Statement of Goals and Choices

MILLENNIAL

By: Chandler Isbell

Goal or Choice: Explanation:

The word millennial

I wanted to chose a word that meant something to

me and that would be in at least some way relevant

to the class. I was thinking about maybe remixing

other words before I chose millennial. One

contender was the word strong. I ended up choosing

millennial because I thought it would be more

applicable to the class and that it was a more

interesting word to remix. Although the word as

defined by the Webster Dictionary, is a person

who was born in the 1980s or 1990s, millennial

means a lot more than that in our discourse group.

One reason I chose this word is because I think that

the overall feeling associated with millennials is

negative. While I personally have also felt those

feelings Ive realized over the course of this project

 that is not okay. My goal of this project is to defend

the millennials and remix how they are perceived.

Polling millennials and non-millennials about millennials

My goal in doing this was to first validate my

connotations with millennials. I was pretty certain

of what connotations I had with millennials, but I

wanted to reassure myself that the connotations that

I had were universal. So I could effectively remix it.

My second goal was to be able to use those answers

in my project to show that everyone, even

millennials, think negatively about the generation. I

wasnt expecting that the results of the poll were

going to be overwhelmingly negative. About 90%

of the people I asked gave negative answers. When

I asked my friends, What is the first thing you

think of when you think of millennials? people

came up with words like: Lazy, entitled, brats,

bitches, crazy, and a co-worker of mine even said,

Can I just laugh? I chose to include these answers

as part of my remix to show that when people

initially reacted to the word they gave words that

were linked to low expectations.

To paint two pictures

 I decided to paint two pictures to show the

difference about how the world views millennials

and to show what I think millennials are actually

like. I thought it would be effective to be a painting

because I could accurately depict how I feel and

how I wanted to remix it. With painting you can

literally create whatever you want so I thought it

would be a great medium for this project.

The first painting

My goal with the first painting was to depict the

connotations with millennials that are negative. I

tried to paint a person not accomplishing anything. I

started with the girl lying on the floor. Which

depicts how people view millennials as lazy and

unmotivated. I also decided to include the power

strip to represent technology. The power chords rap

around her neck to represent the stereotype that

millennials are tied to technology and that they

waste a lot of time accomplishing nothing on them.

The second painting

In the second painting I wanted to make a similar

themed picture. It is like a better interpretation of

millennials under the same circumstance. I wanted

 to include technology again because I feel like to

not include it would be a dishonest representation.

In this case though, the girl is using it to do

something. Her eyes look determined. She is doing

something and ultimately becoming something.

While it is a similar picture, in this light she has

more promise. The goal of this is to show all people

that millennials are determined. Perhaps they spend

their time differently than other generations, but

they are not simply wasting their lives away. That is

why I included the airplane on the computer screen

because I feel that millennials value travel and

adventure. I also included the words student loans

because millennials value their education. I felt that

this painting better represents millenials.

The word underestimated

I felt that this was the most important part of the

project. The pictures do offer a distinction of

expectations and reality, but I like the meaning of

the word underestimated. This word was actually a

response from my brother-in-law when I asked him,

What is the first thing you think of when you think

of millennials? and he responded of course,

Underestimated! I think that my brother-in-law is

great example of my idea of a millennial. He has

worked really had in his life. He is only 24 and has

started two businesses and is a hard worker. I think

that underestimating this generation could prevent

people from taking chances and indoctrinate

millennials that they are what the connotations of

the word suggest. Lazy, dumb and unmotivated! For

that reason I chose to include the word

underestimated.