elderly

cuddy and fiske-traditional

• invisibility of the elderly

• tv programmes portray just 1.5% of their characters as elderly

• an example of this would be friends the show , there are only few elderly characters like mr heckles -everyone else is youth/middle aged

• many elderly characters only appeared in minor roles eg for comic relief , often based on ineffective mental, physical and sexual capacities

victor-traditional

• stereotypes of the elderly : dependent ,unable to learn ,ill/sick and lonley

• whilst this study did not only focus on media representations , it is easy to see where this is shown

carrigan and szmigin- changing

• showed the effect of an older audience on advertisers representations of age

• they reffered to the ‘grey pound’ i.e. more older people with money to spend

• they claim that this has led to an increase in positive images of ageing and positive roles for older people and shows the way in which large conglomerates target the older peoples market

• a contemporary example of positive images of the elderly is on the show first dates

• an 101 year old went on a first date which shows that the elderly are no longer stereotyped negatively , they have the same amount of choice as everyone else in society to determine their lives and pick their partners (links to post-modernism)

william and ylanne- changing

• conducted a 5 year study from 1999 to 2004 to research media representations of older people

• concurring with postmodernist and pluralist views , their research showed that different mediums portray older people differently

• saga (magazine for older people) unsurprisingly moves away from the traditional negative media representations

• their findings included :

• more positive views of the future

• still a focus on some traditional roles such as wise and grandparents

• when using humour, the audience were invited to laugh with the older person rather than at them

biggs- changing

• argued that there is evidence of change and continuity in representations of older people

• he identified contrasting trends in the representations of ageing including :

• older people appearing in considerable numbers of soap operas

• negative portrayals of old age in sitcoms

• a move towards a more active view of old people

norman and milner- traditional

• supports cuddy and Fiske

• they report that too often missing from media portrayals is a balanced view of ageing :one that reflects the challenges of getting older ,while embracing the opportunities associated with ageing

landis -traditional

• the elderly are represented sterotypically in the media as one-dimensional

• this means that they are seen only in one stereotypical way , for example as ‘grumpy old man’ or ‘fiesty old woman ‘ in addition to correlating with beng sick , depresed or lonely

• ‘sickly old person’

• mentally deficient

• depressed or lonely

• having wisdom

• busybody

• having a second childhood