[Perspectives] Cinematic portrayals of euthanasia and ageing across the decades

Cinema can be enormously instructive in reflecting and informing public consciousness on societal issues. It is especially illuminating for exploring perceptions of ageing, a complex, diverse, and heterogeneous social experience. An early scene in Michael Anderson's 1976 film Logan's Run depicts a ceremony in which people at the age of 30 years ascend to a crystal maze where only those “strong enough” are “renewed”. Little do citizens of the underground utopia in Logan's Run realise that they will all perish upon ascension, irrespective of perceived strength.