‘My Mom Was Old’: Occult Gerascophobia in Hereditary (2018)

This article presents an extended close reading of Ari Aster’s Hereditary (2018), interpreting the film as a representation of gerascophobia – of anxieties and fears around ageing and dementia. Considering the narrative as an allegorical rendering of Annie Graham’s perspective on ageing, the analysis traces a trajectory of stereotype embodiment, whereby Annie imagines herself becoming the elderly other, which she has stereotyped as uncanny and abject. By examining thematic and formal clusters of symbolism such as fate, houses, thresholds and trees within Hereditary, this article seeks to demonstrate that the film’s horrors can be read as a warning against ageist framings.