Postgraduate researcher hails new Brazilian film for "bold and refreshing vision of ageing"
Danielle Reid is part of the 'Women, Ageing and Machine Learning on Screen (WAML)
Writing for The Conversation UK, a postgraduate researcher who specialises in the representation of ageing women in UK screen cultures has praised a new Brazilian film by Gabriel Mascaro for its "bold and refreshing vision of ageing" and its "critique of ageist assumptions".
The Blue Trail follows 77-year-old Tereza (Denise Weinberg) who lives in a chilling near-future where a totalitarian regime forcibly removes anyone over 75, relocating them to remote colonies without consultation or consent.
In her review of the film, Danielle Reid (School of Media and Communication) said:
"The Blue Trail offers a bold and refreshing vision of ageing – one driven by agency, quiet defiance and profound transformation. Set against the awe-inspiring landscapes of north-west Brazil, the film weaves together dystopian sci-fi with a striking “coming-of-old-age” journey, redefining what it means to grow older.
"Tereza is presented as both physically and mentally capable – strong-willed, perceptive, and open to the possibility of a different future. Her age never defines the limits of her identity.
"Through both characterisation and visual style, The Blue Trail quietly but powerfully resists the notion of ageing as taboo, and challenges the cultural tendency to overlook or erase older people altogether."
Danielle is part of the The Leverhulme Trust-funded 'Women, Ageing and Machine Learning on Screen (WAML)', an interdisciplinary project that brings together media archives and artificial intelligence to explore the representations and realities of women in UK film and television on and off screen. Her review reflects some of the key arguments she has been working on as part of her broader PhD research, which has involved interviews with those working in the screen industries, gathering data about their experiences with ageing, ageism, and the control they have in curating and shaping portrayals of ageing on screen.
Read Danielle's review of the Blue Trail for the Conversation.
And visit the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures' research project directory to find out more about the 'Women, Ageing and Machine Learning on Screen' project.
