The movie “The Notebook” presents Noah and Allie as an old couple, experiencing passionate moments of love throughout their life and reaching the latest phase of their life, which finds Allie in an elder institute, being treated of dementia, and Noah her shadow-friend, telling her a beautiful love story over and over again, until she remembers that it is in fact their own story that the man is telling, recognizing him for a moment and then going back into the state of obliteration (Cassavetes, “The Notebook”). In this movie there are exposed two different characters and two approaches to reaching old age. Noah contemplates his life, and his achievements, sharing them with his life partner, Allie and he according to this theory he proves to be an upright person, as he evaluates with content his life, being satisfied with his living and all the good and hard experiences that he and his partner Allie faced during the years. The movie centers on the effects of Alzheimer, a form of dementia that affects one in 10 people over 65 and nearly half of individuals over 85 years old (Carolan Doerflinger 1), but also on the care that the man offers to his demented wife, in a very advanced age in life. In fact, the message of the movie is that love and care makes the old age and its effects (dementia, or other mental and/or physical diseases) bearable, and people accept their age, as well as they accept the idea of dying with integrity, feeling at peace with themselves and with their loved ones, knowing that their lives were well and fully lived, but mostly, knowing that they are being loved and that they can share love.
The movie offers a positive image of the old people, showing them as contemplating their life with satisfaction and serenity, indicating that when they eventually reach dementia or heart attacks, which are likely to occur as people advance in their old age, there are professional, experienced, trained caregivers that are prepared to handle these difficulties with calm, firmness and compassion. In fact the image of the old people, as reflected in the movie “The Notebook” also illustrates a positive image of the American health system, as trained, prepared and efficient in dealing with all types of cases involved in the process of getting old, showing respect for the old age, but also proficient attitude in managing their health related problems.
Erickson Developmental theory includes the stages that an individual passes through from early childhood to late adulthood (as older adults) from a psychosocial point of view. Regarding the older adult developmental stage, Erickson’s developmental theory states that in this phase individuals can experience two approaches on life: integrity or despair. The theory depicts older adults in the last phase of their existence where they evaluate their living, developing feelings of integrity or despair, according to the way they considered they lived their life. As such, older adults (65 and over) tend to examine and evaluate their accomplishments in life, feeling integrity if they considered themselves successful and depression if they considered themselves unsuccessful, thinking that they could have done more. Considering that they were not productive enough, they develop feelings of guilt for a life spent without reaching a goal, experiencing the dissatisfaction with life and the living, which develops into depression and hopelessness (O’Neille 224).
The older adults’ image that the movie presents might have potential negative implications on the well-being of the elders in the movie, as they are presented in the last phase of their life, where they are losing their abilities, their strength and their health, indicating the reduction of life, which might create anxiety and fear directed towards the idea of dying. Losing capacities, losing memory, entering into a complete obliteration estate also implies forgetting the family, the loved ones and losing oneself (describing Allie’s situation) might also affect one’s psychological well-being, considering that the person in cause is unable to contemplate at the achievements, successes and failures in life. As such, in the moments of lucidity, when she understands that she has dementia, Allie is accepting her fate in the movie, being consoled by the fact that her loving husband is near her, but she could potentially outburst in guilt of not being able to remember who she is and to recognize her family, in remorse for not being able to spend the last moments of her life lucid along her loved ones and in despair for not having the power of doing anything about her condition, knowing that her dementia can strike back any moment.
The actual implications of the older adults presented image on the physical and psychological well-being of the older adults in “The Notebook”, however, indicate that they are sound and treat the stage of getting older and preparing to die with dignity, serenity and with peace of mind. Nonetheless, from a physical point of view Noah is affected by the image of his wife, Allie, when she suddenly falls again into dementia, after what she finally remembered who she was, as he suffers a heart attack.
Assessing the older adults characters of the movie “The Notebook” by applying the geriatric depression scale tool, there must be known that this tool measures depression, a condition from which nearly 5 million out of 31 million Americans aged 65 and over suffer, which may result in social isolation, physical, cognitive and functional impairment, which can negatively influence the quality of life, if not identified in time for applying professional treatment for reversing it (Greenberg 1). This tool can be easily applied to healthy, to medically ill and to mild to moderate cognitive impaired older adults (Greenberg 1), which indicates that it can be only used for assessing Noah from the older adults of the analyzed movie, since Allie suffered severe cognitive impairment.
Based on the geriatric depression scale (GDS), and on the way that Noah is reflected in the movie, there can be easily identified that the man is satisfied with his life, as he recalls it with pleasure and emotion, and he is engaged in the activity he loves the most: being with his wife, taking care of her, and this fills his life, so that he does not feel his life is empty. He appears to be in a good mood, taking whatever comes with acceptance, not fearing that something wrong might happen, showing no sign of feeling helplessness, as he is set to make his wife remember who she is, so he does not give up. His main activity is near his wife and this is why he spends most of his time in the care institute where she resides, feeling wonderful to be alive, full of energy and facing no memory problems and no situation of feeling hopeless or worthless. He seems to enjoy every moment of his life, not thinking if others are better off than he is. According to GDS assessment tool, Noah is far from being depressive, as based on this examination he scored none of the bold answers indicating depression.
Works Cited
Carolan Doerflinger, Deirdre, M., “Mental Status Assessment of Older Adults: The Mini – Cog” The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, vol. 3. 2013. Print.
Cassavetes, Nick, The Notebook. New Line Cinema. 2004. Movie.
Greenberg, Sherry, A., “The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS)” The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, vol. 4. 2012. Print.
O’Neill, Patricia. Caring for the Older Adult: A Health Promotion Perspective. Pennsylvania, Elsevier. 2002. Print.
