The silvering screen : old age and disability in cinema / Sally Chivers.

Includes bibliographies and index.

The silvering screen -- Same difference? : gerontology and disability studies join hands -- Baby Jane grew up: the horror of aging in mid-twentieth-century Hollywood -- Grey matters: dementia, cognitive difference, and the 'guilty demographic' on screen -- 'Sounds like a regular marriage' : monogamy and the fidelity of care -- Yes, we still can: Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, aging masculinity, and the American dream -- As old as Jack gets: Nicholson, masculinity, and the Hollywood system -- Final films, the silvering screen comes of age.

Popular films have always included elderly characters, but until recently, old age only played a supporting role on screen. Now, as the Baby Boomer population hits retirement, there has been an explosion of films, including Away From Her, The Straight Story, The Barbarian Invasions, and About Schmidt, where aging is a central theme. This book is a sustained discussion of old age in cinema. It brings together theories from disability studies, critical gerontology, and cultural studies, to examine how the film industry has linked old age with physical and mental disability. The author further examines Hollywood's mixed messages, the applauding of actors who portray the debilitating side of aging, while promoting a culture of youth, as well as the gendering of old age on film. The book makes an attempt to counter the fear of aging implicit in these readings by proposing alternate ways to value getting older.

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