It’s pinging around in my head, but I can’t get to it right now. Maybe James Franco can do it:

“20something” “authenticity” + moments of realness = The link between mumblecore films, Tao Lin, and bands featuring banjo-plucking earnestness (let’s say… Mumford and Sons? The Avett Brothers? Fleet Foxes?). Hint: it’s not that they’ve produced any masterpieces! Additionally: notice how when people recommend these works, it’s usually because “it had that one part that was so familiar.”

It’s fine, up to a point. It may move you if you are in the right spot. But where is the elevation, the artfulness? The very careful choices? And this is a hoary old saw, admittedly, because 24 in 1941 is VERY DIFFERENT than 24 now, but can you believe that Orson Welles made Citizen Kane at 24? What would he be doing if he was 24 in 2012?

Followup: Beyond the Muse: the role of female artists in this 20something realness tip.

Extra Credit: Why Lena Dunham and her relentlessly Female Gaze is an exception. *It is also not a coincidence, I think, that Lynne Shelton, Humpday director, has moved onto bigger films and the occasional Mad Men episode. I’m not sure where the Duplass Brothers fit in, though.

Hot tip: Writer who writes this piece is NOT ALLOWED to abuse the use of “scare” quotes.