Christians on Ageing’s Culture Club provides light relief from our core activities. It provides a venue for discussion of films, books, poems, TV and radio programmes which throw an interesting and provocative light on the depiction of older people in the arts.
Meetings, free of charge and open to anybody, whether a member of Christians on Ageing or not, take place via Zoom between 1.30 pm and 3 pm on Friday afternoons every two months. Each has a focus on a particular theme.
Stop press! A new play about the impact of dementia on a black British family, entitled Miss Myrtle’s Garden, will be showing at the Bush theatre in west London from 31 May to 12 July. We’ll be discussing the depiction of dementia in the arts at our August meeting, so go and see Miss Myrtle’s Garden, if you can. Please let me know of any relevant arts event showing anywhere in the UK that engages with aspects of the lives of older people, so I can circulate the info in a future Culture Club mailing (my email address is shoard19@gmail.com).
On February 14th, befitting St Valentine’s Day, Culture Club focussed on the depiction by the arts of romance in later life, and the Spring issue of the Christians on Ageing magazine for members, plus, contains a full report of our fascinating and lively discussion.
The next meeting of Culture Club will take place between 1.30 and 3 pm on Friday, May 9th, courtesy of Zoom, when we’ll consider the ways in which the paid, but more so the unpaid family members and friends who care for older people are depicted by the arts. Book your place here:
https://buytickets.at/christiancouncilonageing/1413677
Today in the UK, nearly six million people are unpaid carers, many for older people. The painter J M W Turner cared for his elderly father, L S Lowry for his elderly mother – caring for an older friend or relative has always been a very common activity and remains so. How is caring depicted by the arts?
Before our meeting, have a think about references in literature, for instance, the lawyer Wemmick in Dickens’ Great Expectations cares for his deaf father, ‘The Aged P’. Many of you will have seen the autobiographical book The Reluctant Carer: Dispatches from the Edge of Life on the display shelves of your local public library (its author, Michael Holden, also reflects on his life as a carer in this article). Does Holden paint a picture of the day-to-day joys and frustrations of life as a carer that rings true?
Why do depictions of caring on screen usually differ wildly from the day-after-day, isolated slog of being a carer? Looking after a child can be wearing and repetitive and, in common with caring for an older person, also bring great rewards, yet it frequently features in fiction and on screen. Why the difference? Why are the carers of older people on TV and in film often malevolent, perhaps most memorably in the 1990 film Misery, starring Kathy Bates, in which caring leads to brutal coercion? Or in recent episodes of Coronation Street in which Ken Barlow is looked after by a character called Cassie, who secretly spikes his drinks to make him doze off, so she can use his credit card to make expensive purchases.
If you can, have a look at some of these books and screen-reference before our discussion, while coming along with thoughts and suggestions of your own.
Catherine Shoard, the film editor at The Guardian, who will be joining our discussion, has suggested viewing the following films before we meet:
Grey Matter
Out earlier this year, Stephanie Beachman plays a woman with Alzheimer’s whose errant granddaughter becomes her carer. Multigenerational hijinks – and tears – ensue. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-68404796
Much Ado About Dying
Ethically complicated documentary about the challenges a young man faces caring for his elderly uncle.
The Carer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i0QtWRF5t0
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/aug/04/the-carer-review-brian-cox-janos-edelenyi
Brian Cox plays an ageing actor cared for by a young Hungarian woman.
I Care a Lot
Acclaimed black comedy about a con woman (Rosamund Pike) who makes a living as a court-appointed guardian, seizing and selling the assets of vulnerable elderly people, including the mother of a dangerous mafia boss.
If you would like to book a place for May 9th, please click here:
https://buytickets.at/christiancouncilonageing/1413677
or contact Barbara Stephens, CoA’s Honorary Secretary, at secretary@christiansonageing.org.uk. Also contact Barbara if you have any questions about Culture Club or would like to join in but need Barbara to facilitate access for you, as you don’t have a computer or smartphone.
