Kill Japan's elderly? Cannes film probes chilling idea

[Hydrogen]

CANNES (FRANCE): A Japanese filmmaker is shaking Cannes film audiences to the core with a dystopian vision of her country, in which old people agree to be euthanised to solve the challenge of a rapidly ageing population.   

"Plan 75" by Japanese director and writer Chie Hayakawa is based on a very real problem.   

Japan is the most rapidly-ageing industrial society, a trend that is causing huge economic and political problems as a dwindling number of younger people must support a growing army of the old.   

Close to 30 per cent of Japan's population is over 65, the majority women, and that rate is expected to continue rising in coming decades.   

In the movie, anybody over 75 is encouraged to sign up for a deal with the government, by which they receive a sum of money in return for agreeing to be euthanised. A collective funeral is thrown in for free.   

Slick ad campaigns and calls from people with soothing voices are part of the effort to get people to sign up. Handsome advisors list the small pleasures candidates could afford with the money. "You'll be able to go to the restaurant," says one.   

"On the face of it, the government's Plan 75 is full of goodwill and friendliness and pragmatism, but in truth it is both very cruel and shameful," Hayakawa told AFP in an interview.   

"The ageing of the population is not a recent problem, I've always heard people discussing it," she said.   

"When I was young, a long life was considered to be a good thing, people had respect for older people. That's no longer the case," the 45-year-old director added. 

"Plan 75", Hayakawa's first full-length feature film, is full of slow sequences with minimal camera movement.   

"I wanted the images to be aesthetic and beautiful, as well as cold and cruel, just like the plan itself," she said.   Asked how close to today's Japanese reality her scenario is, Hayakawa quickly answered "eight out of 10".   

She said she interviewed older people as part of her research for the movie, and discovered that many found merit with the idea of buying financial security with their willingness to end their life.   

"It would alleviate the stress of wondering how they can survive once they are alone. Choosing the moment and the method of their death could be very reassuring," she said.   

She said the approach would find support among the younger generations, too.   

"If such a plan was on the table today, I believe that many people would accept it, even welcome it as a viable solution," she said.   

"Most young people worry already what the end of their life will look like. Will their basic needs be met? Can they survive once they live alone? Can they afford to age?" she said.   

Instead of blaming the government, Hayakawa said many young people were resentful of the old.   

"They are frustrated and angry because they work hard to support the elderly, but they think that, when it's their turn, there may be nobody to support them," she said.   

"What worries me a lot is that we're in a social reality that would very much favour such a radical solution," she said. "It's scary."   

Hayakawa said her film did not presume to offer a solution to handling the age crisis. "But an honest assessment of where we are today would already be a key step," she said.   

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/kill-japans-elderly-cannes-film-probes-chilling-idea/articleshow/91714100.cms

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The basic premise is virtually identical to the deal offered to japanese kamikaze pilots during World War II. The elderly are offered financial compensation in exchange for voluntary euthanasia. The theory behind it is to address japan's trend of an aging population. With the elderly in many respects being blamed for crisis of pensions, due to them living longer, in places like the united states.

The maker of the film claims to have interviewed the elderly and youth in japan to gauge public reaction to the concept:

She said she interviewed older people as part of her research for the movie, and discovered that many found merit with the idea of buying financial security with their willingness to end their life.   

"It would alleviate the stress of wondering how they can survive once they are alone. Choosing the moment and the method of their death could be very reassuring," she said.   

She said the approach would find support among the younger generations, too.   

I'm not certain what to think of this. I don't mind the elderly and it upsets me when criminals and thugs target them for violence and crime. On the flipside, many elderly are struggling financially. Living on the streets with little in the way of job options or financial income. Asian culture having their senpai kohai arrangement, there should be less of a generation gap in contrast to other nations.

With recent concerns of overpopulation, could this concept of voluntary euthanasia become normalized?

[palle11]

In the movie, anybody over 75 is encouraged to sign up for a deal with the government, by which they receive a sum of money in return for agreeing to be euthanised. A collective funeral is thrown in for free.

