Film Up

GERO 1016 : Introduction to Gerontology I

Danika St-Jacques

Assignment I

Life is an Adventure

Life is the mental, physical, and spiritual experiences that an individual lives throughout their lives. In the film ‘’Up’’, we follow Carl Fredricksen’s from his childhood to his advanced years. As his life unfolds, we notice that life is a journey on fast forward, society is peppered with with ageism and regardless of one’s age we all have hopes and dreams.

Firstly, in the film ‘’Up’’, we see Carl a young, want-to-be adventurer child. His life unfolds in a matter of minutes in the film to become Mr. Fredricksen a stubborn, grumpy, sad at times older adult. During the first ten minutes, we see him go through the stages of life, what brings him happiness and the hurdles of life in general. Before we know it, life has gotten away from him, he is now an older adult. During one’s life, everyone sets out with hopes and dreams. However, life gets in the way and these are set aside and we underestimate life’s pace and before we know it we’ve already lived an entire life without necessarily realizing our dreams.

Secondly, in the film, we see Mr. Fredricksen who is now an older lonely adult, whose wife has since passed facing adversity on a daily basis. Adversity presents itself in many ways but in one particular case, we see developers wanting his property while devaluing his home which has been near and dear to him for many years. Ultimately, the law gets involved protecting himself and his property which is rightfully his. Mr. Fredricksen is handed over a pamphlet for a retirement home and told that it would be best suited for his needs. When the retirement home staff comes to pick him up, you hear the staff making stereotypical remarks about the elderly going to the washroom frequently and that he should take better care of his house. Unfortunately, as in the film we live in a society who suffers from symptoms of ageism devaluing our elderly members as no...