wam – women ageing & media

One Response to “Julia Hallam – History of Older Women on Screen”

1.   Sherryl Wilson Says:
   October 30th, 2008 at    

   Screen Representations of the Older Woman: breakout discussion

   It was agreed that mapping an over view of the typologies of representations of older women that were dominant from the 1960s to 2000s is important. Taking a diachronic and synchronic approach would enable an understanding of the ways in which the older woman has been figured within a cultural and historical context. Among other things, this would enable us to see were there are continuities as well as any shifts.

   Ambivalence was noted as key to many representations of and responses to images of the older woman. For example, many post-war images position women as strong and as ‘taking charge’ but that this is often tempered, or problematised, by an element of spitefulness exemplified by Alexis Carrington (joan Collings) in the 80s TV drama Dynasty.

   The issue of single agency was also discussed in relation to these representations, noting that this is often denied older women screen characters.

   We only discussed screen fictions but agreed that Factual TV ought to also be a part of what we research.

   The value of emotion – both our own in terms of identifications and responses to texts and those that are displayed by screen characters – was considered in relation to the ways in which it allows for an articulation of wisdom to be passed onto younger generations. We discussed the spaces in which the transference of wisdom occurs – the kitchen, women’s toilets etc – and that this wisdom often refers to relationships with men (and therefore heteronormative?)