This is funny and sad. But in the reality I don't think this is to happen because no one created life and not to take it away even the government don't have right to do that in this case because the person is old and not because they are sick of chronic or incurable disease. I have though heard that some countries have laws of euthanasia by choice based on certain reasons especially of incurable health condition but that of the post of Japan that I read above isn't of such so why make old people sign agreement to be killed because they are old. I think they should be rather proactive in their policies about child bearing and to encourage the multiplication of young ones. Encouraging early marriage will help them and that includes providing of jobs, finances for loans and reduced interest rate. Also making it enticing to have a certain high amount of children and the government having to take care of some amount of children for families who procreate to certain number of children. Some of these will in the future take care of the old age population and boost the young population.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

 
"Most young people worry already what the end of their life will look like. Will their basic needs be met? Can they survive once they live alone? Can they afford to age?" she said.   

Man, if the above statement is actually true, it's sad and also the complete opposite of what younger folks in the US focus their attention on.  Kids growing up here nowadays want to become Youtube stars, chase wealth and fame, and I seriously doubt many of them are pondering what life is like when they're 75 years old.

Sounds like an interesting film but a bleak and depressing concept if discussed as actual governmental policy.  The one good thing about the idea is that it's voluntary--it would be much darker if Japanese society were contemplating compulsory euthanization of their elderly.  Is the impact of having so many people 75 years old and above that much of a threat to their economy?

[stompix]

  Is the impact of having so many people 75 years old and above that much of a threat to their economy?

In theory, yes, but in reality not so much yet, it was always been feared that at some point the total number of working people won't be able to compensate for the number of retired, currently, Japan has about  67 million working and 36.4 over 65, still there is much more to this, for example, half of the population 65-60 is still working and 1/3 of 70-74, balancing a lot of things.
But yeah, the Japanese have the highest life expectancy in the world combined with a baby boomer cycle does lead to some fears.

Anyhow, the idea is a bit stupid

In the movie, anybody over 75 is encouraged to sign up for a deal with the government, by which they receive a sum of money in return for agreeing to be euthanised. A collective funeral is thrown in for free.

Wouldn't it makes more sense strictly speaking in economic terms and to make this more of an incencitive to have them sign that like in the 60's so they could spend and use that money before they get euthanized? Movies are just moves, one more stupid than the other.
Soylent green was set in 2022, by then the planet was supposed to be close to uninhabitable, with no food, extreme overpopulation, and so on and on, but funny enough the overall population in the movie is about 1 billion less than what we have today and we still have tons of food and no 40 millions living on lettuce in NYC 

[StanCrypt]

There are more than one sides to this.
Economically speaking, the idea of government paying pension to individuals who live for more than God knows how long could be a really big concern and a treat to the economy. From the part of world I come from, the Goverment would simply stop paying pension and leave everyone to their faith. I do not agree with this strategy though.

Lets also consider the individual involved, i have met a lot of old people who just want to be put out of their misery. Alot of old people suffer from issues raging from loneliness, severe pains due to sickness and even to neglet. The question is what would you want if you were in their shoes?

It might sound barberic and crazy that a government would be encouraging its citizen to willingly sign an agreement to get euthanized at a certain age, but lets keep sentiments aside and view this from several angles.

Nonetheless, i belive there are other economic options that the government could explore that would solve their pension and economic problem.

One of which is to take off the pension scheme from government to private institutions which would deduct from their salaries and begin to pay when they retire.

[fiulpro]

Letting older people choose when they die has been an idea for ages, it's a highly frowned about subject but at the end of the day more like euthanasia it's something that this generation might end up seeing getting legalized soon. The government pays them pension because they are not able to take care of themselves, it's not natural selection where you can choose to make your economy stronger by setting aside the formal important working class of a country, most of the times their kids would take care of them but they already face so many challenges, from abuse to getting kicked out of their own house. This is certainly sad and you cannot think about anything else but the moral ground because it's more important!!!

