#1: Understanding Old Age and Visibility: A Dialogue between Gerontology and Cinema Studies

A kick off panel discussion with our team members, film scientists Prof. Dr. Vinzenz Hediger and Dr. Asja Makarevic and guest lecturers, a specialist on gerontology, Dr. Miranda Leontowitsch and an expert in Gender studies Prof. Dr. Bettina Kleiner, Goethe University Frankfurt

01.11.2023, 6-8 p.m.

Goethe University Frankfurt, Campus Westend PEG-Building, Room 1G191

One of the most important characteristics of contemporary societies has been the emergence of the visual and the virtual. Age itself has become a visual phenomenon – whereby the older people, women in particular, have become more strongly defined by their appearance. As Kathleen Woodward has famously stated in her book Figuring Age (1999), older women are both invisible – in that they are not seen – and hyper visible – in that they are all that is seen. In response to demographic shifts, the experience of old age and its visual constitution becomes more often than not the focus of inquiry shared by gerontology and cinema studies. Cultural gerontology as a burgeoning scientific field attempts to recuperate the individuality of older lives explored through literature, film and other forms of art. With its emphasis on mediatisation, individuation and the politics of everyday (older) life, cultural gerontology may bridge the gap between gerontology and cinema studies despite the initial differences in the research interests, theorising and methodologies of the two fields. Prof. Dr. Bettina Kleiner, Prof. Dr. Vinzenz Hediger, Dr. Miranda Leontowitsch and Dr. Asja Makarević will engage with this and other ensuing questions in this opening panel discussion.

Image credit: “Claire Darling”, directed by Julie Bertuccelli, produced by Yael Fogiel and Laetitia Gonzalez, 2018.

Here you can find a brief summary of the lecture prepared by Dr. Asja Makarević:

AGE-C’S FIRST LECTURE FOR THE CORNELIA GOETHE COLLOQUIUM: Thank You For The Great Start!

Here you can also find the audio recording of the lecture:

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