The Bucket List

The movie being reviewed is titled; The Bucket List. This movie, directed by Justin Zackham was 97 minutes long and was released in the theaters at the end of 2007. I chose this movie because I thought it would be suitable since we have been learning about the elderly and the different ways they fit into and impact society. I thought it would be interesting to see if the items they have on their bucket list are the same items that someone my age would have on theirs. Morgan Freeman has always been one of my favorite actors and Jack Nicholson always does a wonderful job in any role he plays. Nicholson and Freeman together made wonderful chemistry in this movie. In this movie a few of the analytical tools used in class were seen. The tools include;

The Bucket List takes on more of a developmentalist view. Developmentalism is a view that aging is a time of rich developmental potential or opportunity. Both characters in the movie had reached an age where most would think to retire but they were still functioning properly in the beginning of the movie before they had been diagnosed with cancer. Carter was a mechanic who clearly was not afraid to get down and dirty underneath of cars. Edward was the Owner of a hospital and had a lot of responsibilities that one can believe required a lot of cognitive and motor skills, which he clearly had when he would have conversations with different characters in the movie. With ageism comes plenty of stereotypes and age discrimination. One myth regarding aging is that older people are miserable. In the movie we can see that the two main characters were anything but miserable. An example would be the character Edward. Edward was rich and started his own company from the ground up and was making millions was married 4 times. He seemed to find his own happiness when he focused more on his work rather than his marriage. He used his money to help make the items on the bucket list he and Carter made a reality. Carter was less materialistic. He had his beautiful wife and family that were concerned for his life. His wife was by his side most days when he was in the hospital. Carter spoke about how he provided for his family so they never wanted for anything and now his older kids were successful. One cannot be miserable if they are enjoying different moments in life. A stereotype about the elderly that was seen in the movie was when Carter met a young woman and was telling her about his recent trip to the mountains and she said, “Aren’t you a little developed in years to be running up a giant mountain?” The idea