The World is changing at a pace we can't fathom. And the ones to inherit it - Millennials - Generations Y and Z - are learning to cope with it - the loss of old identities, the creation of new identities - in different ways. What drives them? What makes them tick? What do they want from life.
This is the first draft of what is a (very large) work in progress. But if you're looking for an answer, it may just start with one word. Experience.
In a world where identity is a function of not where you came from, but where you've been, what you've seen, who you've spoken to, what you've touch-felt-tasted-heard-experienced
2. e megapixel has demysti ed context in the World
• e imagination is superseded by our
newfound ability to experience
• e internet and the megapixel made
the imagination obsolete for most of us
• Everything is mapped, de ned, visible
• e world is naked and we are free to
take advantage of it
• Everything is connected, tangible,
available
3. e aeroplane and the internet have globalized context
• Context is no longer localized
• You could nd Gothic architecture in
21st Century Santiago; you could get
authentic Swiss Gruyere cheese in
Shanghai; you could sip authentic
Chardonnay in Nasik
• A Hollywood lm could be #1 in
Mumbai
• We all construct our identity by
opting-in to what appeals to us
4. Identity lies at the intersection of the real and the extraordinary
• Cinema often serves as a re ection of who we
are, and who we hope to be
• As a generation we have seen the resurgence of
the epic in Hollywood
• e Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Eragon,
Twilight, e Chronicles of Narnia, Kung-fu
Panda, Spiderman, Batman, Iron Man,
Gladiator and so on
• Closer home, our landmark movies center on
gritty realism (Satya, Company, Rang de
Basanti) or hopeful optimism (Munnabhai
MBBS, ree Idiots)
• is leaves us with the understanding that there
is more to life than was thought before
• at living is a discovery of who we are
• at we are meant to be all that we can be
5. Welcome to the hyperreal world of Inception, e Dark Knight
• High de nition means high interactivity
• e hypertextuality fundamental to the
web has made our stories hyperreal –
more real than real
• Inception exists as an idea, a movie, a
website, on Facebook, in PR, as a series
of comics (designed after the movie) – an
intricate web of content for the devoted
fan to piece together
• Modern stories are no longer just
the book, the movie or the TV
show; but the before and the after
and behind-the-scenes, too
6. Ga Ga over Gaga; surrender to the beat
• Music lies closer to the soul than any other
medium can
• Lady Gaga makes culture accessible again. Like
Twilight, she contemporizes and brings epics
down to an ‘easy listening’ level
• Jalebi Cartel pull you into the beat – bring you
close to your primal side
• Linkin Park engage you with an existential angst
and a hopeful riff
• Jay-Z shows you the path to success – to de ne
yourself as an individual
• Strings – guitars, violins and so on – involve us,
make us cognizant of ourselves; while beats –
drums, electronic – are more primal and help us
lose ourselves
• Our music blends with us, making us complete
7. e new de nition of the self has tangibilized context
• High-de nition means high-touch
• e iPod made content mobile
• e iPhone, the App Store and the
social web made content hyperreal
• Everything is sensorial, everything is
sensual, everything is tremendously
interconnected
• is is the beginning of the new UX
and the semantic web
• We touch, we share, we delight in
experience – it is the sharing that
de nes us