"Going in Style" and Countering Hollywood Stereotypes of Senior Citizens
In "Going in Style," which screened at the KCET Cinema Series on March 21 and hits theaters on April 7, three elderly men embark on a bank heist. The film is a loose remake of the 1979 crime caper of the same name and has been updated to fit the present day. In the 2017 version, three retired men played by Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin, have hit hard times. All three have lost their pensions after the company, where they spent their working years, closes. One faces foreclosure on his home in gentrifying Brooklyn thanks to a deceptive deal with his bank. Another is in the midst of a major medical crisis. Their decision to hit the local bank is driven by a need to get back what was taken from them.
"It's such an interesting moment in time to recalibrate this story and make it relevant for what people are dealing with today," producer Donald De Line told the audience at ArcLight Cinemas Sherman Oaks in a Q-and-A session led by KCET Cinema Series host Pete Hammond.
"We thought it was very important to make a statement about the banking system and what the banking system put this country through," added screenwriter Theodore Melfi, who also wrote and directed the 2016 hit "Hidden Figures."
But "Going in Style" is more than a story about corporations, banks and humans. It's about how elders are treated in the United States. "In "Hidden Figures," I really wanted to work on racism and sexism," Melfi said. "Here, I wanted to talk about ageism."
Ageism in Hollywood has been a topic of discussion recently, particularly in light of the recent passage of a California law that allows people to take down age information from their IMDB profiles. While that law has sparked controversy and news reports continue to demonstrate how ageism affects the work available for actors, a less explored topic is the diversity of elderly characters in film.
In recent years, USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism has partnered with Humana to study ageism in Hollywood. In the report "The Rare & Ridiculed: Senior Citizens in the 100 Top Films of 2015," the authors looked at a sample of movies and found that 11% of speaking characters aged 60 or older. Of that percentage, they found that the majority of these characters were white, male, heterosexual seniors. Representation is considerably lower for elderly women, people of color and LGBT characters.
Moreover, the researchers found that these characters were often people with "power and privilege," had few health issues and died by means uncommon for their age group. In other words, these weren't the most realistic portrayals of senior citizens. Ultimately, the paper argues that elder characters are "an endangered species in cinematic storytelling."
More recently, the researchers published "Over Sixty, Underestimated: A Look at Aging on the 'Silver' Screen in Best Picture Nominated Films." This study looked at best picture nominees from 2014 through 2016 and similarly found that 11.8% of the speaking roles in these movies were age 60 or older, which is lower than the U.S. population in the same age group. Whether looking at the general films of a single year or the Oscar nominees of several years, the group has come to similar conclusions that the 60+ population is underrepresented in film and is frequently not portrayed in a manner that reflects the real life senior population of the U.S.
"Going in Style" is a crime caper, but in the midst of the over-the-top antics, the film does a few things differently from what these studies have shown. To start, the characters are not in positions of power. They lost their pensions and, with that, much of the security that had worked towards during their younger years.
"It happened to my father," De Line said at the Cinema Series. "He worked for a company for 35 years and the company was sold. He had retired and his pension was cut in half when the company was sold, so I saw it myself. It's something that really resonates."
Melfi added, "When you lose a pension, it's crippling. That's echoed in the struggles of the film's characters. Joe (Michael Caine) is housing his daughter and granddaughter, but that house is about to go into foreclosure due to a predatory deal with his bank. When he tries to talk to someone at the bank, he's treated in a patronizing way. Willie (Morgan Freeman) and Albert (Alan Arkin) are roommates and are both losing their financial security. Meanwhile, Willie is struggling with failing kidneys. Another senior character, Annie (Ann-Margaret) continues to hold down a job at the local grocery store.
The USC studies note how senior characters are often mocked in film. In "Going in Style," the three main characters are frequently disrespected, whether it's at the bank, the local store or even by law enforcement. Their insight is often ignored. Their concerns aren't taken seriously. They counter this by referring to each other as "young man" and, in a way, they flip the age stereotypes and use their years to their advantage. "These guys take their power back and say, no, we're not going to take it," De Line explained.
"The Rare & the Ridiculed," points out a few other issues with the portrayal of seniors in film. One is that seniors aren't portrayed as having hobbies or social lives. "Going in Style" differs in that the hobbies and friendships are crucial to the film. The three men are part of a local social group, where they are working on a fundraiser. Albert is also a musician who plays the occasional gig and gives lessons. He also has a love interest in Annie. They're active and engaged members of their community.
This report also points out that only 29.1% of the seniors in film are seen using technology. Here, technology is part of the story. The characters communicate via text message. Willie keeps in touch with his daughter and granddaughter via video chat. They may still use land lines, but they aren't stuck in the 20th century.
Throughout the film, there is a theme that the younger generations aren't doing enough to assist the older population. "We have to do better than what we're doing for our elders," Melfi told the audience.
