Age regression

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. (Discuss)

1 Age Regression in Myths and Mainstream Fiction
2 The Age Regression Fetish
3 Age Regression In Therapy
4 Media with age regression

[edit] Age Regression in Myths and Mainstream Fiction

Age regression is a popular theme in transformation fiction involving the physical and/or mental reduction in age. This age regression often occurs via magic, including potions or the legendary fountain of youth, or from a science fiction plot device. There are also some characters who are born adults and then age backwards, such as the protagonist of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the Mork and Mindy character, Mearth, or Merlin in T.H. White's The Once and Future King.

Age regression in many children's series allows for the children to 'take care' of the regressed parents. The children prevent them from doing behaviour that the children themselves were engaged that the parent was scolding the child for, e.g. making messes, doing dangerous things etc. The lesson is the realization that the parents' rules are for the good of the children. Other times the parent was overly harsh or inattentive towards their children, and by being regressed, seeing what childhood is like, and then returned to adulthood, they learn their lesson.

As a kind of offshoot to the age regression genre, many body swap stories (such as the Freaky Friday films) involve an uptight adult and an irresponsible child or teen swapping bodies, with the adult learning to loosen up and have more fun, the child learning that adults lead stressful lives, and both developing a deeper appreciation for the other. There are also many stories where a character is regressed mentally but not physically, so that, for instance, a prim, middle-aged woman will believe she is actually a teenager, and will revert to the wild behavior of her youth. (Both American Dad and Buffy the Vampire Slayer have done episodes comically playing on this idea.)

A related concept, age progression, obviously involves a character rapidly aging. This is often portrayed as a horrific thing, as a character's youth is stripped away, but it is also sometimes played for comedy (as in Big and 13 Going On 30); in these cases, the story typically concerns a child briefly forced to cope with adulthood and later returning to childhood with a new perspective and confidence. (This element is of course also a typical element of the previously mentioned bodyswap stories, with the swapped child and adult both gaining new perspectives.)

[edit] The Age Regression Fetish

It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article entitled Age regression fetish. (Discuss)

Age regression is a sexual fetish for some individuals. Individuals with this fetish often enjoy mainstream age regression stories, although there are also specific stories that cater to the fetish and even some pornographic films in which an elderly person becomes a young adult again. Age regression fetish fiction follows several frequent plots, playing on the same themes as mainstream age regression but usually taking it to sexualized extremes. Often, an arrogant, cruel or otherwise errant character is regressed - in other words, "cut down to size". Other times, a character who is unable or unwilling to cope with adult responsibilities will have their adulthood revoked by various means, either forcibly or by choice. In either case, the newly regressed character may be taunted and humiliated, or they may be pampered and babied, sometimes including breast feeding and lengthy diapering scenes. In some stories the character is regressed all the way back into the womb, leading to a related fetish, unbirthing. Sometimes, the age regression is temporary. Other times, the character is stuck as a child or teen and will begin a new life. Occasionally, transgender elements are part of these fetish stories as well, as the characters find themselves not just younger but with a new sex. Aside from the more obviously sexual aspects of fetish stories, they often differ from mainstream age regression stories in other ways. While mainstream age regression or bodyswap stories almost always end with the protagonist returned to normal, in fetish fiction it's more likely for the character to remain stuck in a younger body. Also, while mainstream age regression fiction often features characters turned into blissfully unaware infants (these stories typically concern another character's frantic attempts to turn the person back into an adult), in fetish fiction the regressed characters are rarely fully mentally regressed to an infant's level, as they would lose awareness of what had happened to them. They usually retain at least some of their adult memories, but they now find themselves unable to speak, control their bodily functions, etc. This plays into the fetishist's fantasies of loss of control, while for those without the fetish, the loss of speech and bowel control is generally a horrifying concept. Age-related bodyswap stories are also popular with age regression fetishists.

The age regression fetish typically arises from a desire to escape the stresses of adult life. Some age regression fetishists had happy childhoods they now wish to return to, while others had unhappy childhoods they now want to "do over". While it's mostly an adult fetish, it's not unheard of for teens to have the fetish also. The fetish is generally not well accepted in mainstream society, and age regression fetishists typically keep their desires a secret, often even from their lovers.

The age regression fetish is closely related to the adult baby fetish, but while it can be probably said that all adult babies have an age regression fetish to some degree (in that they enjoy the fantasy of becoming children), not all age regression fetishists are adult babies (in that not all of them are excited by wearing diapers or engaging in other aspects of ageplay.)

Age progression is less common as a fetish than age regression, but there are fetishists who enjoy the idea of a child or teen suddenly accelerated into a sexually mature adult and forced to cope with their new body and new feelings, or of an adult aged to the point of helplessness and feebleness. There are also some age regression fetishists within the furry community who enjoy the idea of furry characters being regressed, or human characters being transformed into baby animals.

