re: Greatest Gen-X Actor: John Cusack or Christian Slater?

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So a person born in 1978 isn’t a Gen-X in your mind?

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To me personally? No, not really.

But I say that as a guy born in 1970, so I've always felt like I was smack dab in the dead center of Gen X. I was old enough to have siblings that grew up as young kids in the 60's and graduated from high school in the late 70's. I started with a giant tube TV in the living room which we all gathered around that I was forced to be the remote for (go change the channel) and a couple of small black and white TV's elsewhere. I remember life without a microwave and cable, but was young enough to have spent most of my childhood with both. I remember the Bicentennial, and saw Rocky in the theater. I remember 70s TV shows but really came into my own in the 80s. Same with music. I had an Atari 2600 when it came out, grew up dropping quarters in Asteroids and Space Invaders but soon started dropping 2 of them in Dragon's Lair. I was part of the first group of young kids to have computers in school.
I was 7 when Star Wars came out and 11 when Raiders came out. Obviously I was in the sweet spot for most of the 80's as a teenager. I turned 18 as the decade was drawing to a close and was the perfect age for Gen X movies like Clerks and Singles. But in the 70's, I was only a couple of years younger than the kids in Bad News Bears. My child to young adulthood spanned form the early 70's through the early 90's. Those are the points of reference that group shares, to me at least.

I think if you were born in '77, you have no real connection to the 70's at all, and your early 80's memories are fuzzy. Having some connections to the 70's as a kid, to me at least, is a huge part of being Gen X. Born in 77 means that your true teen years were spent in the 90's, which is a world of difference from 10 years earlier.

FWIW, while I know generations are much wider periods, I actually think that after the first part of the Baby Boomers there are to have been a recognition that as pop culture sped up generations needed to be made into smaller groups.

I don't associate the word "Great" with either of these actors.

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As simple as it sounds, you have to have understood the 80s.

Being a young adult or child.

So 40 years of age at the lowest to 55 at the highest. Anything over 55 seems like a reach and anything younger than 40 doesn't make any sense.

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I understand the 80s - I'm purely, unambigiously Generation X.

With all due respect, you're kind of all over the place.

So, with this latest post you are much more in agreement with the very broadly accepted conventional definition of 1965 and 1980 than the "early" Gen X theories or broader gap Gen X theories, despite other posts to the contrary.

Your Age 55 upper limit would exclude most of the brat pack, and RDJ is already 56, etc., while your 40 would be very in line with the Reagan/MTV theory as opposed to an arbitrarily earlier period. (I agree that generally 1965 to 1980 defines the solid pack of Generation X - give or take about a year at each end - I never bought into that "Generation Jones" crap, although the Xillenial microgeneration does make sense to me with video games and cable as commonalities.)

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Christian Slater even though I feel like he never really reached his full potential which was to be a consistent A-lister like Brad Pitt.

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Cocaine and heroin will do that to a career. Then add on top of that being arrested for a handgun at the airport, repeatedly punching a girl in the face and attacking a cop trying to take his handgun, a few dui’s…

I think you could throw some credit to Matthew Broderick too…War Games computer nerd and Ferris Bueller. When I was in high school everyone wanted to be Ferris Bueller.

Slater always seemed like he was trying to mimic Nicholson…and it was annoying as hell.

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I think more Gen xers can relate to the brat pack movies than Leo’s though

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Even if you can relate to them, most of his iconic roles are period pieces set outside the Gen X realm.

Titanic, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Django Unchained, Catch Me If You Can...

Wolf of Wall Street is set in the right time period (late 80's, early 90's) - however most of the characters were Boomers, and Gen X was JUST starting to enter the work force.

Jim Carrey was born in 62 and did nothing of note in the 80s(Once Bitten wasn't very popular then or now). If he counts, Johnny Depp needs to be in the mix.

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Jim Carrey was born in 62 and did nothing of note in the 80s(Once Bitten wasn't very popular then or now). If he counts, Johnny Depp needs to be in the mix.

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Limiting to actors' birth year, yeah Carey is out. Actors' birth year is probably the best to go by for the OP's question, but it leaves out a lot of 80's icons (Who were themselves Boomers by birth - e.g. Michael J. Fox is out).

Question still remains, why is it only the 80's that count culturally?

For instance, take a movie like Office Space (1999). This movie has Gen X written all over it.

1. White characters openly listening to Gangster Rap
2. The plot features a character rewarded for not giving a flip.
3. Characters in their early to mid 20's at the turn of the century (confirming Gen X)
4. These characters, while in their early-mid 20's with unsure career plans, still much prefer living in a 1-BDR apartment with thin walls over living with their parents.

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Question still remains, why is it only the 80's that count culturally?

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It isn't the only thing that should count and it really seems like there's multiple ways that people are choosing to look at it. I'd give bonus points to actors like River Phoenix and Anthony Michael Hall that were part of Gen X, while also being in iconic Gen X movies.

But there are multiple ways of looking at it and I can see why just about every actor that has came up in this thread has been mentioned.

Office Space has always been one of my favorite movies, but not really for any of the reasons that you mentioned. It was the main character's "epiphany" that "doing nothing" can lead to a pretty fulfilling life...and it's Mike Judge.

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It isn't the only thing that should count and it really seems like there's multiple ways that people are choosing to look at it. I'd give bonus points to actors like River Phoenix and Anthony Michael Hall that were part of Gen X, while also being in iconic Gen X movie

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I might swing around to Cusack (also, this is a fun discussion for all the ways it can be taken). I'll add the distinction that they should have impact throughout the Gen X life cycle (as it occurs so far):

Closest call on Cusack: Born in 1965, so just barely into Gen X himself.

Cultural Impact In the '80's as a teenager: 16 Candles + Better Off Dead

As a young professional, pre-marriage, and figuring out life as a 20-something in the 90's: Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity

Mid life crisis/reminiscing about being younger as a middle aged man in the late 00's: Hot Tub Time Machine