| Abstrakt: |
This paper traces the shifting portrayals of the Millennial generation in the media. Early descriptions of the Millennials were extremely positive and focused on their potential to be the next "greatest generation." More recent depictions have highlighted Millennials' incompetence, entitlement, incessant need for unmerited praise, and unprofessional behavior in the workplace. These two portrayals were aligned with two different discourses of youth: the wunderkind discourse and the developmental discourse. While the developmental discourse offers adults a role where they can positively contribute to the lives of youth, the wunderkind discourse offers adults a limited role which may harm youth. I argue that a portrayal of the Millennials aligned with the developmental discourse became ascendant because it assuaged the anxieties provoked by the depiction of the Millennials as a type of wunderkind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
