Georgina Martin GM, 6

Grumpy Old Men Assignment

Grumpy Old Men Assignment

The movie “Grumpy Old Men” starring Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau, portrays aging in its highs and lows through humor to soften the ageism put on the last stages of life. It exposes the disengagements, actions and social emotions of the second half of life from a development process. John Gustafson (Jack Lemon) spends a lot of time in his home alone playing chess. His mornings outside of the holidays consist of ice fishing in his own house careen; his nights in front of the television eating TV dinners alone. …show more content…

He chose to give up Ariel to keep his dysfunctional relationship with Max until he had his heart attack. He acknowledged that his moments with Ariel was far more important than the longevity of his friendship with Max. “Socioemotional selectivity theory of aging, suggesting that as people grow older and realize that the time they have left is limited, they focus on enjoying the present rather than looking to the future” (Baird, 2011).
It is a time for the elderly to enjoy the days that they have left by being adventurous and living in the moment. Max understood that Ariel and John should be together for this reason. John’s father also comments on the thought when he was approached by his son for smoking filter-less cigarettes. He states that he is in his 90’s and deserves to live his last years how he wishes; not to live it day by day or second by second (Lemmon, 1995). This is the mindset linked to the socioemotional selectivity theory of aging. The title and beginning of the movie would make one think that the elderly live their last years in a downward spiral emotionally, physically and spiritually until their last day. Its title, Grumpy Old Men can give that kind of connotation however; as the plot thickens, one realized that the beginning of the movie was a display of the stereotypes of the elderly and the actual elderly person does not want to be