Saturday, February 24, 2007

Slacker vs. Idler

Moving on from the Generation Jones vs. Generation Obama question, here's another moniker debate for you.

Over at Slate, Marisa Meltzer takes a look at slacker movies from last year (Clerks 2, Mutual Appreciation, The Puffy Chair), and makes a very important point about how, in these and other cinematic tributes to slackerdom, "if male slackers are stuck in a permanent state of adolescence, all deep thoughts and long talks and sleeping in, then women are agents of growing up and getting a grip, two things that could harsh any slacker's mellow." So true, and so unfair!

Even more importantly, Meltzer addresses the philosophical question of what slacking is all about:

Being a slacker isn't actually about underachievement. Slacking is about a different standard of achievement, eschewing corporate work to follow your passion, however obscure or lacking in formation. If what you really want to do is go on tour with your band Hey, That's My Bike!, or spend time in coffee shops making collages for your conceptual zine about Barbie, slacking reminds us that those are valuable pursuits.

I couldn't agree more. In fact, I once penned an entire "Idler's Glossary" in order to make the same point. In doing so, however, I decided that -- despite Richard Linklater's noble effort to redeem the term "slacker," I preferred the term "idler." I mean, we do need to distinguish between the underachiever and the alt.achiever, right? So I use "slacker" for the former and "idler" for the latter.

As I put it in the "Glossary," paraphrasing something Oscar Wilde said about Taoism:

Unlike the idler, in whom work and leisure have combined to become something fine, the slacker remains unhappily trapped in that dichotomy.

Meltzer is aware that slackers are prone to being unhappily trapped in this dichotomy, and points out several lame attempts to resolve the tension in these movies. She concludes:

If these movies are meant to celebrate slacking, why must the slackers always give it up at the end? Sure, everyone likes a character arc, but there are many ways to be an adult between the extremes of the wake-and-bake and the morning commute.... After two decades of slackers on film, the genre hasn't grown up -- it's just moved to Brooklyn.

Again, great point. But maybe the problem is that these movies aren't about idlers. They really are about slackers. Has a great movie been made about idlers? Sure, the French New Wave directors made several. Richard Linklater's entire oeuvre (including School of Rock) is about idlers. Perhaps Meltzer is looking for idlers in all the wrong places.

Readers who wish to suggest idler movies, or defend the moniker "slacker," please get in touch.

Posted by Joshua Glenn at 08:30 AM

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