The Doom Generation (1995)

★★
The Doom Generation is the kind of movie that works best (if it can be argued that it works at all) when watched in the middle of the night. That was when I first saw it. I got off the late shift one night in 1997 and turned on H.B.O., and there it was. I watched it again recently late at night prior to writing these words. The lack of ambient noise heightens the movie's nuances. Most of the scenes take place in the eerie dark landscape of Los Angeles. The city's most recognizable spots are nowhere to be seen. The characters are the worst that Generation X has to offer. They slither out when everyone else has retired for the evening. They barely go out during the day. When they do, director Gregg Araki is eager for the sun to go down again. His trio of losers occupies a society seemingly on the edge of disaster, like the pseudo-civilization seen in Mad Max before Max's journey into the wasteland. Araki, a baby boomer, apparently had little confidence that Gen X could succeed. As the middle entry of his Teen Apocalypse Trilogy, The Doom Generation is the worst-case scenario for a demographic raised on sugar and empty calories and with a reputation for being called slacker and disaffected. His kids are violent, overly sexualized, contemptible and unintelligent.

His view was too pessimistic. Even in the mid-'90s, when I had just graduated high school, there was little sign that society as a whole was on life support. Despite the degenerates on Ricki Lake and Jerry Springer and the cautionary Larry Clark film Kids (1995), the youth of that era were not trending downward. If Araki thought otherwise, he was wrong. If he was just making an entertaining movie about delinquent teens, he still got it wrong. The Doom Generation is as smarmy as it gets. The dialogue is vulgar just for the sake of it and almost always sounds forced. The insults are stitched together as if random words were drawn from a hat, so we get phrases like smegma breath, monkeybutt and chunky pumpkinhead. These words mostly spew from the foul mouth of Amy Blue (Rose McGowan), a punk 18-year-old with a colorful vocabulary. Her boyfriend is the dopey Jordan White (Araki mainstay James Duval), the movie's only likeable character only because he isn't as unlikeable as everyone else. While he and Amy try to lose their virginity in the front seat of her car, a maniac named Xavier Red (Jonathon Schaech) interrupts the session while taking cover from a gang of hoodlums.

Amy and Xavier are immediately hostile with one another ("He's bleeding all over the upholstery!"), while Jordan takes a more diplomatic approach. Their initial meeting turns sour, and Xavier is cast out in the wilderness, though he reappears to wrestle a raging convenience store owner who points his shotgun at Amy and Jordan. This pattern repeats itself throughout the movie. Visits to a fast food restaurant, a pool hall and a music store contain a misunderstanding that leads to shocking violence. In between these scenes are sexual encounters involving Amy and either Jordan or Xavier and the occasional tease for a Jordan/Xavier coupling. Amy's own disgust for Xavier's murders subsides when his mysterious nature overcomes her better judgement. He dares them to think beyond their sexual proclivities and indulge in the kind of dark fantasies that would characteristically take place in seedy motel rooms and, in the climax, a deserted warehouse. Let's be clear about something: Araki already stumbled in Teen Apocalypse entry #1 (Totally F***ed Up (1993)) when he created a gaggle of repulsive characters who were supposed to be sympathetic gay teens but turned out to be insufferable perverts. In this follow up, he commits the same mistake.

Araki's quest to create sympathy for outsiders falls flat when his outsiders are detestable creatures. Amy thinks it's okay to drop a cigarette on the floor and put it out with her shoe right in front of the business owner. Xavier is a sexual deviant who licks his own semen off his hand. Jordan is an aimless stoner. By naming the trio Red, White and Blue, Araki is positioning Xavier, Jordan and Amy as representative of the Red, White and Blue, or the United States of America. He casts a wide net and denounces an entire generation as a result. Jordan even gives Xavier the nickname X. It's okay to be concerned for the future of youth. We came of age during the AIDS epidemic. The economy tanked under the administration of George H.W. Bush. Japan was our biggest concern—it was the country that was buying us out. (The 1990 movie Prayer of the Rollerboys revealed that Harvard University was moved brick-by-brick to Japan.) The narrative of the day was that my generation would have it tougher than previous generations when it came to finding a job. I remember those days well. I also remember that hope was on the horizon. The economy rebounded, and Japan fell back. Bill Clinton was the relatable presidential candidate who answered questions on M.T.V. I watched fell for that. He turned out to be as corrupt as any other politician, but he talked a good game. Araki might not have seen the future as optimistically, but he completely overshot his projections.

Araki might tell me that he didn't think the future of Generation X was so bleak, and I'm just overreaching. Fair enough, but what of the sacrifice of Amy Blue on an American flag? Did Araki see her as representative of an entire demographic being thrown into a bad situation in pursuit of the American dream? Since it is Amy who is about to be raped on the flag, the interpretation is there for us to make. She also fights back, perfectly channeling another descriptor for our generation—that of being rebellious. Araki does get that one thing right. She pushes back against those who would ruin her future, although I would have liked a better champion than Amy Blue. Overreaching again? Let's not forget that Araki filled the movie with symbols. "The Raptor is Coming" is one such message that appears on a highway sign and conspicuously presented in our field of view. There is doom and gloom all over the place. There is an inexplicable throwaway scene in which the F.B.I. holds a briefing to hunt down and, if necessary, kill Amy. No reason is given for the F.B.I.'s interest in her, and there's no resolution. It's just another bit of bait to make us think the world wants to deny her happiness. The scene is also an excuse to throw in a weird mirror effect by having actors on each side of a table mimic each other. I've seen Duck Soup, and maybe Araki has seen it too and wanted to give us his version of that movie's iconic mirror gag.

Despite my misgivings, despite my criticisms, despite my objections to its nihilistic outlook, I don't hate this movie. I've seen it several times. I rented it and showed it to my dormmate, who was not too appreciative. I once had an email address with the movie's title in it. Rose McGowan gives a dynamite performance that forever made me a fan. Only she could have recited Araki's cumbersome dialogue with such fierce conviction ("Eat my fuck!"). The director has a wicked sense of humor. There is a running joke that Amy resembles other people's girlfriends, which results in misunderstandings and death threats. Watching this movie is probably as close as one can get to watching a fever dream. The story is disjointed. A motel room is laid out like a giant chess board. A guy's head is blown off, and the head vomits up what looks like guacamole. The trio goes through a drive-thru for a restaurant with a dinosaur theme (Carnoburger) where the employees wear plastic construction hats. Yeah, the movie is okay. It's another of those surreal finds on late night television. Catch it at the right time, when all defenses are down, when the deafening silence of an empty house with a lone occupant ensures no interruption, and The Doom Generation becomes this oddly watchable kaleidoscope of colorful imagery and unabashed brutality.

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Note: I was aware of this movie for several years. At the 1995 Honolulu International Film Festival, I met film critic Roger Ebert. He gave a lecture at his book signing. I talked to him afterwards. Awesome guy. He mentioned this movie and expressed his distaste for it. When I came across it several years later, well, I had to watch. A movie isn't a complete failure if I feel compelled to watch.