Citation

Chivers S. J. Aging Stud. 2015; 34: 134-141.

Affiliation

English Department, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON K9J 6H4, Canada. Electronic address: sallychivers@trentu.ca.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jaging.2015.06.001

PMID

26162733

Abstract

The paper compares two films, Children of Nature (Börn náttúrunnar, Iceland, Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, 1991) and Cloudburst (Canada, Thom Fitzgerald, 2010), which share remarkable similarities, despite their difference in historical and geographical origin. In focusing on these two examples, the paper shows the extent to which a widespread fear of long-term residential care evident in popular discourse motivates larger commentaries about growing old. Each narrative presents a romance catalyzed by the threat of long-term residential care. In both stories, the couples are depicted as fugitives from the law, escaping what is perceived as a fate worse than death in order to pursue death on their own terms. The paper explores the structure and significance of how they leave and what they accomplish while they are away. The films offer examples of a broader cultural discourse that is damaging, while they are also heartening in their satisfying representation of the possibility of escape. Through that, they indicate the importance of choice and desire to transforming residential care in a manner that could also transform popular understandings of the "nursing home."

Language: en