“Resonance” Within and Between Generations in the Era of "Social Acceleration": In Search For a “Good Life” in the TV Series Morning Changes Everything

This paper examines the generational TV series "Morning Changes Everything", which aroused significant public attention and received critical acclaim, but it also sparked certain controversies. The series follows the lives of four young people in their early thirties over a year time period, who are striving to find a meaningful way to live their lives within the bustling capital city, caught between identity dilemmas, parental expectations, and under pressure of the local version of the neoliberal order. The study is conceived as a hybrid form that combines an anthropological exploration of the domestic media landscape with an autoethnographic analysis of the reception of a generational TV series. It incorporates a personal, reflective perspective, and analyzes the reactions of both the author and their family members to the specific ways television depicts the lifestyles and self-discovery of the generation of young adults in their early thirties. In the first place it is an attempt to interpret spontaneous reactions to how generational conflicts with parents are portrayed in the series, with which the author can identify with in terms of age. The method of presenting a generational perspective is also considered through comparisons with the approaches used in the series “The Unpicked Strawberries”. The paper further examines several underlying assumptions. The first assumption is that due to the very specific, at first glance imperceptible, but yet consistent political approach advocated in the series, it makes sense to base the interpretation on the theoretical framework offered by contemporary German sociologist and political scientist Hartmut Rosa. Namely, the series offers a critique of the consequences of "social acceleration" within the distinctive cultural milieu of transitional Serbia. The effects of social acceleration intersect with the particular challenges faced by a generation of young people experiencing "prolonged adolescence." The next assumption is that the critique of the consequences of that process is achieved, among other things, by advocating an alternative lifestyle that rejects conformism (the pursuit of social success and the adherence to imposed social and gender roles), promoting a slower and more relaxed pace of life (free from imposed goals and the notion of "success in life"), and fostering resonance among the main protagonists’ generation. Resonance, which is the next assumption, is achieved through detailed depictions of situations in which it occurs, as well as through stylistic characteristics in character development. Thus, the main protagonists are portrayed neutrally, while members of other generations are often depicted in a distorted and/or comical way, amplifying both the sense of resonance within the group (and among the generationally aligned audience), and the distance between different generations. Furthermore, the resonance within the protagonists’ generation (and its closely aligned audience) is achieved through a carefully constructed visual identity of specially selected urban spaces in Belgrade. Finally, resonance is enhanced through the use of specific both diegetic and non-diegetic music, which emphasizes the impression of generational isolation, and challenges potential realistic-documentary interpretations of the series. In this sense, as the last assumption suggests, the series can be read not only as a more or less accurate portrait of a Belgrade generation, but also as a political-psychological project envisioning a possible good (better?) life. Achieving such a life depends on fostering successful relationships of resonance within and between generations.