A typical Saturday night in the COVID era for our family involves pizza, wings, Dr. Pepper, watching Shark Tank reruns, and a movie.
The movie is truly a bonus when our collective mood settles on a comedy or a drama or action.
We’re the kind of family that talks through movies. God, it’d be maddening for any visitor, I’m sure!
April and I are blessed with teenagers who indulge our nostalgia for music and movies we loved at their age. More accurately, they share our affinity for the “meta”, that is creativity as a thing in and of itself. Our conversation is often about the process, the thinking behind the outcome. We discuss the affect and the effect. We reflect on the the words beneath the words, the historical context behind an obscure reference, or as Paul Harvey used to say, “The rest of the story.”
Our meta dialogue about movies usually extends well past the length of the film. In recent months, we’ve watched a variety of films from different eras that hold up quite well. Rambo, Saving Private Ryan, Gran Torino, and Million Dollar Baby.
Richard Linklater’s cult-classic Dazed and Confused is of particular interest. Released in 1994, it’s set in 1976 with many of the sites still recognizable to us here in Austin. The movie sparked conversations around obvious themes of peer pressure, high school cliques, hazing and general teenage hang-out culture in the immediate aftermath of no-fault divorce.
Our kids felt like the movie in some ways isn’t relatable because bullying and violence are of a lesser concern in the modern high-school experience, whereas the acceptance of drugs are more open. We smell weed in every major city we visit. The general acceptance of hooking up is more complicated as dating pivots toward a swipe-left transactional experience. A film that blends the coming-of-age story of middle-schoolers and high-schoolers feels inherently risky.
For a perspective of the teenage club scene in Los Angeles, check out Eric Weinstein’s interview of Less Than Zero author Bret Easton Ellis.
Episode #7: The Dark Laureate of Generation X
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The Shark Tank Meta
Shark Tank captures the entrepreneurial spirit driving America’s economy with an approachable business language that focuses attention on problems and the founder’s ingenuity.
It’s a terrific show for families. Any parent who sees an inkling of business aptitude in their kids should tune in. We also enjoy The Profit with Marcus Lemonis and various turn-around shows from celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey, again with a meta perspective on the fallibility of people that yields poor results.
These business shows highlight gamesmanship from the lens of success. They routinely ask, “Why does the company exists?” On Shark Tank, founders must tighten their pitch to be effective. Undoubtedly they receive sound coaching in preparation for both the investors, and the medium of television. We root for the underdog, and shutter when at pretentious behavior.
Having started several businesses, invested in others, received an executive MBA and counseled countless company leaders, I’m convinced the show offers genuine business substance beyond its stylized delivery.
We see the dark arts of persuasion and high-stakes negotiation. We calculate valuations, hear good marketing advice and have a sense of what it takes to bring a product to the masses.
Last night, one segment stood out to me. It began with a high angle shot of the founder meditating in the back room followed by a series of behind-the-scenes cut filmmakers and cameramen and the director conducting an action countdown. We expected to see a bad pitch like the horrible singers on America’s Got Talent who manage to break through to professional rounds to the feigned annoyance of Simon Cowell and public ridicule.
Not so. Peaceful Fruits founder Evan Delahanty struck me as a creative soul out of water. He ran a perfect pitch for superfruit Acai, careful to pronounce ah-sigh-ee, and make his case for social capitalism which remains a prominent part of the brand’s story.
Shark Lori Greiner appeared smitten with him. She has a refined intuition about founders, much like her fellow shark Barbara Corcoran who happens to be my favorite. Delehanty didn’t get a deal, but he struck me as someone else that should have been funded, perhaps not on this idea, but as a creative person in need of patronage.
The Napoleon Dynamite Double Meta
After Shark Tank, we decided to watch a comedy favorite. Released in 2004, Napoleon Dynamite endures not because the characters are quirky, but because they’re true.
The First Meta: Story
I suppose one could argue the film’s thematic elements are timeless. That’s true, we see indelible American experiences.
We see rural life caught in the amber of dated fashion and technology to wonderful comedic effect. We laughed at nerdy graphic t-shirts, iZOD polos, jean shorts, limited dial-up bandwidth, and 60-foot phone cords offering precious moments of privacy. These props provide anachronistic backdrop that keeps us wondering, is this supposed to be happening in the 1980s? The 1990s?
No. Napoleon Dynamite is perfectly set in 2004 in Preston, Idaho, a real place in a real time that’s worth adding time to visit on road trips to Yellowstone National Park.
The most obvious theme is Be Yourself. Napoleon certainly arcs from a lanky creative wannabe to an actual creative artist. While he enjoys drawing, and has vivid fantasies, he’s objectively terrible and he initially lies to Pedro about having a girlfriend. Napoleon suffers scorn and bullying until finally letting his freak flag fly via freeform dance in front of the student body at Pedro’s election.
All of the main characters support the theme of Be Yourself. Pedro starts the trend with his confidence in approaching the prettiest girl in class, and his laissez faire attitude when she rejects him. His wig is the only hint of his insecurity. Deb presses her business interests and stands up to shallow ideas of womanhood. Kip and Lafawnduh enjoy a strangely connected relationship rooted in their openness to the other as who they are. Uncle Rico’s shining moment isn’t stuck in 1982, it’s at the very end of the movie when we see him scramble to straighten up his van and personal living space to welcome a surprise female visitor, played by the real-life wife of Kip.
We also experience teenage angst. Arguably the most popular filmmaker to explore this theme, John Hughes elevated sexual conquest in line with the consequences of the culture he lived, namely no-fault divorce and Western divorce of the unitive and procreative nature of intercourse.
The Second Meta: Creation
A generation after John Hughes, husband and wife writers Jared and Jerusha Hess crafted the anti-jock mouth-breathing nerd.
Napoleon’s character seems born out of the region’s Mormon tradition, both in Jared’s upbringing, and actor Jon Heder’s refusal to ever participate in a sex scene because of his personal faith and morality. We can’t help but wonder if this pronouncement stymied his Hollywood career.
Famously, Napoleon Dynamite’s minuscule $400,000 budget makes the $44M financial windfall at the box office all the more remarkable. In the decade prior, we saw the same phenomenon with Blair Witch Project and El Mariachi. The effects stand in contrast to 9-figure bombs.
Imagine what inspiration might come from systems thinking applied to scale vs franchise production. Would 100 films with $1M budgets yield more return than a $100M shot at a blockbuster?
Institutional hive minds in Big Hollywood and Big Business are forcing a strange creative death march. Leaders are over-functioning, the effect is the same as an overproduced auto-tune song.
Creative people in business need air cover just as they do in the academy, arts and exploratory fields. Humanity makes the biggest strides in creative endeavors when artists, designers, thinkers and scientists have license and safety. It’s incumbent on business leaders to suss out innovators in their ranks and protect them for the health of their business. If not, these people will suffer the malaise of middle management and administration until they finally leave.
These meta conversation have an impact on the way my kids think. One thing I’ve noticed they don’t merely enjoy the social influencers of their generation. Sure, they laugh at silliness on TikTok and Instagram and YouTube. More so, they’re fascinated by the brands their favorite influencers constructed. My kids are gaining a level of financial and media literacy around the construction of these platforms, as well as their potential.
My hope is to provide a competitive edge through empathy and big picture thinking. We’ll see how it holds up. Until then, we’re enjoying our Saturday Nights together!
Feature image is The Dancing Couple by Jan Steen (1663) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Steen’s work is emblematic of the transient nature of life. Good vibes among bubbles, cut flowers, and broken egg shells suggest earthly pleasures are temporary, and thus, point to our deeper need for everlasting values.