THESE VITAL YEARS: A CONVERSATION WITH BETTY FRIEDAN AT 76

1994 (28 min) $125.   ISBN: 1-891340-69-7       [Available with Spanish Subtitles]

View a short clip from this film.

Visit our Support Materials section to view or download the Learning Guide and Discussion Topics for this film.

Never wanting to waste a moment or an opportunity, activist Betty Friedan discusses what she sees as the outmoded concept of retirement.  She sees the cohort of people over sixty as offering a great resource of talent and experience that our social systems are not yet fully utilizing.  She suggests that careers need not be linear, that people of all ages should balance their working lives with personal time for family and community concerns.  She ties this together with reminiscences of her work for the 1960’s Women’s Movement and her subsequent activism in different arenas.

Film content:

            Positive social effects of increasing longevity

            Friedan’s own biography with special attention to her role in the Women’s Movement

            Necessary paradigm shift of putting human values above economic ones

            Criticism of David Guterman’s model of crossover priorities in old age

            Marian Diamond’s work on the neurology of aging

            Retirement as an outmoded concept

            Criticism of nursing home care

            Shaping one’s life to accommodate shifting priorities throughout the life span

Visuals:  The film consists primarily of a filmed interview with Dr. Friedan but there are supporting archival and live action visuals:

                        Archival photographs of life

                        Newsreel film of the l960’s Women’s Movement

                        Archival photos and drawings of women’s lives in the mid-20^th century

                        Men and women with young families

                        Women at work in fresh film sequences

                        Marian Diamond, Ph.D. and rats illustrating her research on the effect of environmental factors on aging

Consultant:

Betty Friedan is best remembered as the author of her l963 book, THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE that was a crucial factor in jumpstarting the Women’s Movement.  She wrote THE FOUNTAIN OF AGE on aging issues and lectured widely.  She died on her 85^th birthday in 2006. 

[ BACK TO TOP ]