{"id":4111,"date":"2025-05-11T16:21:37","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T20:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/?p=4111"},"modified":"2025-05-11T16:21:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T20:21:37","slug":"kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Kids: Nothing\u2019s the Matter with Kids Today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
An older Harmony Korine
Source: Wikimedia user Ariela Ortiz-Barrantes<\/a>
License<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Becoming a young cinephile in the aughts and early 2010s meant seeking out Larry Clark\u2019s Kids <\/i>(1995). Its writer, Harmony Korine, had gone on to disgust and inspire a generation raised on LiveLeak<\/em> and the Pain Olympics. Rumored to be the uncut product of his young genius, Kids <\/i>offered access to reality, an authenticity edited away even on scandal-obsessed daytime TV. Even then, it reeked of indie, of a world bygone, if only because I never would\u2019ve been cool enough to live like the titular kids did anyway. Nobody cared whether you liked the movie or not. It was a relic, an object of awe not base feelings like preference.<\/p>\n

Here I am revisiting it a decade and more on. I\u2019m surprised to find how aged it feels, how strongly its writing feels more like the graspings of a sharp but imperfect teenage mind, how dated its subject matter comes off. Was it worth seeking out and taking in all these years later?<\/p>\n

Kids <\/i>stands in a long line of Gen-X street and party youth films from Streetwise <\/i>(1984) to The Decline of Western Civilization Part III <\/i>(1998) and Party Monster <\/i>(2003). Its barebones plot\u2014a young girl learns that she has contracted HIV despite only having had sex once and seeks out the promiscuous boy who infected her\u2014exists to luxuriate in the shock of teens and preteens having sex, drinking, doing drugs, and beating up innocent bystanders. Conservatively, I estimate 30% of the movie has the camera locked onto the stomachs, abs, or breasts of the main actors (who were, I should add, of age). Visually, Kids <\/i>is flat. The shock, the transgression\u2014these form the point.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, if you know Harmony Korine\u2019s work, it\u2019s hard not to feel him snickering throughout. To the film, it isn\u2019t funny that a young girl gets HIV after one sexual encounter even though she only finds out because she\u2019s at the clinic to support her more promiscuous best friend. To Korine, I suspect it is. Same goes for when she tracks down patient zero just in time to see him infect a preteen. Not looking behind him, he screeches \u201cyo, close the door!\u201d She complies. Korine, I suspect, laughed.<\/p>\n

But none of it feels shocking anymore. Its rawness feels like a relic of the past, a time when kids were more social, physical, and frankly putting themselves in harm\u2019s way more often. Now I\u2019d be more afraid of my kid gooning or becoming a NEET than that they\u2019re running the streets. And, if they are, it\u2019s probably in a gang in an out-of-the-way part of New York, not just above midtown or in the Lower East Side. Everyone smokes weed now. And not in a fun way.<\/p>\n

