"I usually play disenfranchised youth"
About this Quote
The phrasing is revealingly clinical. “Disenfranchised” is a political word smuggled into an acting anecdote. It implies systems, not just teenage moodiness: class, family instability, institutional neglect. Tunney’s subtext is that her work has often been less about individual rebellion than about the social machinery that produces it. That makes the comment feel like a small act of refusal against Hollywood’s habit of aestheticizing suffering into a vibe.
Context matters: Tunney came up in the 1990s, when American pop culture was obsessed with the “angry young person” as both warning label and fashion statement. Films and TV sold alienation as authenticity, then treated it as a market segment. Her quote subtly exposes how performers can become conduits for a zeitgeist, repeatedly hired to embody the same collective anxiety. It’s not just typecasting; it’s culture rehearsing its guilt.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Tunney, Robin. (2026, January 15). I usually play disenfranchised youth. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-usually-play-disenfranchised-youth-145052/
Chicago Style
Tunney, Robin. "I usually play disenfranchised youth." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-usually-play-disenfranchised-youth-145052/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I usually play disenfranchised youth." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-usually-play-disenfranchised-youth-145052/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.



