[In Context] The subverted film tropes of dementia

Filmmakers have increasingly focused on dementia, capturing both the dread of memory loss and the tenderness of caregiving. What began as television dramas in the 1980s has exponentially grown into a cinematic genre, with more than 275 titles tracing the slow unravelling of memory. The impact of these films has grown due to global distribution and streaming for home viewing and has increased awareness of chronic neurological disorders that devastatingly disrupt healthy ageing. Western cinema often portrays dementia through loss of dignity and rising squalor (Iris, 2001; A Song for Martin, 2001), episodes of disorientation and bursts of aggression (Relic, 2020; Falling, 2020), and patients’ reluctance to be institutionalised (The Savages, 2007; Fred Won’t Move Out, 2012).