"Tis a far better thing": digital technology in gerontological education.

number of over-50-year-old Americans who regularly visited the cinema increased by 68%.” The article goes on to say that largely in response to this demographic shift in filmgoers, “it is estimated that around a third of Hollywood productions are being made with an eye on older audiences.” Indeed, over the past 5–6 years, there have been a large number of major-release feature length films that deal with aging-related themes and/or characters. (A quick count off the top of my head yielded more than 20 in just the past 6 years.) Many of these films are not, in my opinion, outstanding in quality, but their presence indicates that aging is gaining acceptance, if not appreciation, in public and commercial consciousness. Clint Eastwood, for example, produced Gran Torino (Eastwood, 2008) with himself in the leading role as a crotchety elder thrown into a begrudging relationship with a vulnerable teenaged neighbor. Away From Her (Polley, 2006) was an attempt (unevenly achieved) at exploring the complexity of the impact of dementia on the intimacy of a long married couple. The Savages (Jenkins, 2007) looked at how two estranged siblings must reconnect when they need to provide care for a father with dementia. Is Anybody There? (Crowley, 2008) is a charming look at the importance of an older man’s friendship with a young boy adrift in the throes of his parents’ rocky relationship. In Get Low (Schneider, 2009), veteran actor Robert Duval’s backwoods Tennessee character purposefully redeems himself in the eyes of the community he has shunned for most of his life. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Madden, 2012) shows us a group of older adults who have taken up new lives in India and play off one another’s pessimisms and optimisms. A wonderful film from Iran, A Separation (Farhadi, 2011), illuminates the complexities of cultural and class values when a family must care for a father with Alzheimer’s disease. And, finally, one of my favorites from the past few years, Young at Heart (Walker, 2008), a wonderfully engaging featurelength documentary about an older adult chorus that sings vibrant rock songs and wonderfully dispels the myth that old age equals staid. Clearly, the cinema is reflecting themes that a “coming of older age” population is now facing! Are the attitudes and perceptions about aging in these and other recent films different from those in films produced 20–30 years ago? This question, and many others like it, is what we hope to explore in forthcoming reviews of films that deal with aging-related issues, while also looking at the implications these films have for teaching, research, policy, and practice in a society being jostled by extreme shifts in both demographics and technology.