbers of the nineties shared just one common goal and that was to party. Nowadays they party together on big festivals.

I have to admit that I'm part of this satisfied generation as well. After the documentary and the interesting speech I drank another wine, talked a bit and the next it's another day at work. Is this the silence before the storm? Is a new, radical movement that will shock the nation in the pipeline? One that revolutionizes art, politics, music and the way people think like the dadaïsts in the 30's or the beat generation in the 50's? It seems that those times are over, but only time will tell.