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The Goonies was a great movie, but it does not define Gen X [1]

['Jason Weisberger']

Date: 2025-08-14

The Goonies is a beloved movie to many Gen Xers, but current discussions of rebranding us as "Gen Goonie" are stupid.

It's not just any old name either, as a recent TikTok trend has seen many internet users rename Gen Xers to Generation Goonie instead. If you didn't already guess, it's after the iconic 1985 movie, The Goonies, about a group of kids setting out on an adventure to find long-lost pirate treasure (naturally). The idea is that those who were born between 1970 and 1985—the first millennials were born in 1981, so elder millennials just make the cut too—might actually be Generation Goonie because they grew up in a very specific way. Just like the characters from The Goonies, they had freedom and a sense of adventure you just can't find in today's world. NewsWeek

Culturally, Generation X spans a wide range of influences, experiences, and media. Gen X had independence thrust upon us, latchkey kids with absentee parents in a time of recessions, and mass economic uncertainty. Goonie's parents were pretty close and observant, and the economic disparity between the kids was largely glossed over.

Gen X distrusts authority and considers prior generations largely irrelevant. The Goonies treated the authority figures as jokes and comedic relief, not as distrusted evil people who could be ignored. The style of The Goonies music, style, and fashion are all pre-90s, a decade that shaped much of Gen X's current identity.

Aside from suburban boredom forcing the kids to make their own fun, and some actors that became Gen X icons, like Chunk, Gen X is not Gen Goonie. Folks on Reddit also think this is bs. I would say that "Singles" and "Gotcha!" better capture what it was to be Gen X at the time — now, I think we all just want to be left alone and are happy to be "The Forgotten Generation."

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