What’s Aged the Worst?
The portrayal of race
In the discussion (16)
Approx. transcript time · 00:32:19Read transcript
- The way race is portrayed is horrific; the wartime scenes could have been cut, since showing Kevin Connolly dying in battle was unnecessary; the portrayal of Sarah Lawrence College is a weird, unnecessary transition.
- The portrayal of dementia is on the list: there is something to periods of lucidity in Alzheimer's, as in the medical-drama arc where Meredith's mother briefly becomes lucid, but the movie does not accurately represent how long it lasts or whether it can be induced.
- Willing yourselves into death together is another weird one, with shades of Titanic's couple going down together in bed; other light Titanic influences are Jack telling Rose she will die an old lady warm in her bed, and 'you jump, I jump' echoing 'if you're a bird, I'm a bird'; all the medical stuff fails against the winds of time.
- Joan Allen's mother portrayal is held for another category, but one host finds it accurate to the time, since in the 40s you did not get to marry who you wanted.
- Asked for more things that aged badly, Allie's dad is nominated. — Andrew Gruttadaro
- Allie's dad: the mustache, extremely Southern, basically Colonel Sanders, a throwaway, unrealized character who is supposed to be intimidating and unnecessarily harsh yet isn't; the all-white party dinner is very Titanic, and he is inferior to the other dad, the great Sam Shepard.
- Addressed by name for anything else, the nomination is Kevin Connolly in this movie. — Amanda Dobbins
- Kevin Connolly's lowest moment is his death, dead and still bad at acting; Entourage was a thing and he may have been the most famous person in the cast at the time, but the choice has aged poorly as Entourage and his role in it downgraded; Martha Shaw is also raised as rough.
- Agreeing that Martha Shaw is rough, the feeling is simply of being really bad for her. — Andrew Gruttadaro
- Martha Shaw is nevertheless a realistic portrayal of an emotionally unavailable man; she takes it too well, inviting Allie to dinner, and there is no reason for Allie to join except to punish herself; Martha mostly serves as a vehicle for Noah to show what a good guy he is.
- Asked why Martha Shaw is on the list, the answer is that Noah basically treats her like garbage. — Andrew Gruttadaro
- The supposedly heartwarming meeting of new girlfriend and ex comes off weird and does not show Noah is a good guy; one host had rewritten Martha in her head as a single mother to make her more tragic, when she is just a widow.
- The final pick is the whole Southern race aspect of the movie. — Amanda Dobbins
- The final pick is Kevin Connolly. — Andrew Gruttadaro
- Another voice has Kevin Connolly as runner-up and goes with race as well, plus the treatment of dementia and Alzheimer's, also in the running.
- Earlier, while on what aged best, Charleston's plantation imagery and the all-black service roles, including at the retirement home, were already filed under what aged worst.