From TikTok to New Values on Screen: How Gen-Z Is Shaping Film Trends
How Gen-Z is changing the film industry.
'Children of the internet,' 'zoomers,' 'Gen-Z' — these all describe people born in the mid-1990s through the early 2010s. This generation is the first to grow up in the digital age, which brought new ways of thinking, new values, and a new relationship to film. DeTalks looked into how this has shaped cinema.
TikTok as a Promotional Platform
Launched in 2016, TikTok grew popular among young people. Today, 69.4% of its audience is between the ages of 18 and 34.
Short videos don't give the 'generation of quick emotions' time to get bored. Marketers promoting new releases can put that to use. Research from TikTok's marketing science team, for instance, showed that 36% of 1,000 respondents aged 18 and up said they'd be willing to buy a movie ticket after watching a video about a new release.
The buzz around short videos online is also a factor that speeds up how quickly users turn into moviegoers. Four out of every ten people, for instance, agreed that the popularity Barbie and Saltburn gained on TikTok pushed them to watch those films.
What Gen-Z Loves in Film
According to the "Teens & Screens 2024" study, which surveyed 1,644 teenagers aged 10 to 24, Generation Z prefers inspiring stories about overcoming hardship. Themes like these reflect this generation's resilience, optimism, and hope.
When it comes to romance, though, zoomers are less optimistic: 62.5% believe sexual content isn't necessary for moving a plot forward, leaning instead toward platonic relationships. So the romantic content of media is shifting from romantic drama toward emotional bonds and mutual respect.
Despite this, in a survey about favorite genres, 17% of 1,000 respondents aged 13 to 25 chose romance. The top three were led by comedy (38%), horror (32%), and action (29%). Another study, meanwhile, singled out comedy and animation as favorite genres, attributing it to the audience's lightheartedness and youthful escapism.
Gen-Z Values on Screen
In a Reddit discussion titled 'What film defines this generation?', users mention the Marvel universe, as well as animated films like Megamind and Shrek.
Writer and film, TV, and pop culture researcher Brianna Ahrens has also spoken about the latter film.
Ahrens has described how, growing up, there were plenty of princesses and fairy tales to watch, but that there's something about a fantasy story that lets its main characters accept their flaws and be imperfect, saying that's exactly what this generation especially loves.
Marvel's popularity, particularly the Spider-Man films, is discussed in an article co-authored with Brianna by her colleague, film and TV journalist Randy Jones.
According to him, Tom Holland's version of Peter Parker won over the hearts of 'zillennials' — that is, 'early' zoomers born between 1994 and 1999. This new Spider-Man came to fully resonate with Generation Z through his teenage, sometimes geeky and awkward qualities.
The journalist's point is backed up by a Reddit user's post noting changes they'd observed in Spider-Man's character. The film fan explains how the superhero has 'rebooted' each time to represent the youngest generation.
The Reddit user has described how Millennial Spidey (Tobey Maguire) finds out his career in 'print journalism' is dead, forcing him to struggle and look for work, and how Doctor Octopus later shows up in his life to point out the guy's weakness and lack of motivation, much like the rest of today's young people.
The Reddit user goes on to describe Gen-Z Spidey (Tom Holland) as a little awkward and strange, but really just someone who wants to help people and maybe get to know a girl he likes, adding that he's going to make a bunch of memes about it and then ironically talk about how bad everything was.
As a result, Generation Z is starting to define trends for the film industry. Oriented around their own values, speed, and emotional resonance, zoomers choose films through TikTok, embrace irony, and accept their own flaws. This is exactly the generation setting the tone for the future of film: open, sensitive, and, at the same time, inspiring.