011 Sex, fashion, parties - everything for pensioners

Older people around the world are becoming the new consumer majority and appearing on magazine covers. Does this happen in Russia? Daniil Trabun found out

Grace Hanson and Frankie Bergstein, 76 and 77 years old. One of them used to run a large cosmetics company and still can’t calm down - her nerves are to hell. Another still teaches art, participated in the hippie movement in her youth and sometimes indulges in illegal substances. They left their husbands a few days ago, now they are experiencing a second youth, sitting on the beach after a sleepless night and looking at the Pacific Ocean. Life goes on. These are not real old ladies, but characters from the series “Grace and Frankie,” which was created by the creator of the legendary “Friends,” Marta Kauffman. The series was produced by the Internet service Netflix and premiered on May 8, 2015.

Vitaly Kurennoy, head and professor of the School of Cultural Studies at the Higher School of Economics, believes that the picture described above

quite real. This is not the first year he has been participating in the “Society for All Ages” conference, where problems related to global demographic aging are discussed. The population is indeed aging rapidly. If in 1950 only 8% of the human population successfully celebrated their 60th anniversary, then in 2000 the number of elderly people increased to 10%, and in 2050, according to UN forecasts, every fifth person on the planet will be old.

These will be unusual old people. For these happy people who do not want to grow old, but prefer to enjoy life, travel, fall in love and study until their deathbeds, Kurennaya proposes the term Youngold - “young old”: “Before, long-livers were a rarity. The world was linear, the longer you live, the more you know about it.

Today, learning is endless. Therefore, modern culture is infantile; such a cultural regime does not allow one to grow up.” Previously, old people disguised themselves with the help of plastic surgeons, today it is not necessary to look young - it is important to act young. 60-70 year olds fit completely into the consumption structure originally created for young people. Entertainment, Kurennaya emphasizes, is an expensive thing: “In Europe, you can notice another important point - only pensioners have money for museums, theaters, cafes, galleries, concerts, and travel. This is no place for young people.”

The cult of old age also manifests itself in the pop cultural field. Among television and film products, “Grace and Frankie” is not an isolated example. In 2015, Diablo Cody released a new film, Ricky and the Flash, about an aging rock star (played by 66-year-old Meryl Streep) rethinking her life. The recent “Youth” by Paolo Sorrentino with Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel is also a reflection on the theme of infantility, escape from reality and growing up. It is interesting that this topic is raised by young people: Diablo Cody is 37 years old, Paolo Sorrentino is 45. We can say that cinema is preparing the younger generation for a new “transitional age”, which will happen closer to 60.

“Russian society should not be considered archaic in this matter. Yes, we may lag behind more developed countries, but we are moving in the same direction. Of course, the traditions of the Soviet era are somehow combined with the modern situation.” Vitaly Kurennoy explains that the main reason for the lag is due to the fact that in our cultural land there is not yet an infrastructure where an elderly person can stay with his family. Most often, grandmothers return to their families and become nannies for their grandchildren.

Irina Andreevna is 79 years old. In the past she worked as a flight attendant

on test flights, after retirement he lives in Omsk in the same apartment with his adopted son. A few years ago she was photographed by the fashion blog “Oldushka”, and now the entire Internet is collecting money for her own apartment. There are five relatives registered in her current home, who are waiting for only one thing - when the space will finally become free. Irina Andreevna is dressed brightly, the obligatory horn-rimmed glasses, a hat or beret, a Dalmatian fur coat or a scarlet coat. Her joints ache, but she courageously goes to dances even under the doctor’s shadow. She says: “I still feel attractive. Inside, I’m about forty years old,” and says that she receives compliments from people many times younger than her. She is not a fictional character in the series, but a real person.

The creator of the Oldushka blog, Igor Gavar, posted a request for help for his favorite model at the end of October and within five days he collected the 140,000 rubles needed for the purchase. According to Gavar, in Russia old people live for their own pleasure rather contrary to the surrounding reality. The stereotype is still alive that after 60 years a person lives out his life: “I am often asked if I dress up the heroes of my blog myself? No, I just find such people on the street. Compared to New York, there are still catastrophically few such women and men. The Soviet badness and the rules of that time have an effect - you need to be decent and modest, and bourgeois, bright and bold - bad taste.”

The 29-year-old photographer says: “They say that children are our future. This is not entirely true. The future of every person is his old age.” Millennials will refuse to give up themselves or become deeply attached to their children's children. The entertainment industry will be completely given over to the old people, and then the young people will only have student loans.