The Doom Generation (1995)

dir Gregg Araki

Heresy by Nine Inch Nails came on in the car earlier and it gave me the immediate and unavoidable urge to rewatch The Doom Gen. Unfortunately for me, my library account is flagged for fraud and I can’t watch the full unrated version via Kanopy, so I figured it was time for something I’ve been putting off for ages: watch the unofficial R rated cut.

Even without those 11 minutes, this has to be one of my all time favorite fucking films. Rose McGowan rocks it as Amy Blue. James Duval is at his dreamiest as Jordan White. Their chemistry is sweet and funny and very teenage. Possibly the best movie soundtrack of all time! Gregg Araki really outdid himself.

(SIDE NOTE: I have this reoccurring nightmare that I end up murdering someone and trying to outrun the consequences. A lot of the time I have an accomplice, either my girlfriend or someone random. It’s actually been a pretty big problem for me. Most nights any sleep I get is crap because I’m on the lam in my dreams. Honestly, though, I think it would be a more tolerable situation if there was beautiful shoegaze playing in the background. Gregg, please email me at [email protected] if you’re interested in helping out. Not sure how, but I figure if we put our heads together we can come up with something. Maybe I can wear headphones to sleep while you DJ.)

My dirty little secret is that I think Gregg Araki’s “heterosexual” movies (The Doom Generation and Splendor) are “better” than his faggier films. For one, it’s impossible for any of Araki’s films to come out totally straight. Hello! In The Doom Generation, Parker Posey plays Rose McGowan’s lesbian lover. And the boys are flirting and nearly fucking the whole time. And even if Splendor is technically about two heterosexual relationships, I’d argue that a women dating and living with two men, going as far as raising a child as together, is at least unconventional enough to win like one or two honorary queer points. Plus the main character has a lesbian best friend. So there.

At its core, The Doom Generation is an Anti-American, Anti-fascist film. Now more than ever, the ending hit as hard as a sack of bricks. Even though I just watched this last spring, already well into Trump’s second term, it felt even worse this time around. It’s still shocking to see someone carry out a violent attack (hate crime?) while draped in an American flag with a swastika painted on their chest, but on some level I’m like “yeah”. This is what the news looks like now. The nazis are out in plain sight now and I guess they could hunt you down whenever they feel like it. Fucked up, isn’t it? Like what are we doing? I remember it wasn’t always like this. There’s always been fascists and people who uphold evil and injustice, but when did they get so cocky and blatant again? The taste in my mouth is horrible.

At least I can take my mind off things by playing with my light-up yo-yo. RIP Jordan