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HBO: Where did the idea for the film come from?
Lauren Greenfield: I have been working on this subject in my
photography for the last fifteen years. It was
actually a chance for me to go back to the
subject of my first book, Fast-Forward:
Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood
(Knopf, 1997), which was about kids in L.A.,
specifically about how they grow up quickly,
and how they're affected by the culture of
materialism and the cult of celebrity, and
the importance of image. In 2007, The New
York Times Magazine asked me to interview
kids about money, so it started as a modest
project, and when I got into it, I realized how
important the subject was. And so I thought
it was the right time to take another look, in
video, at something I had looked at in my
still photography years ago.
HBO: You focused on kids living in Los Angeles.
Do you think they're representative of
teenagers across the country, or are their
interests somehow particular to life in L.A.?
Lauren Greenfield: What I've seen in spending a lot of time with
young people from different parts of the
country is the overwhelming influence of
consumerism, and how this consumerism
has become magnified through media
saturation and marketing to young people.
When I did Fast Forward, the Internet
wasn't even a player. The new thing was
cable TV and the incredible influence of
MTV. But in the interim, we've seen the
amount of information that kids are getting
on a daily basis increase exponentially, and
so, I actually think that the stories in kids +
money, though they may seem extreme to
some, are actually stories that most kids
and parents can relate to on some level.
One thing that I try to do in my work is look
at popular culture. The tricky thing about
popular culture is, it's almost like the air we
breathe: it's everywhere. And because we're
actually in it, it can be challenging to
deconstruct or analyze. It is the stuff we live
with every day and don't notice for the most
part. So, I often look for situations and
stories that are in some ways extreme, but
actually speak to the mainstream experience
we're all going through. And I think that the
kids in the film are really the truth-tellers
for their communities, and speak to the
experience they see, day in and day out.
HBO: In light of the current economic crisis, it's
interesting to consider how kids - and their
parents who often enable their spending -
will cope in our new financially challenged
world.
Lauren Greenfield: I think we're all taking a sobering look at our
spending habits from the last years, and the
way we used credit. I think kids often reflect
the adult culture, and given what's going on
with the economy, it's the perfect time for
the film to, hopefully, inspire an
examination of what our values have been.
This film was a very specific conversation
with these kids about money, which most
feel plays a big role in their relationships
and at school. And many of them are very
critical of that fact. But a lot of young
people are now approaching an era in which,
for the first time, they will have to go
without things they have come to expect. So
maybe it is the perfect time to have a
discussion about what has been called the
"pathological state of material longing."
HBO: It's fascinating that, for many kids in the
film, having "stuff" equals respect in their
community. What do think that says about
the world these kids live in, where you're
only as credible as your possessions?
Lauren Greenfield: Well, teenagers are at a point in life where
they are struggling to mold their identities.
In this age of very aggressive marketing and
advertising, buying things and having
certain brands is a way to establish identity
and build status, acceptance, and respect.
In 1998, I photographed a story about life in
the seventh grade, in Edina, Minnesota.
What I found there, from talking to a whole
assortment of seventh graders in two
schools, was that to fit in, you have to buy
clothes from one of three chain stores, and
all the kids named the same chain stores.
And I think we've seen this homogenization
of youth culture through the media, and
through the sharing of commercial culture.
With girls, and you see this in the film, there
has been a particular connection between
girls' insecurity, their self-esteem issues,
and the need to buy things to "look right," or
to be accepted. And, in a lot of ways,
companies have used advertising to really
take advantage of these vulnerabilities of
teenagers in search of an identity.
I mean, these kids have grown up in a
country where after 9/11, the President said
that our patriotic duty was to go out and
spend. So, in some ways, they have had a
very rational response to our leadership and
values, and it will be interesting to see how
the economic crisis is going to now affect the
activities of young people, and our culture's
perspective on spending.
I think the beauty of talking to young people
is that they speak in a very honest way
about what they see. They call it as it is,
and, in many ways, they reveal as much
about the adult culture as they do about
themselves.
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