Obi-Wan Kenobi dispensed the wisdom of the aged, even though Hollywood, and society at large, often seems to have forgotten the value of the elderly with their knowledge, life experience, and insight.

While it’s true that Hollywood has at times treated the elderly with compassion and respect in movies like Driving Miss Daisy and Million Dollar Baby, other movies like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Sunset Boulevard have treated aging as a source of horror.

Older characters in movies have often been stereotyped in insulting and degrading ways. The elderly have been shown as grumpy, depressed, slow-witted, lonely, sickly, whiny, rude, frisky, and profane. Cinema has often reflected society’s attitudes toward the 50-plus crowd who in real life were at times ridiculed, ignored, or not taken seriously.

But hopefully the times are a-changin’, as Bob Dylan famously sang.

As an article in the San Diego Tribune pointed out, we baby boomers “are reinventing society’s idea of what it means to grow old. Seniors today carry cell phones, not walkers. They sit on bicycles, not rocking chairs. Arts and crafts, bingo and checkers have been replaced with jogging, white-water rafting and skiing. Seniors are healthy, vibrant, influential members of our society.”

As the oldest of the 77 million baby boomers approach their 70s, the elderly and their concerns will inevitably move higher on the national agenda. As to whether ageism will ease or grow worse in the coming decades of boomer senior citizenship is a matter of debate.

Erdman Palmore, a professor emeritus at Duke University who has written or edited more than a dozen books on aging, counts himself — cautiously — among the optimists.

“One can say unequivocally that older people are getting smarter, richer and healthier as time goes on,” Palmore said. “I’ve dedicated most of my life to combating ageism, and it’s tempting for me to see it everywhere. … But I have faith that as science progresses, and reasonable people get educated about it, we will come to recognize ageism as the evil it is.”

Palmore, 74, lives what he preaches — challenging the stereotypes of aging by skydiving, whitewater rafting, and bicycling his age in miles each birthday. Yes, I’m impressed!

Is Hollywood slowly adapting to reflect these changes as we baby boomers forge ahead refining the landscape of aging?

A representative from Humana, recently contacted me about this subject. They are sponsoring a panel discussion, Over Sixty, Under Estimated: A Healthy Look at the “Silver” Screen. The event will be held tonight, February 16, at 6:30 p.m. PST at University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Moderated by arts and entertainment commentator John Horn, the panel discussion will examine society’s point of view on ageism, on and off screen, supported by research on select films nominated for the 2017 Academy Awards.

The movie industry has been complaining about ageism in Hollywood for a long time. According to AARP CEO JoAnn Jenkins at a movie industry roundtable discussion hosted by Variety, ageism is another diversity issue that Hollywood needs to consider more. “The truth is that 70 percent of the disposable income in this country is in the possession of people 50 and older,” Jenkins said. “And 25 percent of people who are moviegoers are people over the age of 50. They are actually putting butts in the seats in the movie theaters. Yet we see across the board that the marketing industry is spending 75 to 80 percent of their dollars focusing on people who are under the age of 30, and mostly young males.”

Jenkin’s opinion corresponds with two academic studies that showed 30-somethings were heavily over-represented in movies, 40-somethings did all right, while 50-somethings were significantly under-represented and the over-60s severely so.

Interestingly, maybe that is beginning to change.

This year, the Academy’s Oscar nominees include a significant number of people over 50, including Mel Gibson, for directing Hacksaw Ridge; Jeff Bridges, for Best Supporting Actor in Hell or High Water; Viggo Mortensen, for Best Actor in a Leading Role in Captain Fantastic; and Meryl Streep for Best Actress in a Leading Role in Florence Foster Jenkins, and Isabelle Huppert for Best Actress in a Leading Role in Elle.

Jeff Bridges, 67, stars as a no-nonsense Texas Ranger tracking down a pair of bank-robbing brothers. Viggo Mortensen, 58, plays a father devoted to raising his six kids with a rigorous education who begins a journey that challenges his ideas. Meryl Streep, 67, once again proves older women can still steal scenes front and center. And Isabelle Huppert, 63, plays a woman who turns the tables on her attacker.

Maybe that’s a start.

The focus of Humana’s session is to look into society’s views of aging in America through the lens of film specifically analyzing award-season nominees. They’ll discuss how the negative and stereotypical media portrayals do not reflect how seniors see themselves – or their lifestyles – and the impact such portrayals can have on health.

Humana invited me to watch the discussion live on Facebook and take part in the conversation online. As a 56-year-old baby boomer who’d like to see an end to ageism and loves movies and watches the Academy Awards every year, I’ll be checking it out. If you’d like to join me in watching this discussion, the live stream will be available on Humana’s Facebook page. You can join by clicking this link at 6:30 p.m. PST tonight.

Images courtesy of photostock and Danilo Rizzuti at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.