Ageing Asia: Multimedia Representations of Ageing and Older Adults in Asian Societies

Ageing Asia: Multimedia Representations of Ageing and Older Adults in Asian Societies is a two-volume research project that brings together interdisciplinary scholarship to examine how ageing is constructed and represented across literature, film, and visual culture in diverse Asian contexts. Volume I focuses on national and generational frameworks, while Volume II explores changing representations of older adulthood within family and social structures. Collectively, the project advances new knowledge by foregrounding ageing as a critical lens through which to understand cultural, social, and ethical transformations in contemporary Asia.

Ageing Asia: Multimedia Representations of Ageing and Older Adults in Asian Societies is a two-volume project that examines how older people are represented in films, literature, and media across Asia. It explores how ageing is experienced and understood across different cultures, addressing issues such as memory, family relationships, and social change. The project provides insight into societal perceptions of older adults and highlights both the challenges and contributions of ageing populations in everyday life.

The project demonstrates that representations of ageing in Asian media are diverse and culturally specific, yet consistently shaped by tensions between tradition and modernity. Across the volumes, ageing is closely linked to issues of memory, family responsibility, and social change, with older adults often positioned as both carriers of cultural continuity and as subjects of marginalisation. A key finding is that, while dominant narratives frequently emphasise decline, dependency, and care burdens, alternative representations foreground agency, resilience, and relational identity. The project also reveals that neoliberal economic pressures and demographic ageing are reshaping how older adults are valued within families and societies, emphasising the need to rethink ageing beyond deficit-based models.