Thoughts on perceptions of age -- or youth.

[starwatcher]

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I am currently writing a detailed transcription of the movie. Netflix has a dialogue transcription, but no descriptions of actions, reactions, etc. I'm adding all that. And yes, I'll announce it and make it available to fandom when I'm finished.

But that means I am studying this film line by line, sometimes word by word. (Such a hardship. </snark>) As such, I'm seeing a LOT more than I did in my previous three watchings -- and transcribing it gives me time to think around the words themselves, you know?

I've just reached Booker telling Nile, "You'll always and forever be the young woman right there..." and it made me think.

Cannon tells us (I think, may be misremembering) that Nile is 27, but to my eyes, she doesn't look it. And that can have advantages and disadvantages.

I was regularly taken as a teen until I was almost 30 -- and there is a difference in the ways adults react to other adults versus someone they think is just barely (or not quite) out of teen-hood. As an adult, it could sometimes be quite aggravating. OTOH, I could get away with freer, "more juvenile" behavior without someone reacting as if they wanted to tell me "act your age" because they didn't know I was 25 or 27.

So Nile may be able to slip into places or do things because observers dismiss her as "just a kid". And/or she may have to push harder to get others (the mundanes who don't know her) to treat her as a competent adult.

Just my two cents. I'll be interested to see your thoughts, but don't expect a response very soon -- I'm busy transcribing.

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Comments

[delphi]

I was actually thinking about this the other day, or at least that movie!Nile is kind of in an ideal place to stop aging, because while KiKi Layne has a youthful face, she - and Nile - can bust out the mature and authoritative bearing when needed. While this may or may not completely swing whether some observers underestimate or dismiss her, I think it's a real boon for being able to hold down one identity for a long time without raising eyebrows among the neighbours or the passport office. Styled down, she can pass as a very young adult who wouldn't look out of place in a freshman university class, but put her in the right tailored clothes with a different hairstyle and a touch of dye, and she could pull off being that friend of yours whose skin is just as amazing as it was twenty years ago.

[lilacsigil]

I was thinking the same thing - she does look very young, but when she pulls out the authoritative military commands she could pass as much older. It's going to be very handy when she needs to be her own daughter to pass ID along!

[starwatcher]

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Cool idea; I hadn't thought of that. And yeah, I love that she can easily go from being "average young woman" to "definitely in charge". Lots of potential for the character in fic and (hopefully) future movies.
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[starwatcher]

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Yes, exactly; you put it better than I did. She can "go young" or "go older" depending on what's needed for the job they're doing or, as you say, if she wants a kind of "base home" that she can use for many years, in between their missions.
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[raine]

Nile was born in 1994 per the promo materials I found. She comes from a much different experience than the rest of the Old Guard - Chicago's South Side is still economically and socially depressed, IIRC, and historically so due to redlining.

Also, you might find this useful: https://8flix.com/assets/transcripts/theoldguard/The-Old-Guard-2020-movie-transcription-script.pdf

[starwatcher]

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Thanks. That's the one I found (and linked to in my transcripts), and it did help in that I didn't have to type the dialogue as well as the descriptions. But -- as evidenced by what I posted -- it wasn't at all what I had hoped to find. No matter; I did it myself. <g>
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