Furthermore, the National Institute of Aging(NIH) states similar actions older adults have done related to memory loss such as misplacing keys and forgetting an acquaintance's name.
Gathering what the NIH, current research supports Norman losing his memory due to old age. Moving on, another health symptom due to old age that Norman demonstrates in the movie that current research supports, is his heart attack. For example, at the end of the movie when the couple prepares to leave the house, Norman has a heart attack due to his old age. And to connect this with current research, the American Heart Association's website says as people near older age, the ability for their heart to respond to changes in pressure decreases, due to the buildup of plaque in the arteries and thus "the resultant increase in the resistance to the pumping action of the heart thereby increases the work needed to drive the blood to the various organs of the body". The fact that the American Heart Association states that the heart has to work harder to pump blood as a person ages, shows how Norman's heart attack is supported by current research.
To sum it up, the character, Norman, in movie "On Golden Pond" has health symptoms that are supported by current research. For example, the National Institute of Aging(NIH) supports how Norman cannot identify the people in his family photo and forgets to put the safety screen on the fireplace due to old age, as the NIH states how the hippocampus shrinks with age and how older adults experience similar behavior such as misplacing keys. Also, the American Heart Association supports Norman's heart attack as the organization states that towards old age, the heart has to work harder to pump blood due to plaque buildup in the arteries.
Reflection & Personal Thoughts.
I have empathized with many themes in the movie. One theme I empathized with was Norman and Chelsea's distant father-child relationship.