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Aging Heroes

Growing Old in Popular Culture

Edited by Norma Jones and Bob Batchelor - Contributions by Jace Allen; Patrice M. Buzzanell; Guillaume de Syon; Suzy D’Enbeau; Athena du Pré; Itir Erhart; Hande Eslen-Ziya; Amanda Gallagher; Dustin Bradley Goltz; Paul Haridakis; Salvador Jiménez Murguía; Emily S. Kinsky; Ryan M. Lescure; Mei-Chen Lin; Nathan Miczo; Cynthia J. Miller; Carlos D. Morrison; Caryn E. Neumann; Ayoleke David Okeowo; Barbara Cook Overton; Loretta L. Pecchioni; Anna Thompson Hajdik; Jacqueline Allen Trimble; Kathleen M. Turner; A. Bowdoin Van Riper and Gust A. Yep

Despite the increasing number and variety of older characters appearing in film, television, comics, and other popular culture, much of the understanding of these figures has been limited to outdated stereotypes of aging. These include depictions of frailty, resistance to modern life, and mortality. More importantly, these stereotypes influence the daily lives of aging adults, as well as how younger generations perceive and interact with older individuals. In light of our graying population and the growing diversity of portrayals of older characters in popular culture, it is important to examine how we understand aging.

In Aging Heroes: Growing Old in Popular Culture, Norma Jones and Bob Batchelor present a collection of essays that address the increasing presence of characters that simultaneously manifest and challenge the accepted stereotypes of aging. The contributors to this volume explore representations in television programs, comic books, theater, and other forms of media. The chapters include examinations of aging male and female actors who take on leading roles in such movies as Gran Torino, Grudge Match, Escape Plan, Space Cowboys, Taken, and The Big Lebowski as well as TheExpendables, Red, and X-Men franchises. Other chapters address perceptions of masculinity, sexuality, gender, and race as manifested by such cultural icons as Superman, Wonder Woman, Danny Trejo, Helen Mirren, Betty White, Liberace, and Tyler Perry’s Madea.

With multi-disciplinary and accessible essays that encompass the expanding spectrum of aging and related stereotypes, this book offers a broader range of new ways to understand, perceive, and think about aging. Aging Heroes will be of interest to scholars of film, television, gender studies, women’s studies, sociology, aging studies, and media studies, as well as to general readers.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 268 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼

978-1-4422-5006-2 • Hardback • May 2015 • $89.00 • (£68.00)

978-1-4422-5007-9 • eBook • May 2015 • $84.50 • (£65.00)

Subjects: Performing Arts / Film / History & Criticism, Performing Arts / Television / History & Criticism, Social Science / Popular Culture, Literary Criticism / Popular Literature, Performing Arts / Actors and Actresses

Aging Heroes

Growing Old in Popular Culture

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Despite the increasing number and variety of older characters appearing in film, television, comics, and other popular culture, much of the understanding of these figures has been limited to outdated stereotypes of aging. These include depictions of frailty, resistance to modern life, and mortality. More importantly, these stereotypes influence the daily lives of aging adults, as well as how younger generations perceive and interact with older individuals. In light of our graying population and the growing diversity of portrayals of older characters in popular culture, it is important to examine how we understand aging.

In Aging Heroes: Growing Old in Popular Culture, Norma Jones and Bob Batchelor present a collection of essays that address the increasing presence of characters that simultaneously manifest and challenge the accepted stereotypes of aging. The contributors to this volume explore representations in television programs, comic books, theater, and other forms of media. The chapters include examinations of aging male and female actors who take on leading roles in such movies as Gran Torino, Grudge Match, Escape Plan, Space Cowboys, Taken, and The Big Lebowski as well as TheExpendables, Red, and X-Men franchises. Other chapters address perceptions of masculinity, sexuality, gender, and race as manifested by such cultural icons as Superman, Wonder Woman, Danny Trejo, Helen Mirren, Betty White, Liberace, and Tyler Perry’s Madea.

