We got there. “It’s an expression that we say constantly. We got there as a society and, whether you like it or not, deal with that, ”says Jordan Dupuis about his documentary series, which he co-hosts with two other people, also millennials, also representatives of diversity, Vanessa Duchel and Anne-Lovely Étienne.
The latter describes a desire, with the program broadcast on Unis TV, to open the dialogue with the pan-Canadian French-speaking generation Z. “She is completely proud of who she is. It seems that there are almost no more taboos, that their normality is not the same as ours at the time,” she says.
By giving a voice to these young people who have audacity and steely wisdom, the trio wants to participate in the awakening of social consciences. “We are there”, confirms Anne-Lovely Étienne full of hope for the future. “They and they are just human beings trying to live their life and saying loud and clear that it is time to make room for change, especially for the environment. When I think about it, it’s not an issue I was necessarily aware of,” she notes.
“Generation Z is often criticized, judging that it spends its time on phones and tablets, that it is too superficial, that they are kings who do not want to work… In short, these are only stereotypes and caricatures”, points out Anne-Lovely Étienne, who promises, with her show, to “demystify all that”. If, according to her, millennials are probably “the baby boomers of Generation Z”, the idea ofWe got there is to build bridges between all ages to “open up and cultivate the will to be together”.
And his collaborator to specify: “We are very inspired by this uncompromising youth and we are fascinated by this inclusive generation, but also hyperdemanding. For Jordan Dupuis, the aspirations of young adults are justified by the fact that they have inherited “a rotting planet” and “an economic context in poor condition”.
“They are arrogant in their own way, but above all extremely endearing and people-oriented. They may also have Kylie Jenner as a role model for some things, just like Greta Thunberg for others. They are plural, ”underlines the facilitator, visibly admiring in front of his cadets. Because reversing the posture of enthusiasm for nostalgia is also that, We got there. “My God, we would have liked to have these models when we were 14-15 years old,” says Anne-Lovely Étienne.
Generation Z is widely criticized, judging that it spends its time on phones and tablets, that it is too superficial, that they are kings who do not want to work… In short, these are only stereotypes and caricatures.
A new perspective
To do this, Vanessa Duchel, Anne-Lovely Étienne and Jordan Dupuis evoke themes for the general public, in a new way, however, rarely read, seen or heard. “When we talk about body image, yes, of course, there is fatphobia and weight, but in our episode, we decided to do things differently, because body image is not isn’t just that,” explains the host.
What interested him, for example, was corporality in a trans body, “with the relationship to the body that changes”, as is the case for Lé Bernier, 16, whose portrait he paints for the occasion. “I cried a lot during the filming, he confides, because at that age, if I had had a tenth of his confidence in him, my life would have been completely different. The interview with the student surprised him all the more because he admits that he does not suffer from transphobia in his school, which has four trans people and an LGBTQ+ committee.
“These young people do not exist in the eyes of older people”, however regrets Jordan Dupuis. For this reason, it was essential thatWe got there be watched by several generations at the same time in front of their television sets. “It was important that the co-viewing of the show works well, because for me it is not a children’s show, but a family one”, he underlines. Since Generation Z “completely shuns traditional media”, podcasts and digital capsules complementary to the magazine have also been designed to satisfy the non-traditional media appetite of young people and “generate discussions between generations”.
Transported by the many conversations she had, Anne-Lovely Étienne would almost covet this emancipatory momentum of Generation Z. “We tell ourselves that we want to be like them,” she says with amusement, while the most old “are not even able to tell the difference between gender identity and sexual orientation. There is a whole lexicon to learn,” she notes.
In this regard, Jordan Dupuis welcomes the current desire to tell things as they are. “These young people want to name things correctly in order to fully understand the environment,” he says. To name does not mean to ostracize, but to recognize the existence of what exists…” According to him, this approach is essential to have good social cohesion. More than ever, we can therefore say: we have reached this point!