[Cling18]

This is really heartbreaking because I believe that most of them still want to live and be with their loved ones. We have different cultures but if the government would implement euthanasia in the future, I hope that they would give chance to those who still want to enjoy life despite their age. This strategy to save their economy is just too inhuman because we all have the right to live despite all the consequences. I wish that they could find another alternative solution to this problem because, to be honest, other countries' economy is worse than theirs. No wonder why they also have the biggest number of suicide cases.

[Mometaskers]

Sounds like an interesting dystopian film that also touch on social topics. I've always hated this insinuation that the elderly are causing problems after they worked their ass off for years. And the money they are getting back ain't that much either, considering money is worth less than when they were contributing.

It's not their fault that many countries fail at properly managing the income they are collecting from social security and usually just use it to pay themselves, same with government health insurance. They are also Ponzi schemes and the only reason they haven't collapsed yet is the government can just always raise premiums.

Do the elderly get the money several years before the actual euthanasia date? Coz if they do, don't that also encourage consumption, which seems to be what modern economies rely on?

[Gyfts]

Unless Japan is running out of geography, the solution is for a higher birthrate which would increase the younger population. The retirement age is probably going to have to increase as well. People are living longer and the Japanese economy can't support people for decades of no productivity. Japanese work culture is also very extreme -- very little emphasis on starting a family. You would think there would be more focus on increasing the population instead killing off the helpless.

[hugeblack]

Frankly, I did not live in Japan, but through my superficial knowledge of them, I did not think that the elderly have economic problems? I mean, you force a person to "euthanize" for some money?

The problem of reverse population density is being solved by solutions that go beyond the issue of "euthanasia." I think that Japan's main problem is in the population area.

I'm sorry to hear that governments can enact such legislation but I think we don't understand what's going on so all of our comments will be from the perspective of our societies which are completely different from mine.

[davis196]

The Japanese have a different perception of life. "Seppuku" was a thing in the Japanese culture for centuries.
Ending your own life isn't considered something wrong and shameful in Japan.
Committing suicide is the ultimate sin in the western culture (mostly because of the Christian religion and humanism).
The bigger problem for Japan is how to have more kids, not what to do with the elderly. I don't fully understand the Japanese culture. Why the Japanese are constantly overworking themselves in the corporate "rat race"? I think that Buddhism had a small cultural influence over Japan in the past, but the influence was pretty much neglected, which is a mistake. Buddhism offers a really calm and relaxed way of living and the Japanese need to reevaluate their values.

[kryptqnick]

Wow, this is a terrible thing. Aging population is a problem, but there are other solutions. For example, I believe they don't retire workers due to old age in Japan. They should. Also, they pay less to women because women are expected to go on maternity leave and raise kids. They shouldn't. Good programs encouraging people to have kids, women and men equally enter the workforce, as well as allowing the youth in general to enter the workforce without facing tough competition of the more experienced old people and without fearing that their kids need a parent at home to look after them because of, say, little childcare available or terrible pressure the Japanese school system puts on the kids.

[AmoreJaz]

The Japanese have a different perception of life. "Seppuku" was a thing in the Japanese culture for centuries.
Ending your own life isn't considered something wrong and shameful in Japan.
Committing suicide is the ultimate sin in the western culture (mostly because of the Christian religion and humanism).
The bigger problem for Japan is how to have more kids, not what to do with the elderly. I don't fully understand the Japanese culture. Why the Japanese are constantly overworking themselves in the corporate "rat race"? I think that Buddhism had a small cultural influence over Japan in the past, but the influence was pretty much neglected, which is a mistake. Buddhism offers a really calm and relaxed way of living and the Japanese need to reevaluate their values.

and to add, japanese people are one of the honest people that i know of. you're right, ending their own life is not shameful in this country, especially if you commit a sin like misappropriation of funds, and others. i am more familiar with the word hara-kiri but it is the same with seppuku. they call it "honourable suicide." while most people around the globe can easily get away from their crimes, most japanese people prefer to commit seppuku instead.
so for me, the cannes film about "plan 75" is not a chilling idea for most of their old people. it may be the opposite, a welcoming idea. because if they feel they are already at the end of their life and they have no more purpose left, better to sign up on this plan and leave something to your loved ones instead.