Life Isn't Yet over : Older Heroines in American Popular Cinema of the 1930s and 1970s/80s

The evolution of an undercurrent in US culture that challenges the dominance of the cult of youth & masculinity is analyzed through the interpretation of US popular films of the 1930s & 1970s-1980s that featured heroines aged 60+. These two eras, which witnessed the impact of elder advocacy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Qualitative sociology 1989-04, Vol.12 (1), p.72-95
Main Author: WALSH, A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Elderly
Females
Sociology
Sociology of art and literature
Sociology of knowledge and sociology of culture
United States of America
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Summary:The evolution of an undercurrent in US culture that challenges the dominance of the cult of youth & masculinity is analyzed through the interpretation of US popular films of the 1930s & 1970s-1980s that featured heroines aged 60+. These two eras, which witnessed the impact of elder advocacy on national legislation & social policy, generated the films If I Had a Million (1932), Make Way for Tomorrow (1937), Harold and Maude (1971), & The Trip to Bountiful (1985). Through analysis of these films & related media trends, psychoanalytic approaches to the study of F representation in cinema are critiqued. While psychoanalytic approaches often stress the cultural dominance of an ahistorical patriarchy, a sociological model conceptualizes culture as a process constituted by communication & negotiation, resistance & rebellion, & oppression & domination. HA
ISSN:0162-0436
1573-7837
DOI:10.1007/BF00989245