The Hungarian DuckTales generation
Which generation do you belong to? Are you a boomer? A GenX? Millennial? Your answer determines a lot of things from your bank account to your political views. It’s the same thing with Hungary, with some local flavor.
Boomers are called the “Ratkó-children” because of a prominent Communist politician in charge of demographics in the late 1940’s. Their children, the GenX, are of course “Ratkó-grandchildren”.
There are in between generations. Late boomers, Xennials and the like.
Hungarians going to high school before 1990 and those who did after that are very different. Of course this is the GenX/Millennial gap but the difference here is even more pronounced. It’s very different to be a teenager in a communist regime and in a free country. These late genX-ers and early millennials have a name here in Hungary.
The Duck Tales Generation
30 years ago on this day every kid in Hungary watched the Duck Tales. We had two Hungarian channels on our TVs. Satellite tv became legal a few years back so we started to learn about HeMan, GI Joe, My Little Pony and our older siblings became serious MTV junkies (just like us a few years on.)
But Disney Afternoon was sacred. Every family watched the Duck Tales, the Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and Five Mile Creek.
The screen goes dark
Thirty years ago on this day in the middle of the DuckTales when Scrooge McDuck (in Hungarian: uncle Dagobert) went crazy about losing his fortune again, the screen went dark and funeral music started to play. Like this:
The prime minister, József Antall, died. He had non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukemia. His death was expected, the state media almost immediately switched to London Bridge mode.
We, the Children…were angry and confused. Our parents tried to soothe us but to no avail.
Thirty years on we still remember. This 30th anniversary is commemorated across the Hungarian media because people of my age (I am 42) all remember that moment. We were old enough to remember but too young to comprehend. In other parts of our lives we remember the last years of communism to some extent but our formative years came a few years later. We are an in-between generation. Sociologists don't have to think about labeling us. We are the DuckTales Generation.
"Duck Tales" in English was actually "Tale Spin".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TaleSpin
A couple of years earlier in the '80s the same thing happened when Leonid Brezhnev died. "The Cranes are Flying" replaced some long expected exciting programme. I watched in spite and hated every moment of it, along with stupid Mr. Brezhnev, who could've really been a bit more considerate choosing his moment of passing away.