Media portrayals of the elderly
Old age is one of the realities of life that most people dread to accept. Generally family, friends and society give upon elder citizens counting them as frail and unproductive population. This adversely affects the physical and mental wellbeing of even the positive and upbeat older lot. A lot of older people face indifference of all sorts and suffer in silence. Attitudes towards old age are as important as getting old. According to Hatch (2005) “people absorb impressions, ideas, images, dominant values and sounds that reflect society’s attitudes toward aging from media. In addition, media reflect dominant values in a society. Whether, and how, older people are portrayed represents one measure of how ageism and sexism are embedded in the social fabric”. At this context, it will be a good idea to think about the portrayals of the elderly by the media.
Like any other factor, media has an important role in challenging the attitudes of society towards ageing. It can look at the matters of old age issues and suggest effective solutions. Older people have rights to opinion and intellectual activity which are not accepted or acknowledged by even those cultures that respect them. At the old age, people fail to get the equality, for their intellectual, creative and political skills. But unfortunately, the media tends to overlook or project them in negative lights. For example, it was found that the mainstream media of North America spreads the message that appearing older is highly undesirable. A study by Haboush et al (2012) showed that the consolidation of ideals of North American appearance spread by the media represented negative attitudes towards older adults. With increased life expectancy, the numbers of elderly people who are able to have an active life economic wise or intellectual wise have increased. However, they experience a kind of invisibility within the media, in the form of stories, viewpoints or role models when compared to their presence in the population. They are underrepresented across news editorials, advertisements, current affairs, etc. (Australian Human Rights Commission 2013).
Most times media is responsible for negative attitude towards older people. For instance, the media presents elders as victims of crime. This is generally believed by the public who don’t have personal experiences with the elder. The impact of other factors like culture, education, etc. often gets muted. The media highlights the cognitive deficiencies of older people. Commercials and other series of drama telecasted picture the elderly as forgetful. It is high time that media came up with alternative views of ageing advertisements and other programs (Australian Human Rights Commission 2013). It is clear that the media (both print and visual) has a key role in the formation of several commonly perceived stereotypes about older people.
As per the study conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission (2013), 73 percent of respondents told that the media influence their belief of older people as victims. Findings from the qualitative research also tell that stereotypes related to victimisation of the old are strengthen and encouraged though external sources like media. The observations from the media scan also reinforces that a large volume of content in the media focuses on stories that portray older people as victims of crime. The print media as well as the visual media prompt the users to perceive that older people are lonely and isolated. However, the ideas of physical weakness, victimization and the concept that older people are isolated are all parts of participants’ views. If the public start believing this, then the social engagement of the older people will be directly affected. Another thing is that media propagates older people as more susceptible to sickness or more likely to be ill and vulnerable. Frailty and passivity are considered as features of old age in all media contents including that of social media.
The media also influences the stereotype that older people are bad drivers. Older adults are most underrepresented in ads for automobiles and travel services (Roy & Harwood, 1997). When this is true, there are also good drivers among the old people which is to be highlighted by the media. The media also contribute to the perceptions that as people become aged they become a cause for increased expenditure especially for health matters as they are considered as the unproductive group of the population. Additionally they are portrayed as constantly complaining individuals who are slow and grumpy as well. Older women are making less appearance in the media. According to Jerslev’s (n. d.) study, the elderly women are rated more negatively than elderly men in the media, showing a double standard and media culture favours anti-aging products. The construct of aging put forward by the media doesn’t help even the older women to cope with the reality of old age and instead they go after products or make over that will make them look young. This attitude can’t be healthy always. Advertisements feature the deficiencies of the old and concentrate on products and services like hospital and funeral costs, insurance, etc. Fair portrayal of the old people helps to instill sunny images of old age and focus on the healthy and active elders. The fear based stereotypes are to be broken down by applying more neutral, encouraging and positive images of the older people. All these contribute to the deeply held negatives attitudes regarding elderly people.
At the same time, viewing from a different point, modern media technologies and applications have positively influenced and shaped emotional life and social interactions of younger and elder generations in the same pace. This helps the older generation to get connected with the family and friends using the many user-friendly technologies, applications and devices. They can also keep in touch with their healthcare team and the sense of belonging. They can learn and follow a healthy life style using the modern media like internet. They can get a lot of reliable and useful information from the media which in turn will help them to combat depression, isolation, etc. and improve their life style and outlook.
There were many programs in television from 1970s that portrayed the positive aspects of ageing. “The Golden Girls” a situation comedy program featuring the issues of the old, the movie “Cocoon” about the importance of friendship at old age, a cartoon character “Maxine,” that makes people smile about the aging process. Kellogg’s ad to promote a healthy diet and weight for seniors celebrates the changes that occur as we age terms that as “refreshing”, which shows positive aging (Vickers, 2007). Positive portrayals of older people in prime time television (Vernon et al, 1990), daytime soaps (Cassata et al., 1980) and German television (Kessler et al., 2004) are also reported.
Intergenerational programs and articles are to be promoted by the media where the aged share their experiences and stories with the young. Apart from being educative, these will keep the older people busy and happy. This will also make the children love and respect the aged (Sijuwade, 2009). Instead of filling the mind of old people about the “enormous dread” of care home or foster home, media can concentrate on the positive aspects of care homes that that contribute to the better lives of its inhabitants (Ames, 2012). This will help the increasing elderly population to think these places as prisons for ‘mistake’ of growing old. Providing awareness about foster homes that create better communication and engagement will reduce the stress and fear of the elderly.
Old people should have equal opportunities which are to be valued, respected and heard in order to provide an age friendly society. Negative attitudes will prevent the society form utilising the huge potential the aged population can offer.
References
Ames, George. (2012, July 24). Why the media should challenge stereotypes of elderly care. The Guardian. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2012/jul/24/media-challenge-stereotypes-elderly-care
Cassata, M. B., Anderson, P. A., & Skill, T. D. (1980). The older adult in daytime serial drama. Journal of Communication, 30(1), 48-49.
Fact or fiction? Stereotypes of older Australians (2013). Sydney, Australia: Australian Human Rights Commission 2013.
Haboush, A. , Warren, C. S. & Benuto, L. (2012). Beauty, Ethnicity, and Age: Does Internalization of Mainstream Media Ideals Influence Attitudes Towards Older Adults? Sex Roles, 66(1), 9-10. DOI: 10.1007/s11199-011-0102-6
Hatch, L. R. (2005). Gender and ageism. Journal of the American Society of Aging, 29(3), 19-20.
Jerslev, Anne.n.d. The ageing female body in women’s magazines.Retrieved from: http://mcc.ku.dk/research/focus-areas/the-ageing-female-body-in-womens-magazine/
Kessler, E.M., Rekoczy, K., & Staudinger, U. M. (2004). The portrayal of older people in prime time television series: The match with gerontological evidence. Ageing and Society, 24, 531–552.
Roy, A. & Harwood, J. (1997). Underrepresented, positively portrayed: older adults in television commercials. Journal of applied communications research, 25 39-56.
Sijuwade, P. O. (2009). Attitudes towards Old Age: A Study of the Self-Image of Aged. Stud Home Comm Sci, 3(1),1-5.
Vernon, J. A.,Williams, J. A.,Phillips, T., & Wilson, J.(1990). Media Stereotyping: A Comparison of the Way Elderly Women and Men Are Portrayed on Prime-Time Television. Journal of Women & Aging, 2(4), 55-68.
Vicers, K. (2007). Aging and the Media: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. Californian Journal of Health Promotion ,5(3), 100-105.
