I Wanna Be Adored

This video is touted as: "Youth of the alternative culture speak out about their decision to opt out of the mainstream of mass media, corporate structures and consumerism to establish their unique identity." Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, and utilizing the commentary of a relative handful of Gen-X slackers, this pseudo-documentary is intellectually bankrupt from top to bottom. While the film work is fine, and the editing quite good, the commentary never rises above the level of vapid, self-absorbed whining from the incredibly insular youth culture sample offered here. To wit: a guy who stands around on a street corner washing car windshields is offended because he's not treated like the demi-god of window washers, or a zoned-out girl hustling spare change, too lazy to even stand up while she's hustling, who tells us she'd rather live in a van than work a 9-5 job. That's some heavy social commentary. The involvement of alternative hipster Jello Biafra (erstwhile frontman for the Dead Kennedys) is evidently intended to lend some sort of way cool cachet to the project. As if. This video is, like, totally not recommended, especially at $160. (P. Van Vleck)