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Alexander Payne's Nebraska Ageism

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Nebraska
Alexander Payne’s Nebraska is a perfect representation of the process of aging. Following the Grant family on their journey from Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska as they venture out on a journey to claim a million-dollar prize is both entertaining and eye-opening. The movie perfectly reflects various theories of adult development in the interactions between characters, including Woodrow (Woody), Kate, Ross, and David Grant. Such theories as ageism, the physical changes due to aging, intelligence, etc. This paper will consider the ways in which Payne’s Nebraska exhibits these theories.
Ageism
Woody Grant is up in age and at a time in his life where his body and mind do not work in the same way they did before. Thus, he is discriminated against by his wife Kate and oldest son Ross in the process of ageism. With the progressive loss of his hearing and increasing health issues, Kate and Ross believe the best thing for Woody is to be placed in a nursing home. Woody’s progressive display of aging has caused his wife and son to believe that he is “senile and… incapable of making decisions about” his “life” (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2015, p. 3). Kate and Ross believe that Woody’s old age has made him incapable of …show more content…
By way of example, considering the beginning of the movie, Woody is walking along the highway and is stopped by a police officer who is calling out to him. From the perspective of a first-time viewer, it looks as though Woody is blatantly ignoring the officer. However, upon further inspection, we see that Woody is not ignoring the officer, but a normative change of aging is hearing loss. Throughout the movie viewers observe the characters repeating themselves numerous times when talking to Woody and David respectfully raising his voice to accommodate

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