The film examines the subprime mortgage crisis and financial crisis of 2007–2008 in a generational context. A 2010 review from The Richmond Times-Dispatch described Generation Zero as a horror film about the U.S economy.[8][9]
While the film focuse…
The film examines the subprime mortgage crisis and financial crisis of 2007–2008 in a generational context. A 2010 review from The Richmond Times-Dispatch described Generation Zero as a horror film about the U.S economy.[8][9]
While the film focuses on economic topics, including deficit spending and the financial crisis of 2007–2008, the film also heavily focuses on the 1960s. The film interprets the 1960s in the context of Strauss and Howe's generational theory. In the film, Bannon is critical of his own generation. He commented: that the "baby boomers are the most spoiled, most self-centered, most narcissistic generation the country’s ever produced”, blaming the cohort for much of the current economic problems.[2][5]
The film describes the 1960s as a time in which young adults turned away from their parents' values, saying they turned their backs on history. The film refers to “seasons of history” and concludes that the damage which was initiated in the 1960s, when young baby boomers turned away from their parents' values, will be undone via war or other great crisis. The period of crisis is referred to as a "turning". In Strauss and Howe's theory, the period of crisis or war is referred to as the “fourth turning”. The film concludes with the line "history is seasonal and winter is coming".[2][4][5][10]
Historian David E. Kaiser, who was consulted for the film said that it focused on a key aspect of Strauss and Howe's theory: "the idea that every 80 years American history has been marked by a crisis, or 'fourth turning', that destroyed an old order and created a new one”. Bannon, Kaiser states, was "very familiar with Strauss and Howe’s theory of crisis, and has been thinking about how to use it to achieve particular goals for quite a while.”[4][5][6][7][11]
