Saturday, September 24, 2016

Elder Stereotype in Film and Novel

Too many old villains...


Elder Stereotype in Film and Novel

     What do you think when you meet your grandparents? Some people say that they are warm, peaceful, and love since they love their grandson. However, most people think grandparents are evil, powerful, and bad because they use power to control people with no actual power, and causes problems such as car accidents and conflict between grandparents and families. Hating elders might happen because of elder's personality, but psychologists found that people are mostly affected by  novels and films. How novels and films make elder stereotype?



SHE IS CRAZY!!!


     What is the best way to make elders as annoying people? It is showing elders as main villains or monsters in stories. Villains are characters who oppose to hero and show themselves as greedy, pitiless, and aggressive people. When elders are villains, they become the most annoying characters in stories. Also, when people constantly watch and read these novels and films, it affects people to get elder stereotype. There are many examples that show elders as villains.

     Disney films are good examples that cause elder stereotype. In 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,'  Evil Queen shows herself as a beautiful woman in the world. However, after Snow White survives from a hunter, Evil Queen decides to kill Snow White by herself and Evil Queen becomes ugly grandmother. At the end, Snow Queen survives by prince's kiss and Evil Queen dies by thunder. Like Evil Queen, other villains, such as Scar from 'Lion King,' Claude Frollo from Hunchback of Notre Dame,' and Ratcliffe from 'Pocahontas,' are old, greedy, and powerful. Also, they have a bad ending.

     Elder villains can be seen in the novels. In the 'Aunt Maria' by Diana Wynne Jones, Aunt Maria, an evil old witch, abuses the power to control people. In the story, Maria changes people's name in her favor, orders people to work like slaves, and shows her temper. Also, she uses her magic power to control the village and people. At the end, Maria died in a tragic way.



Jafar in Aladin


     As you can see, there are a lot of films and novels that show elder stereotype. Fortunately, in these days, elder stereotype films and novels have been decreased. Movie directors and novel writers change the way of old people do in the story. Albus Dumbledore in 'Harry Potter' by J.K.Rowling shows himself as a protector and a responsible old magician and Gandalf from 'The Lord of the Ring' by J.R.R.Tolkien are powerful wizard who are against to the dark side.

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