Replay explores the integration of elderhood into our cultural perceptions of aging. It also looks at the intersection of commonly held perceptions of aging with how those views and attitudes are presented in recent films.
POST #10
On the Road to Older Age: Insights from the ‘Elder Odyssey’
The "road movie" is a venerable narrative tradition that has been identified with the history of American cinema in the second half of the twentieth century.
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POST #9
To Age or Not to Age: Thoughts on the film “Paradise”
Paradise, a new movie on Netflix, presents a rather intriguing storyline. Set in the future, scientists have discovered how to safely extract a designated amount of lifespan from one person and give it to another person—for a price. All that is needed is to find a match, a donor whose
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POST #8
Can We Talk about Sex and Aging? (Part One)
“I don’t care what society says about women our age. Sex must not be taken off the table!”
This double-entendre line from the recent film, Book Club, reflects a shift in public discourse about sex and aging. The film is a jovial portrayal of four older women’s discovery of the book,
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POST #7
“I Just Want Something Light!”
Many of us, at the end of a busy day, just want something light and entertaining to watch. For many individuals, this rules out watching anything to do with older adulthood; any film dealing with aging and growing older would not, by definition, be an entertaining film.
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POST #6
Can You Imagine Your Older Self?
When I was in my early twenties, I wrote a really bad poem about climbing trees at different points in my life: as a little kid, and then projecting all the way into my imagined eighties.
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POST #5
My Thoughts Left Word Prints on the Ground
The other night I dreamt that I was walking outside and as I walked, my thoughts left word prints on the ground. The words just spilled out and arranged themselves on the ground behind me as I moved along.
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POST #4
How to Measure Successful Aging
The concept of “successful aging” has been around for some time, and has gained increasing currency over the past few years. It is fueled by oodles of books, films, academic articles, newspaper columns, blogs, and social media musings. But how does one measure successful aging?
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POST #3
Romping in Vegas: How Stories Can Impact Your Health and Longevity
Living in a society that uncritically accepts the denigration of aging and elderhood can be like living with polluted air. Polluted air will affect your health and longevity. Polluted perceptions of older adulthood can affect your emotional and physical health as well. Such perceptions of older adulthood are prevalent in
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POST #2
“He makes boring films about old people.”
One day, many years ago, my teenaged son was introducing me to some of his friends. After the introduction, he added: “He makes boring films about old people.” We all had a good chuckle over that, but later it struck me as a poignant reflection of the societally ageist waters
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POST #1
Did our ancestors of 30,000 years ago make “movies”?
Long before there were cameras to capture images, our early ancestors were creating images of their own.
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