Open AccessBack in the Saddle Again: Ethics, Visibility, and Aging on Screen
Author(s) -
Maruta Z. Vitols,
Caitrin Lynch
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
anthropology and aging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.127
H-Index - 2
ISSN - 2374-2267
DOI - 10.5195/aa.2015.85
Subject(s) - invisibility , visibility , mainstream , hollywood , mass media , order (exchange) , sociology , media studies , aesthetics , saddle , gender studies , psychology , art , art history , political science , law , engineering , computer science , artificial intelligence , geography , mechanical engineering , finance , meteorology , economics
This paper engages with filmic portrayals of older adults in the U.S. in order to ask questions about the impacts of mass media on reproducing, critiquing, or interrogating mainstream values and assumptions about aging. The study considers the recent Hollywood works The Expendables (2010) and R.E.D. (2010), as well as the independent documentary Young@Heart (2007). We forefront questions of visibility, invisibility, and recognition both in terms of what experiences and realities are rendered visible or invisible by mass media, but also in terms of the subjective experiences of many older adults in the United States