How Are Older Adults Portrayed In The Media

Ageing females are also portrayed as undesirable in the media due to the language used. This language is aimed at shaping, reinforcing, and reflecting the attitudes and responses made towards growing older among women. Language is understood to carry and convey the meaning which leads to the assumptions that encourage the development of discrimination and stereotypes towards ageing females. The language also has the ability to encode stereotypes and scripts that are discriminatory in nature which makes discrimination a normal part of everyday life. In particular, the media can play a role in the establishment of implicit bias through using language that is stereotypical and prejudicial when representing ageing females in the media (Gendron et al., 2016). This in turn makes older women to be portrayed as undesirable in the media. An example where the language used by media has contributed to the portrayal of ageing females as undesirable can be drawn from a popular sitcom, “The Golden Girls”, aired between 1985 and 1992. This comedy highlighted social issues that are associated with elderly women. In this comedy, the negative construction of ageing women was illustrated by the character of the octogenarian mother, where this character was depicted as being intelligent but yet stubborn with a difficult to please character. Another example of how language is used by media to portray ageing females as undesirable can be drawn from a popular commercial made during the mid-1980s. In this commercial, one of the three old women is heard asking repeatedly about where the beef is, in which older people are seen as stupid and small while being exploited (Vickers, 2007). The language used in these examples appear disparaging towards older women while illustrating the extent at which ageing women are portrayed as undesirable in the media.

In this blog, I will be analyzing “Modern Family.” The actor is will be looking at is Ed O’Neil, he was also in “Married with Children” a Fox Network production. I will also briefly analyze his wife in the TV show “Modern Family,” Sofia Vergara. The book talks about how ageism is differ by gender. “In our society, women are more likely to be evaluated according to their sexual attractiveness, whereas men are more likely to be evaluated by their occupational success,” (Jill Quadagno 2014, p. 13). I have seen this in my personal life as well; some people say that men with grey hair are sexy. Yet for women this is criticized, go to a Salon and pay money to cover their grey hair

Unfortunately, ageism does exist in the United States. I think the main place I have seen ageism is in the media. It is rare to see older women and men in shows or films. We have been taught that the young beautiful girl, or the young handsome man are the ones who should be the main characters. I believe Hollywood can do a much better job creating roles for older people where they can shine. Not only that but when they are represented they are portrayed in a negative light. Also there are a lot of jokes made of older people in the media. There are stereotypes like the stereotypical grumpy old man or the older folk who knows nothing about technology and a lot more. I think the people putting these things out there don’t realize how hurtful

As people continue to live life and grow older, it is inevitable that they will age. Aging has many effects on an individual’s physical health, emotional well-being, and cognition. Key developmental changes occur in vision and hearing; both begin declining as people age (Weiten, 2014). The deterioration of these senses can be seen in Young@Heart during the scene where a few members are joking around in a car. The driver was Lenny, an ex-World War II pilot, because he was the only one out of the group who could still see properly (Walker, 2008). The vision of every other member in the car had worsened to a point where it impacted their functioning in daily life by limiting their ways of transportation.

Television and film do a wonderful job of widowing parents or creating a life so intertwined with their children that is their identity. When we do witness the actions around sexuality and the aging it is almost never serious, often leaving one to think that that the elderly engaging in any sexual contact will prove perverted, dangerous or lethal (Dan Sewell). Much like advertisements for products incite us to buy them, the views of sexuality and senior citizens we see in the media carries into real life, leaving the elderly to be labeled as either asexual or are met with phrases like "dirty old man" or cougar, simply for having a desire that exists within all of us. Being of the community and seeing these perceptions does not make it easy to be open about feelings regarding the topic on any level, exacerbating any existing esteem issues that could be onset of aging (Melanie

In America, people are changing their views on aging and the elderly. Some of the reasons that the attitudes are changing could be due to more elderly people are remaining in the work place longer, as opposed to retiring early. Riffkin (2014). And there is the fact that we baby boomers are living longer. Even though the U.S. only ranks 53rd with a life expectancy of 79. That’s an increase of one year since 2010. (“The World: Life Expectancy” 2016)

