Early Retirement, Social Class, and Family Relationships in Cloutier’s Bonne retraite, Jocelyne (2018)

Abstract

Abstract Background and Objectives Aging women are continuously underrepresented in performing arts. An exception to this trend in Québec is Fabien Cloutier’s latest play Bonne retraite, Jocelyne (2018), whose protagonist is a middle-aged woman who has decided to take early retirement. This article aims at examining the interplay between the protagonist’s voluntary early retirement, gender, social class, and family relationships. Research Design and Methods This article mobilizes the theoretical framework of aging studies, which is underdeveloped in the French academic sphere. This qualitative case study connects gender issues and performative strategies in order to study a complex phenomenon within its context. Results We showed that Cloutier provides new representations of middle-aged women in his play, a corrective to the under-representation of such an age group of actors and actresses in Québec. Our results cast a new light on the combination of class privilege, gender, and ageism, as a most fruitful research orientation to be further developed in the future in order to pursue an in-depth analysis of early retirement. Discussion and Implications The play reveals that belonging to the upper-middle class is essential in order to be able, economically speaking, to retire early. Cloutier empowers Jocelyne both as an aging individual and as a woman by means of granting her the right to make her own decisions in life.