With multi-disciplinary and accessible essays that encompass the expanding spectrum of aging and related stereotypes, this book offers a broader range of new ways to understand, perceive, and think about aging. Aging Heroes will be of interest to scholars of film, television, gender studies, women’s studies, sociology, aging studies, and media studies, as well as to general readers.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 268 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼

978-1-4422-5006-2 • Hardback • May 2015 • $89.00 • (£68.00)

978-1-4422-5007-9 • eBook • May 2015 • $84.50 • (£65.00)

Subjects: Performing Arts / Film / History & Criticism, Performing Arts / Television / History & Criticism, Social Science / Popular Culture, Literary Criticism / Popular Literature, Performing Arts / Actors and Actresses

Author

Norma Jones is the coeditor of Heroines of Film and Television: Portrayals in Popular Culture and Heroines of Comic Books and Literature: Portrayals in Popular Culture (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).

Bob Batchelor, a noted cultural historian, is the author or editor of more than 20 books, including: The 1900s, The 1980s, The 2000s, American Pop: Popular Culture Decade by Decade (4 volumes); John Updike: A Critical Biography (2013); and Gatsby: The Cultural History of the Great American Novel (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015). Batchelor is founding editor of the Popular Culture Studies Journal and editor of the Contemporary American Literature series published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction

On the Silver Screen: Aging Heroes in Film Genres
Twilight Heroes: Old Age and Unfinished Business in Four “Heartland” Films
Cynthia J. Miller
Golden Agers, Recluses and John Wayne: Aging Stereotypes and Aging Heroes in Movie Westerns
Mei-Chen Lin and Paul Haridakis
AAADRRIAAN! I’ll Be Baaaaaack! Schwarzenegger and Stallone as Aging Action Heroes
Norma Jones
Under the Wide and Starry Sky: Hollywood and Aging Astronauts, 1996-2000
A. Bowdoin Van Riper

Diversity Concerns: Sexuality, Race and Gender
Queering Aging? Representations of Liberace’s Intimate Life in HBO’s Behind the Candelabra
Gust A. Yep, Ryan Lescure, and Jace Allen
Overcoming the Villainous Monster: The Beginnings of Heroic Gay Male Aging
Dustin Bradley Goltz
The Power of Performance: Tyler Perry’s Madea as Village Sage and Superwoman
Carlos D. Morrison, Jacqueline Allen Trimble, and Ayoleke D. Okeowo
“Not bad for an abuela, eh?” The representation of the power of age in Maya & Miguel
Emily S. Kinsky and Amanda Gallagher
Babes and Crones: Women Growing Old in Comics
Caryn E. Neumann

Being a Man? Masculinity and Aging Heroes
Aging Masculinity in Popular Culture: The Case of Mad Men’s Roger Sterling
Patrice M. Buzzanell and Suzy D’Enbeau
Aging Superheroes: Retirement and Return in Kingdom Come and Old Man Logan
Nathan Miczo
Mr. Incredible, the Man-of-Action, The Man-of-Power: What If He Loses It All?
Itır Erhart and Hande Eslen-Ziya
“He has to be good. The Airline Won't Settle for Less:” Gender, Age, and the Trope of the Male Pilot in Advertising
Guilliaume de Syon

Real to Reel: Individuals Aging On and Off the Screen
Helen Mirren and the Media Portrayals of Aging: Women’s Sexuality Concealed and Revealed
Barbara Cook Overton, Athena du Pré, and Loretta L. Pecchioni
Hellraiser, Dandy, Eccentric: The Evolving Star Persona of Peter O’Toole in the 1980s and Beyond
Anna Thompson Hajdik
The Betty White Moment: The Rhetoric of Constructing Aging and Sexuality
Kathleen Turner
The Re-characterization of Age and the Aging Bricoleur: Danny Trejo’s Reinvention of Aging in Acting
Salvador Jimenez-Murguia

Index
About the Editors and Contributors

Reviews

A valuable contribution, as its focus on aging male actors in contemporary (United States) popular culture brings together the traditionally separate fields of gender and gerontology studies.... Besides filling a critical gap, then, Aging Heroesalso questions widely held assumptions about women’s and men’s aging.
— Men and Masculinities

Aging Heroes

Growing Old in Popular Culture

Aging Heroes

Growing Old in Popular Culture

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