Visions of Aging

Images of the Elderly in Film

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by Amir Cohen-Shalev

Type: Studies
Subject: Sociology
Keywords: sociology
Publishing date: 2008
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 148 pages
6 ¼ x 9 ½ inches (16 x 24 cm)

ISBN

978-1-84519-280-8

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Book Presentation:
The interface of old age and cinema provides a fascinating yet uncharted territory in the humanities and social sciences. In Visions of Aging, two central perspectives are explored: movies on old age by old filmmakers and movies on old age by younger artists. The first perspective focuses on the cinematic representation of aging from within, whereas the second examines the ways aging is viewed from the outside. The distinction is based on the schism between the phenomenology of aging and its social representation. The one hinges on intrinsic qualities of "old age style" or "late style" while the second addresses attitudes towards old age in general, as well as towards aging artists and the reception (or rejection) of their late films. The author combines these general perspectives as they shift between text and context, beginning with aging from the outside in order to introduce the semantics and pragmatics of the context (reception and filmmaking stylistic change; midlife images of old age) and continuing into the world of aging as cinematically represented from within by old filmmakers - an often idiosyncratic, metaphysical, and sometimes unapproachable world. By providing a roadmap that charts previous scholarly paths of inquiry, this book offers a panoramic view of the direction of this new field of cinematic gerontology, and is essential reading for students and scholars of cinema, humanistic gerontology, psychology of art, the sociology of old age, and popular culture.

Press Reviews:
“Cohen-Shalev’s Visions of Aging will excite all those interested in age studies, the social and psychological sciences, and film studies. While accessible to the general reader, the book delves into late style theory most persuasively and will make anyone wish to revisit movies by major film-makers, whose experience of aging transformed and inspired a new creativity.” —Professor Anne M. Wyatt-Brown, University of Florida, coeditor, Journal of Aging, Humanities, and the Arts

“I want to see those movies again! And I want to think again about the ways in which Visions of Aging on the big and the little screen are variously enriching, distorting, and illuminating the latter days of our lives. Thank you, Amir Cohen-Shalev! You have contributed a fresh and invigorating perspective.” —Robert Kastenbaum, editor, Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, author, On Our Way: The Final Passage Through Life and Death

“In a carefully selected series of powerful depictions, Cohen-Shalev enlists cinematic milestones in the annals of the film industry to get to grips with the discontents and anxieties aroused by the inevitable, yet invisible, presence of the reality of penultimate death. This insight study of the cinematic imagery of old age is a much needed contribution to any critical reading of contemporary culture: It reframes the mid-life triangular intercourse between film makers, critics and audiences to reveal a hitherto unseen magnificent palette of the unharmonious yet exciting view in winter.” —Professor Haim Hazan, Tel Aviv University, author, The Limbo People: A Study of the Constitution of the Time Universe Among the Aged

See the publisher website: Liverpool University Press

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