Growing Resilience
Politics of the Margins: Cinematic Discourses of Retirement in About Schmidt (2002) and The Intern (2015) View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Denisa Adriana Oprea, Loredana Ivan
We reflect upon the cinematic representation of adjustment to retirement based on a comparative approach of two American movies, i.e. About Schmidt (2002) and The Intern (2015). If both movies stage a newly retired male character, (soon-to-be) widower, living alone, afar from their only child, their representation of retirement is very different. In About Schmidt, the adjustment to retirement is cumbersome and it entails an identity crisis. The character evolution – or involution – is punctuated by loneliness, resentment, uselessness, and lack of perspective. Filmed almost 15 years later, The Intern puts forward a very different approach of old age; here, retirement means staying active, creating new relationships, and exploring different possibilities of fulfillment, meant to keep the individual emotionally and professionally fit. Based on a qualitative content analysis, we show here that in the two movies there is a clear, positive evolution in the cinematic representation of retirement, in line with the “successful ageing” paradigm and with the social and cultural changes underwent by American society. We also show that, despite this evolution, a closer reading of The Intern highlights that the societal change could only happen within some clearly defined limits. In The Intern, the presence of a retiree in a successful e-commerce start-up is perceived as something exotic; his role is to back up, in a fatherly way, the evolution of the female leading character. The politics of inclusion function only to a certain extent, keeping the retiree at bay from the decision-making process.
From May 1968 to the COVID-19 Pandemic : Ageism and Pro-youth Culture in Latin American Mainstream Culture View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Camilo Gonzalez Santos
In May 1968, a juvenile movement embodied a new brand of socialist culture and challenged old institutions in the status quo. Since then, an ageism philosophy has been established. This pro-youth paradigm is one of the main hypotheses in Diario de la Guerra del Cerdo (Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentina, 1969). The novel depicts a dystopian world where the population attacks aged people under an increasing reign of gerontophobia. Over fifty years later, elderly generations became the primary victim of the lockdown enacted by governments to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Ironically, the governments now discussed how intense the restrictions should be to "protect" that very generation that once incarnated the "spirit of freedom." El Agente topo (Maite Alberdi, Chile, 2020) dives into how, due to decades of cultural ageism, youth-centered societies struggle to better understand the private life of older adults. While El Diario de la Guerra demonstrates the rejection of "the old" that was cultivated in the 1960s, El Agente Topo shows cultural blindness to the reality of elders as a result of that hostility. This paper explores intergenerational relationships during extreme contexts such as revolutions and pandemics.
Interregional Disparities and Health Provision in Urban and Rural Areas in Austria and Italy View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Albert Luger, Birgit Aigner Walder
The Movinsi! project analyzes health services in aging and rural cross-border regions (Austria, Italy) and deals with future provision (incl. health-promoting services). The methods used include analyzing the institutional framework and health provision through descriptive statistics based on secondary data, as well as conducting an online survey to assess satisfaction with regional services. The survey applies the SERVQUAL model to identify shortages and disparities in regional health services. The findings reveal that improvements have been made in the provision of health services in Carinthia and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Unmet needs have decreased over time in both countries and across various degrees of urbanization. However, there are differences in healthcare schemes applied in cross-border regions, with variations in healthcare expenditures, the number of healthcare professionals, and hospital facilities. The online survey indicates that overall regional ratings of health services are above average, with participants reporting their preferences and experiences. Gaps were identified by comparing the importance of specific dimensions of health services with the actual experiences, highlighting deficits in the provision of agreed services, compliance with appointments, reliability of the information, and accessibility. On the other hand, aspects such as opening hours, courtesy of employees, interior design, and communication appearance were rated sufficient or of minor importance. Despite differences in healthcare delivery and spending, all cross-border regions have high and similar satisfaction ratings. The project's findings provide insights into regional health service provision and can guide future efforts to address disparities and improve healthcare in the studied areas.
Precarity Capitalism: A Tool to Galvanise Environmental Intergenerational Solidarity View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Bethany Simmonds
The lens of precarity can be used on multiple levels when examining ageing; micro, in relation to precarious older workers; meso, in relation to the precarious public institutions/welfare states; and macro, as a paradigmatic shift, new doxa or discourse. Some also argue that precarity could be seen as a new form of socio-economic mode, coined as 'precarity capitalism’ (Azmanova, 2020). This new social-economic mode has certain unique characteristics which have developed since the 2008 global economic crash. The first being the 'social irresponsibility rule' which transfers risk from society to weaker individual actors. The second, that public authorities allocate opportunities to individuals which enhance pre-existing advantages. She also argues precarity capitalism has distorted earlier versions, like 'welfare state' capitalism, which used to progressively redistribute wealth, but now does so in pursuit of competition. However, in this paper I argue that the concept of precarity capitalism could also be useful to draw together different classed, ethnic, and aged groups, all experiencing precarity in relation to environmental destruction (something that everyone is or will be affected by), with the aim of using these collective grievances to challenge precarity capitalism and create intergenerational solidarity.
