The Guardian recently published a profile on renowned actress Jodie Foster,
where she discussed womanhood and raising sons as a lesbian woman in Hollywood.
But the most controversial aspect of that interview had to do with the 61 year old's
comments on Gen Z. Foster is the star of the show True Detective Night Country,
in which she works alongside many young, inexperienced actors and crew members
on her recent movie Is It Naiad?
Is that how you say it, Naiad?
Foster said that she was working with an even less seasoned team.
So young people. She's working with young people.
I don't know why. Like all these euphemisms.
She's working with young people.
And in this profile, she talks about taking on a mentorship role
for younger people in the industry.
And this is what she says.
I do a lot of reaching out to young actresses.
I'm compelled because it was hard growing up.
But the author adds that for all of her cheerleading of Gen Z,
foster is also pretty irritated by them.
They're really my God, they're really annoying, especially in the workplace.
They're like, nah, I'm not feeling it today.
I'm going to come in at 10:30 a.m. or like in emails, I'll tell them,
this is all grammatically incorrect.
Did you not check your spelling? And they're like, why would I do that?
- Isn't that kind of limiting? - Okay, That's deep.
What are your thoughts, John, about her comments here?
I don't know who she worked with.
Look, as you're getting into, she is hardly the first person
that has made these observations.
I will say I have not directly experienced that.
So it's you know, it's really hard when it's outside of your bubble to know.
I would say it's it's not inconceivable.
I mean, we know that the technology is very different.
We know that there's a generation coming into the workplace now that has had had
access to this technology from, you know, when they were like toddlers or whatever.
Like that is definitely going to affect people in some way.
Some of them are just coming from either high school years
or college years in the pandemic.
That's going to change how you interact with a lot of things.
You literally were forced to be remote.
So I'm sure they're different in some ways, but I don't know exactly what.
And I'm also sure that as a person who is, you know, more advanced in years,
she's going to be bothered even if they're not really that different.
So it's really hard to say, like, I'm sure there's something to it.
You would not have so many people who are managing workers say that there's
a difference, but it's hard to say on a case by case basis how fair it is.
Yeah.
And look, we don't have some broad study that we can point to
to justify her comments.
Right.
But I mean, all of this is really based on personal experiences
of the workplace and anecdotal stuff.
And so I just want to note that for the record, but I do have a theory
as to why the work work ethic, for lack of a better way of describing it,
is a little different with younger generations versus older generations.
So I've also even noticed a difference between older millennials
versus younger millennials.
And I think a lot of that has to do with
the overall economy and what people are
inspired to do and less inspired to do so.
For instance, you know, growing up, especially as the child of two immigrants,
we didn't have a lot of money, but I had this sense that there
was something to work toward, right?
If you work hard, if you go to school, you get your education.
You can aspire to greater things. You'll be able to afford a home.
You'll be able to live a lifestyle that was a little more privileged, better
than the lifestyle that your parents had.
But with things kind of devolving, and especially when it comes to simple things,
that what used to be considered simple things for Americans back in the day,
being able to own a home that has become out of reach for a lot of people.
So I don't I'm just guessing. I could be entirely wrong.
But I think for those who are less motivated in the workplace, it might
have something to do with the fact that they feel as though there's nothing
that they're really working toward, that they can work as hard as they want,
but it's not going to afford them.
The type of American dream that previous generations were able to look forward to.
Do you do you get what I'm saying?
Yeah, I think I think that that's fair.
Look, it's really going to come down to the career field because, look, there
she is interacting with people who are less seasoned, like your birdfeed, people
working in the, the, the movie industry.
And that is very much like to the extent that I know and I know some people
who work in different fields of it, it is a field that you have to grind.
You have to make connection.
Since you work in a movie and then what's your next job?
Well, it's going to depend on the reputation that you've built
off of the job that you just had.
That really does seem like a career field where working really hard and making a
good impression would be really important, whereas I totally understand people who,
you know, like like one of the jobs that people when I was
in college would get nearby was working at a Fedex like sorting facility or whatever,
like the idea that you're going to, like, really invest a lot of your
spirit into or whatever when you know that they don't necessarily care about.
I don't mean to like pick on Fedex or whatever.
Like I'm just saying that there are differences between fields.
And I think that some of the allure of if you just, you know,
put your head down and work, you'll get the American dream, you'll own a home
like it is harder for people to buy that.
And so I don't think it'll affect everyone equally, but I think there's probably
something to what you say.
Yeah, definitely. And I agree with what you're saying.
It's not that people working at Fedex or doing an unimportant job.
That's not what you're saying.
What you're trying to argue is if you are working at a place that doesn't make you
feel like it feels, if it feels like a dead end job because there's really no way
to move up or you're not getting paid.
Let me let me give you an example. Yeah.
Go ahead.
So the example basically is I think of very similar jobs, like if you imagine
like old school working at one of the auto manufacturers or whatever,
and now you're one of the many people who work, for instance, like Amazon, that's
one of the biggest employers or whatever.
Like, like theoretically back in the day, you work hard, you have a good reputation,
you work your way up, you can make more money, you can get
better benefits and stuff like that.
The the idea that the company gives a damn about you for most of these
companies has been shattered.
Everybody knows what Amazon thinks about their line workers and their drivers.
That has been made abundantly clear.
So it's not about the nature of the work or how important it is or whatever.
It's the idea that if you work hard, it will be respected
and you will be rewarded in kind, and there are still opportunities for that.
But I just I think the the assumption going in that that's
how you're going to be treated, I think is harder for people to buy.
Yes, I totally agree with that interpretation.
And I and I do think that you get what you give.
Right.
And if you show that you respect the people you work with, more often
than not that respect is reciprocated.
So if Jodie Foster feels that the young people that she's working with
are not being respectful in the workplace, I don't know.
I don't know how Jodie Foster acts in the workplace, but don't.
I think the biggest mistake people make is thinking that their ego should,
rule the way that they behave in the workplace, right?
Doesn't matter if you have seniority, doesn't matter if you've been at a company
much longer than the younger workers, you still have to respect them.
And if you show them respect, more often than not, they're going.
They're going to want to deliver for you. At least that's been my experience.
Right.
And so that's something to keep in mind for Jodie Foster and people
who think like her about younger workers.
And look, I also don't want to provide cover
for workers who just happen to be crappy.
There are crappy workers. But let me tell you something.
There are crappy workers in every generation, at least from my experience.
And, she did get some backlash for those comments.
And so during a sit down with Jimmy Kimmel, he asked about her Gen Z comments
and she said, yeah, I got some grief, my son's grief from my sons for that one.
So she admitted that to foster, after conversations with her two sons
who are now in their 20s.
You know, I'm older and you tend to do that in my day, I had to walk to school
with my crampons on, which is apparently spiky shoes for like, icy roads.
But the new generation high heels. They're not high heels, okay?
They're spiky shoes.
So you don't, like, slip in the ice, I guess.
I live in California, so I've never had to deal with crampons, and they need
to change the name of those shoes.
That's weird name.
But anyway, she also says, but the new generation, they're lucky because they
learned that they could say no.
And we didn't know that. And that's totally true.
I mean, the idea of being insubordinate and like, it just I remember
growing up and no, no, you do everything that's asked of you.
You never talk back.
You never question why you're being asked to do something.
You know, it's you do the firm handshake during the interviews.
It's just I do think that the culture is a little different for Gen Z,
and I think that they're more willing to stand up for themselves and ask questions
when they're asked to do things that might not make so much sense, you know?
And.
I commend that. I don't really have a problem with that.
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