Applied Gerontology

Dementia is arguably the defining age-related disease of the twenty-first century. But equally, the word dementia and the associated medico-scientific discourses around the disease have been described as invoking ‘a profound dread’ about an illness that has displaced cancer as the ‘scourge of modern times.’ Screen-based media, film and TV in particular, have assumed an increasingly important role in shaping public awareness and opinion on age-related themes, including the depiction of major diseases such as dementia. Historically, dementia has been depicted obliquely in the odd, ‘eccentric’ or erratically behaved older characters that have appeared in mainstream film and television. This coded form of representation has given way in recent decades to more considered and clinically better-informed depictions of the various forms of the disease and its consequences. The burgeoning, multi-disciplinary research focus on dementia over the last three decades and a corresponding increase i...

Mainstream cinema remains the dominant form of popular culture and a profoundly influential medium in which to shape attitudes to ageing and age-related illness in the public domain. Arguably the most challenging disease of older age in the 21st century, until recently, dementia has rarely featured on the mainstream cinema screen. The burgeoning multi-disciplinary research focus and concomitant increase in public awareness of the disease in recent decades correlates with a modest but notable increase in representations of dementia on the mainstream screen. In previous decades, films focussed primarily on the clinical accuracy (or otherwise) of depictions of dementia, but this has given way to more complex delineations of the disease and its consequences. Contemporary filmmakers have not only engaged with symptomatology, treatment and care in a more considered fashion, but recent films have also addressed the varying and often conflicting perspectives of the health professional, fami...

There are currently more than 125,000 residents in aged care facilities in Australia with a high care ACFI assessment, and of these, more than 50% have a diagnosis of dementia. With dementia diagnosis rates predicted to exponentially increase in forthcoming decades, the demand for expert, person-centred dementia care is a clear and urgent imperative. The ‘Personalising Practice in Dementia Care’ project is a federal government funded, nationwide dissemination of an evidence-based, e-learning program focusing on best practice, person-centred dementia care. The project will distribute the dvd training program to every aged care facility in Australia in conjunction with a resource manual and supported by national workshops and comprehensive, web-based resources. The PPDC project aims to provide dementia care education to a critical mass of staff and encourage practice change in order to better address the unmet needs and improve the quality of life for residents with dementia. An impor...

To cite this article: Capp, Rose. Romancing the Stone: Outback Adventures of a Different Kind in Japanese Story [online]. Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine, No. 138, Spring 2003: 28-32. Availability: <http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn= ...