With the aging society in America means that there will be larger number of older people than young people. As a result of this fewer people will have to pay taxes to support public necessities and there will be fewer young people to provide services for the elders. This will also highly affect the health care in America because many seniors will have a chronic illness and there will be a shortage of healthcare workers to assist them. This will affect retirement because retirement income is made up of welfare payments, savings, and public and private pensions. Most publicly financed retirement pensions are funded by programs or most commonly know, social security. Social security is a universal income support program for elders and is usually

The term "ageism" was coined in 1969 by Robert Butler, the first director of the National Institute on Aging. He used the word to describe the process of systematic stereotyping of people because they are old. Ageism is a term that is similar to other ‘isms ' in society, such as racism and sexism. "Ageism allows other generations to see older people as different from themselves; thus they subtly cease to identify with their elders as human beings" (Butler, 1975). All people, including the young as well as the old, can be discriminated against based on age. Today ageism is more broadly defined as any prejudice or discrimination against or in favor of an age group (Palmore, 1990).

Committee on Aging, United States Senate, 101st Cong. (1990). (Serial No. 101-J). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

The media inaccurately portrays people with Dementia, when in fact that is not true. When someone is diagnosed with dementia or alzheimers it does not mean their life is over or they are going to die soon, in fact “There are people living for 20 or more years after their initial diagnosis”. But what makes it so the people living with dementia are able to live longer is having a strong support system to back them up and to nurture them. “it’s important no matter what that the person living with dementia knows they are loved and safe. I think families have a big part in making that happen but if they don’t have a family whoever is caring for them should do that for them.”

The news is flooded with stories of negative acts of racism, along with arguments regarding sexism and stereotypical gender roles. While major steps have been taken toward a more unified, accepting country, the United States continues to still lack correct knowledge and understanding to one of the most common “isms” in the country: ageism. Ageism is defined in Aging, the Individual, and Society as “the prejudiced behavior of individuals and systems within the culture against older adults, including negative consequences of inaccurate stereotyping of the elderly” (Hillier & Barrow, 2015, p.11). As a result of prejudice, myths tend to form about the stereotyped group of people. Facts and Fiction about an Aging America by The MacArthur Foundation

In the other hand, sometimes not matter how much you give of yourself, things don’t turn out the way it was planned, may be the economy is not strong yet, or it is not their time.

Everyone has seen the commercials, television shows, and movies: Life Alert portraying older Americans as being afraid for their lives with an almost comical slogan of “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” The Golden Girls with their typical silly old woman antics and witty comments. Even Disney has not been immune to stereotyping our aging Americans as indicated by the grumpy, lonely old man in Up. Our society is struggling with a rampant bout of Ageism, and most people don’t even realize that it is happening or that ageism is even a real concern. The purpose of the Organization for the Awareness of Media Portrayal of Older Americans (OAMPOA) is to bring public attention to the perhaps unintentional defamation of older adults and to offer

According to Ruoff, (2002); Brown, Kirkpatrick, Swanson & McKenzie, (2011), “Between 80% and 85% of the elderly living in nursing homes suffer from chronic pain disorders” ( As cited in Lombard, et al., 2015, p.1140). OM is a part of this percentage of elderly that has been living in pain for over ten years. In the first section of this paper, this author will be questioning OM about his perception of pain, and in the second part of this paper, personal reflections about the answers received will be given. This author will also do a detailed assessment of OM living condition and educate him on how to prevent fall by keeping his environment safe.

Stereotypes have an overwhelming effect especially on the people they are directed towards. Studying stereotypes helps in understanding the factors leading to discrimination of certain people and not others. This is because stereotypes are depictive of opinions that are often passed from one generation to another within a particular culture. Mass media such as television and newspapers form a common source of opinions in the contemporary society (Kotter & Hess, 2012). The media presents messages in steady, repetitive, and compelling manner, making them believable to almost everybody. Stereotyping opinion and depictions from the media can thus have detrimental effects on the