Older Adults and Younger Adults Term Paper

They assume that males are almost always the aggressors in relationships and younger women do not fully understand 'what they are getting into' when an older man tries to seduce them. When Erica discovers that Harry is dating her daughter Marin, she is not angry that Marin is sexually active, she is angry because she sees the older man as a predator. She is angry and cold to Harry, and assumes that he is taking advantage of the girl. The younger Marin, in contrast, sees herself as an empowered woman who is making a choice to date an older man, and does not view herself as a victim, as seduced or compromised. She does not view the relationship as discriminatory, because in her view both men and women are capable of showing sexual prowess at any age.

Another assumption of the older generation is that males do not wish to be 'ensnared' by women, while women desire more security and stability. This is proved to be wrong when Dr. Mercer proposes marriage to Erica and asks her to run away to Paris with him. Instead of avoiding commitment, like Harry, Dr. Mercer does not see having a strong, stable female presence beside him as a threat. But the older Harry clearly hopes that by avoiding marriage he can prolong his rapidly-fading youth. Only after his health scare does he realize the value of having a woman of his own generation to talk to, who understands the issues of middle-age and beyond.

At the end of the movie, Harry is shown as capable of changing, and eventually decides that Erica is the better match for him, based upon their mutually shared worldviews. However, both of them change as a result of their experiences and adopt a more open-minded and youthful attitude towards the appropriate sexual roles of males and females within a relationship. They learn that women can be powerful and sexually desirable at any age, and men can benefit from the stability and support of a committed relationship just as much as a woman.

Work Cited

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