1.1 Against Ageism

On this page you can find an extract from a film, co-produced with Elanora Ferry, that dramatises her poem ‘Beware the Beige’. Her work expresses her personal frustrations about the characterisation of older people in our society and rejects a future of imagined dull decline. Elanora said: “For me this is activism.” This is just one of thirteen films produced collaboratively with co-researchers in 2022 and screened as ‘Rebellious Voices’ at Watershed cinema in Bristol. The film project offered an opportunity for older adults to challenge ageist assumptions through participatory media. Elanora said the filmmaking experience “made us feel empowered, as though our voice mattered. That’s been important, visibility is incredibly important.”  We all recognise from our daily lives and the media, negative views of ageing that portray older people as a homogenous group with declining health and dwindling interests. The diverse capabilities and passions of individuals are ignored. The second film here challenges these assumptions through humour and by showing us that older adults can still be punks. In 2023, Louis Neven saw ‘Punked’ at the Sociogerontechnology Network meeting in the Netherlands and wrote about it in his blog.  He points out how Roland Payne and Fanny Eaton-Hall not only challenge public conceptions of ageing, but also those of the gerontological community who might, he suggests, reconsider policy, care and technology around healthy ageing. These films have gone on to be shown at the Healthy Ageing Challenge Conference 2023, three other conferences and two local community events. They have been used by Age UK to open a workshop, where Elanora also spoke, and are being used internationally to teach gerontology. 

To view Elanora’s film in full, as well as more films by CTC co-researchers, please click here.