What can Ellen Page’s Appeal to Flapper Culture Tell Us About the Problems Today’s Youth

Face?

Ellen Welles Page, “A Flapper’s Appeal to Parents” (1922)

Ellen considers herself a “semi-flapper”, she fits in appearance wise with her bobbed hair, powdered
nose, fringed skirts, and brightly colored clothing and she loves to attend proms and crew races, but she
does not use lipstick, or pluck her eyebrows, or smoke, or drink, or tell ‘peppy stories’. She is pleading
with America’s mothers and fathers to not reflexively judge their flapper daughters and to explain the
appeal of Flapper culture to young teenage girls. Ellen begins her argument expressing how being a
successful flapper takes brains and hard work. It requires self-awareness and cleverness. “’Brains?’ you
repeat… ‘Then why aren’t they used to better advantage?’” Ellen retorts back that the fault lies in the
parents, in the older generation. It is because they have set the example. They blame the war, they
blame the government, and they blame the society before they blame themselves. The older generation
disregards their children, providing no guidance and in doing so set the stage for “rebellious” teenage
behavior. Teens “are further advanced and more thoroughly developed mentally, physically, and
vocationally that were our parents at our age”, they were thrown into the real world much sooner but
also less prepared. They “hold the infinite possibilities of the myriads of new inventions within our
grasp” and with no one to help these teens, they are forced to rely on each other.

The Gen Z Mental Health Wave – What is causing the surge? and Generation Z and Mental Health

Today’s youth population, Generation Z or Gen Z, are the most anxiety riddled generation to date,
rooting from stressors such as the Coronavirus pandemic, unemployment, climate change, technology,
school shootings, and student debt. A major characteristic that separates this generation from the
others is that there is little to no remembrance of a world without technology. This generation grew up
entirely in the digital era which fixates on a hyper connectivity to the world. There is awareness of all the
negativity of the world’s problems in the news, or a fear of missing out, or even falling short of a
standard created by social media. Alongside this, cyberbullying or exposure to content that contains
self-harm, harassment, or undereating can also detrimentally affect a youth’s mental health. The
coronavirus, however, has had the most effect on the recent spikes in depression, since it has radically
changed educational and social experiences, destabilized economies, even robbed some of a parent of
loved one. And especially in communities of color, parents or cultures plays a big part in the mental
health of the young. “People of color are more likely to suppress, downplay, or ignore their emotions
altogether… even when Black and Latino youth opt to seek help, they can struggle to find a professional
who understands their unique cultural backgrounds and concerns.” It is unclear if this generation does
suffer from mental illnesses or if the rise in statistics is due to a widespread popularization of mental
illnesses, however the fact still stands that teenagers are under more and more stress with every passing
generation.
Connections

Every new generation, it’s a different struggle and a new circumstance. All the pressures are on the
youth, the future of the country, who have access to new technologies and opportunities their parents
couldn’t even dream about. Especially in a world where it’s hard to get support from your parents,
teenagers feel isolated and alone, and can only lean on to the people who understand them the best,
other teenagers. It creates a cultural phenomenon, found widespread the US and common amongst
most or all teens. Like Page’s Flapper era, today’s equivalent is the socially progressive depressed Gen Z.
The Flapper era erupted from the atrocities of World War I and the Gen Z era was the result of many
smaller events but gained most popularity from the Coronavirus Pandemic. It is interesting to compare
the teenage culture of different time periods, because in their roots its all the same only the reaction to
major events is different. Another fun comparison is to point out that teenagers tend to fall back onto
drugs as a way to desensitize themselves to their worldly problems, the flapper era mentions how it is
common practice to see these ladies smoking and in today’s era it’s the same with vaping.

Casey, Annie E. Generation Z and Mental Health. 16 October 2021.

<https://www.aecf.org/blog/generation-z-and-mental-health>.

Garnham, Chloe. HealthMatch. 2 September 2022. 22 September 2022.

<https://healthmatch.io/blog/the-gen-z-mental-health-wave-what-is-causing-the-
surge#:~:text=A%20highly%20connected%20world%2C%20climate,and%20depression
%20among%20Gen%20Zers.>.

Page, Ellen Welles. The American Yawp Reader. 1922. 22 September 2022.
<https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/22-the-new-era/ellen-welles-page-a-flappers-appeal-
to-parents-1922/>.