[Kim Seng-kon] From 'little old men' to great old men

In Greek, “gerontion” means “little old man.” The famous poet T. S. Eliot published a poem titled “Gerontion” in 1920, in which a disillusioned elderly man reflects on Europe after World War I. In the poem, an old man’s voice laments the barren landscape of modern civilization with the intellectual frivolity and spiritual barrenness of postwar Europe. Later, T. S. Eliot called this bleak world "The Waste Land."

Just as Eliot’s little old man did in the early 20th century, today’s “little old men,” too, deplore the desolate landscape of the computer and smartphone era. They think that human civilization is rapidly disintegrating due to the intellectual shallowness and spiritual superficiality of a younger generation infatuated with transient electronic devices.

To their dismay, the older generation’s era is gone; they are living in a completely new, unfamiliar era that belongs to the younger generation. In the eyes of the young, therefore, older people’s complaints and discontent are nothing but a misfit’s nagging and nitpicking. Moreover, the wisdom of experience that older people acquired in the analog era is no longer considered valid in this quantum-electronic era.

Therefore, instead of being selfish, complaining little old men, older people should be humble and selfless in front of the young and try to be useful to them. Instead of being mean, nagging old men who complain about children’s noises next door or outside, they should care about the next generation and protect little kids at all costs.

The 2015 American science fiction movie "Self/Less" illuminates what old people should do for young people. In the film, a billionaire New Yorker, Damian Hale, is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He does not want to die, especially when he reflects on his glorious achievements and astronomical wealth. However, there is nothing he can do to avoid his imminent death.

Moreover, Damian feels insulted when a young businessman, Carl Baldwin, taunts his old age behind his back, saying, “The Hale Group is a relic. The old man won’t be around for long.” Baldwin tells Damian that when he was young, he admired and respected the man who had built New York — Damian Hale. Now, Carl despises Damian simply because he is a dying old man. To Damian, who tells Carl, “What I want is to offer you a lesson from an old man, free of charge,” Carl replies, “You’re gonna be dead in a year, and who cares?”

Thus, Damian visits professor Albright, who introduces him to a medical procedure called “shedding” that transfers his consciousness into a new, younger body. By doing so, Damian can continue to live even after he dies. Damian agrees, and Albright transfers him into the body of a young man named Mark Bitwell.

Albright prescribes medication to alleviate the side effects of hallucinations. In fact, the medication is intended to suppress the memories of Mark Bitwell. If Damian stops taking the pills, Mark’s consciousness will come back, whereas Damian’s will gradually be erased.

As Damian often forgets to take the medicine, he hallucinates visions of a woman and her daughter living in a farmhouse. He finds out that they are Mark’s wife and daughter and that Mark sold his body to Albright to pay for his daughter’s lifelong medical treatment. Damian visits Mark’s wife and daughter in St. Louis and decides to make them happy by returning Mark to them.

Therefore, he intentionally stops taking the pills and fades away while Mark’s consciousness comes back. At the end of the movie, Mark happily reunites with his wife and daughter, and Damien disappears from Mark’s body. In "Self/Less," Damian shows us what a dying old man can do for others, especially for young people who need help.

In the beginning, Damian is selfish and wants to continue living indefinitely in a young man’s body. Later, however, he realizes the importance of others’ happiness and thus sacrifices his life for the young man whose body he borrows to live on after his death. Because of Damian’s “self/less” act, Mark can now live happily again with his wife and daughter. Although he is physically dead, Damian will continue to live in Mark’s and his family’s memories forever.

As early as 1966, another American movie, "Seconds," starring Rock Hudson, had already dealt with the same theme: the problems of living a second life in a second body. Ostensibly, it is a valuable second chance for the protagonist. Yet, it makes his life second-rate because extending his life through another body reflects his egocentric selfishness.

Rather than trying to give their advice or wisdom of experience to the young, old people should learn how to be “self/less” and helpful. If they do so, they will become great old men instead of complaining little old men.

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Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. The views expressed here are the writer's own. — Ed