TOO OLD FOR THIS SH*T: Aged Action Heroes, Affect, and “the Economy of Exertion”

Abstract

This article discusses how old age aligns with ideals of hegemonic masculinity and generic conventions of the action film through the performance of strenuous heroics. Whereas it is commonly assumed that action films omit many characteristics which reference the geriaction hero’s age in order to safeguard his masculine status, aspects of age and aging are in many contexts instead emphasized. The ailments and efforts that come with old age provide a potent source of melodramatic scenarios that set up the action hero as a morally right victim in pursuit of heroic restoration. Using the films The Last Stand, 3 Days to Kill, and Taken 3, an illustration is offered of how action films engage their heroes in an economy of exertive situations to draw power from this victimization and frame the violent actions of the characters as pleasurable.

Keywords:

• Affect
• masculinity
• melodrama
• strenuous life
• violence
• victimhood

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lennart Soberon

Lennart Soberon works as a postdoctoral researcher and teaching assistant for the faculty of Communication Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), where he is a member of the research group ECHO. His research deals with the representation of contemporary conflicts in cinema and focusses on the construction of enemy images in American action films. Apart from working on themes of vilification and “othering,” he has also published on themes of genre, political economy, masculinity, trauma, and spectacle.