Narratives about old age and childhood: An analysis of the film Up

Abstract

This article examines a cultural artifact that has produced narratives about childhood and old age: the animated movie Up produced by Disney/Pixar Studios and released in 2009. The media artifact produces, thus, subjectivities of children and elderly of a certain type. Based on a post-structuralist perspective of cultural studies and on Foucault’s studies, the objective of this work is to analyze which subjectivities of children and elderly are being produced through this fi lm. It is concluded that several strategies are actuated to produce subjectivities of children and elderly who will behave according to certain standards. For old age, these standards include the need for activity, not clinging to the past and care of the body. For children, the standardization focuses on the need to control their impulses and obey the rules set by the elders. Thus, the argument developed in this work is that this fi lm establishes principles according to which children and elderly should govern themselves.

Keywords: cultural pedagogy, childhood, old age.