Aging & Social Change: Ninth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

Although the world and particularly higher-income countries are aging, we live in a youth-oriented society. This research project examines the representation of older people in current day German-speaking fiction films. Data of the pilot study shows that older people are highly underrepresented, stereotyped, and mostly depicted in a negative light. Ageist remarks and jokes are also commonly used. Theoretical research gives the possibility to identify the common representation patterns. However the gap between academic research and film practice remains. I intend to find the link between theory and practice. How can academic research and art contribute to each other and acquire knowledge from each other? My plan is to invite people in retirement age to re-enact the most typical scenes identified in the theoretical research and to reflect about their experiences thereafter. I want to give older people a voice to evaluate and reason about the scenes themselves. The result will be a creative documentary film. The aim of this study is to encourage a critical discussion about the representation of older people in film by combining theoretical and artistic research methods.