A Filmmaker's Guide to: The Lost Generation

In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re actually going to be learning about literature and film together. I understand that many of you are sitting in university during difficult times and finding it increasingly hard to study and I understand that many of you who are not at university or not planning on it are possibly stuck of what to do, need a break or even need to catch up on learning film before you get to the next level. This guide will be brief but will also contain: new vocabulary, concepts and theories, films to watch and we will be exploring something taboo until now in the ‘filmmaker’s guide’ - academia (abyss opens). Each article will explore a different concept of film, philosophy, literature or bibliography/filmography etc. in order to give you something new to learn each time we see each other. You can use some of the words amongst family and friends to sound clever or you can get back to me (email in bio) and tell me how you’re doing. So, strap in and prepare for the filmmaker’s guide to film studies because it is going to be one wild ride.

Lost Generation

What is it?

People born between about 1883 and 1900 are part of this generation. They grew up and came of age during the First World War and the term "Lost Generation" refers to the wandering and directionless motives most had after surviving the war.

In literature, the Lost Generation is often characterised in the works of Ernest Hemingway. Books such as: "A Moveable Feast" and "The Sun Also Rises" alongside "To Have and Have Not" are just some examples of Lost Generation Fiction. Gertrude Stein, Virginia Woolf and F. Scott Fitzgerald are often considered some of the great writers of this generation as well with their works containing the theme of displacement.

The literary themes that encompass the Lost Generation include but are not limited to some of the following:

• War Experiences and PTSD
• Semi-Autobiographical Details
• Lifestyles of the Wealthy Classes
• The Life and Death of the American Dream
• Corruption of the Soul
• Loss, Grief and Death

And here are some works you could read to help you on your journey to understanding more about the Lost Generation in fiction:

• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
• A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
• Three Lives by Gertrude Stein
• Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
• Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos
• Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

What about in film?

Many films depict the Lost Generation as a surviving generation without any knowledge of direction. This includes dramatisations, adaptations etc. but many forget the mental health difficulties suffered by many of the members who were a part of this decline generation as well. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are good and bad films depicting the Lost Generation and there are obviously our adaptations of Lost Generation novels, but there are a bunch of dramatisations that inaccurately portray this set of people. Let's take a look at some films which explore the themes of Lost Generation techniques and styles to a degree which is better than just a dramatisation.

• The Great Gatsby (1974)
• The Artist (2011)
• The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)
• Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
• The Hours (2002)

When we look at the Lost Generation on film, we are not only looking for the countless themes that are associated with them but we are also looking for:

1. A believable storyline that would have happened in that time
2. Thorough characters with issues pertaining to their own time
3. Ideas, themes and motifs depicted as those occurring in that time
4. Everyday problems that encompass the normal, average person of that time period
5. Correct costume, make-up, setting etc. for the time period depicted

Especially when it comes to the Lost Generation, there are certain directors who like to romanticise a generation who just saw the world almost end through war. I do not think this is an accurate portrayal nor is it a good idea, which is why I chose the older "Great Gatsby" adaptation rather than the newer one. I do not think that the newer one does the generation a lot of justice in comparison.

Further Reading

• Fitch, N.R (1985). Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation: A History of Literary Paris in the Twenties and Thirties. 2nd ed. USA: W.W Norton and Company.
• Furness, R (2000). Zarathustra's Children: A Study of a Lost Generation of German Writers (Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture). UK: Camden House.
• Hemingway, E (2003). Ernest Hemingway Selected Letters 1917-1961. 2nd ed. USA: Scribner Book Company.
• Taylor, D.J (2009). Bright Young People: The Lost Generation of London's Jazz Age. UK: Farrar Straus Giroux.