Many age regression websites feature captioned photo stories, mostly using pictures taken from movies, TV and stock photo sources, although sometimes these are family pictures taken from a stranger's personal website. These photos are controversial both within and without the fetish community, as they include children in a sexual context (even when the photos depict no nudity, the age regression website itself is a sexual context). It should be pointed out, however, that age regression is very distinct from pedophilia and the people posting these pictures are aroused by the idea of being the children rather than engaging in sexual activity with them.

[edit] Age Regression In Therapy

It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article entitled age regression therapy. (Discuss)

Age regression, unrelated to the fictional forms described above but literally concerning returning to the memories of one's childhood, is also a very controversial aspect of hypnotherapy in which the patient returns to an earlier stage of life in order to explore a memory or to get in touch with some difficult-to-access aspect of their personality. Age progression is sometimes employed in hypnotherapy as well, allowing the patient to project themselves forward to see a desired outcome or the consequences of their current destructive behavior. Age regression has become quite controversial inside and outside the therapeutic community, with many cases of "recovered memories" involving child abuse, alien abduction and other traumatic incidents subsequently being discredited.

[edit] Media with age regression

[edit] Movies

Big featuring Tom Hanks - While primarily an age progression story, the film does contain age regression as well.
Vice Versa featuring Fred Savage, based on the 1882 novel by F. Anstey - Story of a bodyswap between a father and son. Released during the peculiar '80s vogue for bodyswap movies, a vogue that included 18 Again, Like Father, Like Son and others.
Cocoon - featuring Hume Cronyn.
All three Freaky Friday movies - Bodyswap family comedies featuring a swap between a mother and daughter.
Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders - One segment of this low-budget, horror anthology film ends with an unpleasant character being rapidly aged, then turned into a baby and raised by his former wife.
Shrimps For a Day - Two adults are regressed by a magic lamp in this Little Rascals short, and end up in an orphanage. In the end, the cruel orphanage owner is also regressed, although he somehow retains his moustache.
Boy Meets Dog - In this 1939 animated short, an overly strict father dreams that he is punished by a group of forest elves, who put him into a "youth machine" that slaps and squashes him into a baby. In the end he awakens, an adult once again, having learned his lesson to be less strict with his son.
Sky High - Towards the end of the movie the bad guy crashes the prom and uses the "pacifier" gun to regress all the students, teachers and parents into babies.

[edit] Television series

The Twilight Zone: A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain - In an episode of the original series, an aging, wealthy man, desperate to keep up with his younger trophy wife, tries an experimental treatment that ends up regressing him to toddlerhood. In the end, his outraged wife is forced to raise him.
Bewitched - This '60s sitcom had several episodes involving age regression, with Darrin, his boss, Larry Tate, and Endora all becoming children at different points.
Case Closed (Detective Conan) - Jimmy Kudo (Shin'ichi Kudo) is forced to swallow an experimental poison pill that, instead of killing him, reverts him to a 7 year old kid, but keeping his memories intact. Jimmy then adopts an alias, Conan Edogawa, for his younger self.
Dragon Ball GT - Goku is wished younger for the whole series. Age regression has been a popular element in many other anime series.
Goosebumps - The Cuckoo Clock Of Doom - Michael is regressed (physically) further and further; eventually becoming a baby. He must stop an antique clock and reverse the change. Originally a book by R. L. Stine
The Little Mermaid - Episode 11: "Red"
The Outer Limits - Season 3, Episode 4 "Last Supper"
The Smurfs
Big John, Little John -- American, '70s Saturday morning children's series about a suburban father who discovers the fountain of youth and subsequently turns into a child at inopportune moments.
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 1, Episode 15: "Too Short a Season", involved a diplomat who attempted an age regression procedure with dire results. Season 6, Episode 7: "Rascals", had several members of the Enterprise crew regressed by a transporter accident.
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! - Season 1, Episode 10: "Two Plumbers and a Baby". In this episode, King Koopa turns many people (three old men and Princess Toadstool included) into babies and tries to force them into doing his evil bidding.
The X-Files - Although the series dealt with supernatural phenomena, it is notable that apparently it never featured magical age regression but did explore the real world concept of hypnotic age regression, as Fox Mulder used the technique to explore his memories of his sister's abduction by aliens. In one episode, Mulder and Scully were temporarily aged by a virus aboard a decrepit boat.

[edit] Books

Rewind by Terry England
Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Identity Matrix by Jack L. Chalker

Goosebumps series by R.L.Stine, The Cuckoo Clock Of Doom

[edit] Videogames

Space Ace: The '80s arcade game, featuring full cell animation by Don Bluth's studio, followed Ace, a Flash Gordon-like space hero. At the start of the game, the villainous Commander Borf attacks Ace with the "Infanto Ray", a weapon that transforms him into an adolescent version of himself; Ace (now called Dexter) spends the rest of the game attempting to become an adult again. If the player beats the game, Dexter turns back into an adult and Borf is turned into a baby.