Ageing and romance on the big screen
The ‘silvering romantic comedy’ Elsa & Fred
Dados Bibliográficos
| ID | 11200752 |
|---|---|
| Autores | Núria Casado-Gual (0000-0002-3778-6284, Universitat de Lleida, autor correspondente) |
| Ano | 2020 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Fascículo | 10 |
| Páginas | 2257-2265 |
| Data de publicação | 2020-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Sim |
| Open Access | Sim |
| Tipo | ARTICLE |
| Periódico | Ageing and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Identificadores do periódico | ISSN: 0144-686X • E-ISSN: 1469-1779 |
| Editora | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0144686x19000643 |
| OpenAlex | W2948182787 |
| Idioma | EN |
| Citações recebidas | 4 |
| Referências citadas | 10 |
The radical demographic change produced by the ageing population in the Western world has entailed a complete transformation of its popular culture. The cinema is one of the popular arts to have been especially affected by the so-called ‘longevity revolution’. In fact, an important part of Hollywood celebrity culture and the mainstream film audiences belong to the same ageing demographic. The increasing necessity to tell and consume stories of ageing for the big screen is not only reflected in the growing number of films that feature older characters in their lead roles, but also in the changes produced in the cinematic narratives themselves. Film scholars within the inter-disciplinary field of cultural gerontology have started to address this phenomenon from various perspectives. Building on from their critical consideration, this article focuses on the particular case of Michael Radford's Elsa & Fred , a contemporary film released in 2014 that, paradoxically enough, helps renovate the youth-oriented genre of the romantic comedy through a ‘silvering’ romance. Taking into account contemporary manifestations of the romantic comedy genre, the essay proves that Radford's comedy contributes to the development of the ‘gerontocom’ as a new sub-genre in which old age is central to the protagonists’ characterisations and storylines. By considering the interaction of the generic rules of the genre with the hyper-visibility of the protagonists’ agedness, this article also shows the ways in which the film overcomes polarised views of ageing and enhances the figures’ own process of becoming in the last stage of their lives
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Comedy · Hollywood · Literature · Mainstream · Media studies · Movie theater · Narrative · Political science · Romance · Sociology · Aging and Gerontology Research · Gender Studies · History · Law · Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior · Technology Use by Older Adults
| Obras citantes distintas | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citações por ano | 1,33 |
| Intervalo de citações | 2023 - 2025 (3) |
| Velocidade de citação | recent |
| Altamente citado | Não |
| Tipos de citação | Neutras: 3 |