Age
Movie assessment
The main theme of the movie is identity in which in this setting is presented through a person who is born very old and starts to age back as life moves and eventually grows into a handsome man in the future. The age of a person dictates the identity of the person according to this movie. In this sense what age each person now has to do with what he or she is today. This is not only on the physical appearance of the person but the general body composition. Benjamin in this movie is not just born an old kid including the face and body, the mind and his emotions are also of an old man (Fitzgerald, 2013). He also associates with old men even when he is at that tender age. Enjoying the company of old people while still a child is not a normal thing and this could only happen if the person has the thinking capacity of an old person making it possible for the child to be involved in the group.
Changes in the age in this particular movie changes the perception and the thinking of the person since the person starts to behave according to the age. When Benjamin was a small child, he used to associate with the old people, do what the old people do and even walk like an old man. Soon after he started getting younger, he became more handsome and even started taking up jobs and duties done by the younger people (Fitzgerald, 2013). At the old age, he did not go dancing and having fun but always remained indoors or took chances with the old people at their table. The thinking capacity was old but still a short person in reality who was growing taller with time. The lady who he had made friends with continued to age with time while Benjamin continues to grow younger.
There is an attitude of age in the movie. The main factual thing that displays such an attitude is the social class. At the time when Benjamin was a young man in the early years, he used to associate with the old men and women and even took no interest in joining a group made up of the young people. While at functions, he always dressed and acted as an old person. This can be associated with the fact that his thinking capacity is that of an old person and he inclines to the things done by the people of his capacity (Fitzgerald, 2013). The social class changes once he gets to a position of a young person and this displays the act of being possessive of his characters. The movie is an enjoyable one where one identifies that there is a difference between when one is old and when one is young. The thinking capacity of the young is not the same as the capacity of the old and this brings the idea that age is not just a number.
Commercials/advertisements
Advertisements done for the older people are in most cases one and the same and always involve the use of good language and completely dressed. Most of these advertisements do not portray a bad image of the old people but try to include the thought that a young person might be watching or viewing the advert and therefore the use of appropriate methods of advertising and presentation (Brooks et al., 2016). The older adults are always presented as people with a slow method of capturing anything and in this case, they are used to sell out something that is already known to the society. The presentation of older adults allows the society to have a different mentality of the perceived advert and in this case, the older adults cannot be used to make adverts which are not according to cultures (Gardner et al., 2016). There are varying differences in terms of the gender, sexual orientation, race, culture, and the religion. In many cases, advertisements which involve the use of a common product like a soda can involve older people since it is perceived that it is used by both the old and the young making it appropriate and straight forward.
The soda adverts include the blacks and the whites thereby reducing the effects of having the difference in terms of the race. Both races are well presented in the adverts. At times the social class also plays a vital role in developing an advert. Especially the commercials which involve the visual arts, social class are well observed where older adults are given the respect of having a successful life in almost all adverts. These commercials do reinforce on being biased on the age (Brooks et al., 2016). Particular adverts can only be viewed by the old and therefore they play out well when presented to the target age. From the TV commercials, certain adverts cannot be presented for viewing since there is the notion of the viewers being underage and not appropriate for them. In this case, they can only be played in the late nights and other occasions when there are no children around.
References
Brooks, M. E., Bichard, S., & Craig, C. (2016). What's the Score?: A Content Analysis of Mature Adults in Super Bowl Commercials. Howard Journal of Communications, 27(4), 347-366.
Fitzgerald, F. S. (2013). The curious case of Benjamin Button =: Il curioso caso di Benjamin Button. Roma: Gruppo editoriale L'Espresso.
Gardner, B., Iliffe, S., Fox, K. R., Jefferis, B. J., & Hamer, M. (2014). Sociodemographic, behavioural and health factors associated with changes in older adults’ TV viewing over 2 years. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 11(1), 102.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACdljqqV8AY