Put otherwise, Kids <\/i>feels like a different kind of relic now than it did back when I was younger. Its subject matter is dated. More than that, however, its interest in disturbing and shocking the viewer feels self-indulgent, of a time, a time when we weren\u2019t all so exhausted by being shocked. G.G. Allin lived back then, not now.<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t to say it\u2019s a bad film. I strongly recommend anyone who hasn\u2019t watched it do so. It\u2019s worth getting into Clark and Korine for their own sake\u2014and there\u2019s no better place to start than here. The filmmaking is effective, if repetitive. But that makes it a decent film, not the mysterious object imbued with a magical aura I once knew. Pity. Seems I\u2019ve become nostalgic for my own nostalgia.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Becoming a young cinephile in the aughts and early 2010s meant seeking out Larry Clark\u2019s Kids (1995). Its writer, Harmony Korine, had gone on to disgust and inspire a generation raised on LiveLeak and the Pain Olympics. Rumored to be the uncut product of his young genius, Kids offered access to reality, an authenticity edited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2640,"featured_media":4114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1731],"tags":[5083,5089,5086,2302,5095,5092],"class_list":["post-4111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-g-g-allin","tag-harmony-korine","tag-larry-clark","tag-new-york-city","tag-party-monster","tag-streetwise"],"yoast_head":"\nKids: Nothing\u2019s the Matter with Kids Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"But that makes it a decent film, not the mysterious object imbued with a magical aura I once knew. Pity. Seems I\u2019ve become nostalgic for my own nostalgia.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kids: Nothing\u2019s the Matter with Kids Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"But that makes it a decent film, not the mysterious object imbued with a magical aura I once knew. Pity. Seems I\u2019ve become nostalgic for my own nostalgia.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jappers and Janglers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Padusniak\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-11T20:21:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/635\/2025\/05\/Harmony_Korine_with_fan_at_81st_Venice_Film_Festival-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chase Padusniak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ChasePadusniak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chase Padusniak\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/\",\"name\":\"Kids: Nothing\u2019s the Matter with Kids Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-11T20:21:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-11T20:21:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/#\/schema\/person\/38d40d60747ca0a82702b6e16f474dad\"},\"description\":\"But that makes it a decent film, not the mysterious object imbued with a magical aura I once knew. Pity. Seems I\u2019ve become nostalgic for my own nostalgia.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Kids: Nothing\u2019s the Matter with Kids Today\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/\",\"name\":\"Jappers and Janglers\",\"description\":\"Insightful, thought-provoking, and stimulating discussion \u2013 Patheos\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/#\/schema\/person\/38d40d60747ca0a82702b6e16f474dad\",\"name\":\"Chase Padusniak\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5f27bd0f8a5bffa85563ef7cd817e3c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5f27bd0f8a5bffa85563ef7cd817e3c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chase Padusniak\"},\"description\":\"Chase Padusniak is a doctoral student in the English Department at Princeton University, where he specializes in medieval literature, specifically mystical texts and dream visions of the English and German traditions. His other interests include contemporary Critical Theory and the Neoplatonic tradition in the Late Antique Period and Middle Ages.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Padusniak\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChasePadusniak\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/author\/cpadusniak\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kids: Nothing\u2019s the Matter with Kids Today","description":"But that makes it a decent film, not the mysterious object imbued with a magical aura I once knew. Pity. Seems I\u2019ve become nostalgic for my own nostalgia.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kids: Nothing\u2019s the Matter with Kids Today","og_description":"But that makes it a decent film, not the mysterious object imbued with a magical aura I once knew. Pity. Seems I\u2019ve become nostalgic for my own nostalgia.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/","og_site_name":"Jappers and Janglers","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Padusniak\/","article_published_time":"2025-05-11T20:21:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/635\/2025\/05\/Harmony_Korine_with_fan_at_81st_Venice_Film_Festival-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Chase Padusniak","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ChasePadusniak","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chase Padusniak","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/","name":"Kids: Nothing\u2019s the Matter with Kids Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-05-11T20:21:37+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-11T20:21:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/#\/schema\/person\/38d40d60747ca0a82702b6e16f474dad"},"description":"But that makes it a decent film, not the mysterious object imbued with a magical aura I once knew. Pity. Seems I\u2019ve become nostalgic for my own nostalgia.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/2025\/05\/kids-nothings-the-matter-with-kids-today\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Kids: Nothing\u2019s the Matter with Kids Today"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/","name":"Jappers and Janglers","description":"Insightful, thought-provoking, and stimulating discussion \u2013 Patheos","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/#\/schema\/person\/38d40d60747ca0a82702b6e16f474dad","name":"Chase Padusniak","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5f27bd0f8a5bffa85563ef7cd817e3c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5f27bd0f8a5bffa85563ef7cd817e3c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Chase Padusniak"},"description":"Chase Padusniak is a doctoral student in the English Department at Princeton University, where he specializes in medieval literature, specifically mystical texts and dream visions of the English and German traditions. His other interests include contemporary Critical Theory and the Neoplatonic tradition in the Late Antique Period and Middle Ages.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Padusniak\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChasePadusniak"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/author\/cpadusniak\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2640"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jappersandjanglers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}