OLDER ADULTS
OLDER ADULTS
One of the most underrepresented demographic groups in U.S. media, especially television, has been the older adult (Dall, 1988; R.H.Davis & J.A.Davis, 1985). Although the percentage of the U.S. population over 65 has climbed from 4% in 1900 to 12% in 2000 and is projected to be near 20% by 2100 (Hajjar, 1997), content analyses have shown much lower proportions of characters over 65 in both TV programs and commercials (Cassata & Irwin, 1997; Greenberg, Korzenny, & Atkin, 1979; Hajjar, 1997; Roy & Harwood, 1997). Even the relatively few older people who appeared
83 A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication
on TV were not particularly representative of the population. For example, 62% to 70% of the TV elderly in commercials were men, as compared with about 40% men in the over-65 age population (Hajjar, 1997; Roy & Harwood, 1997). A disproportionate number of the TV elderly were in sitcoms, with very few in action-adventure or children’s shows. Studies of print media also show underrepresentation and stereotyping in portrayals of the aging (Buchholz & Bynum, 1982; Nussbaum & Robinson, 1986; J.D.Robinson, 1989). As if that were not bad enough, this age group has the largest portion of television characters treated with disrespect (70% of men, 80% of women) in content analyses (Gerbner, 1997). Often, the older adult is portrayed as more of a stereotype than a fully rounded character. These stereotypes are of several forms:
1. Physical and mental weakness and poor health. Overall, older people on TV are often seen as quite healthy, perhaps even unrealistically so (Cassata, Anderson, & Skill, 1980; R.H.Davis, 1983; Kubey, 1980). Those who are sick, however, are ailing very badly, often seen as infirm, feeble, and sometimes senile. Although in terms of numbers of stories, newspapers do the best job of any medium in covering the elderly, a high percentage of such stories are obituaries (Buchholz & Bynum, 1982; J.D.Robinson, 1989)!
Moreover, the elderly are usually sexless. The major exception to this is the other extreme, the so-called dirty old man (or woman), who is preoccupied with sex and is usually a highly ludicrous character. The very active and healthy senior citizen may be an object of ridicule, such as the grandmother who rides a motorcycle or cruises bars to meet men.
2. Crotchety and complaining. This is the narrow-minded older person who is constantly complaining, criticizing, and generally making a pain of him or herself for everyone else. As with the physically weak stereotype, the crotchety complainer is usually at best a laughable buffoon and at worst an object of scorn and derision.
3. Stereotyped positions and activities. Older people tend to be seen doing relatively trivial things like playing bingo and sitting in rockers on the front porch. Such identifying symbols of aging are especially common in advertising. For example, a woman in a magazine ad for cookies is placed in
a rocker to make sure we recognize that she is a grandmother.
4. Physically unattractive. In marked contrast to the unusually attractive young adults on TV, television’s elderly are often stoop-shouldered, mousy- haired, badly wrinkled, and wearing long out-of-style dowdy clothing. Such marks may be given to them so that we do not mistake them for younger people. Intentionally or not, it also contributes to their being perceived negatively. Seefeldt (1977) found that elementary school children viewed physical signs of aging as horrifying and saw the elderly as infirm and incapable of doing much.
Media Portrayals of Groups 84
An interesting class of exceptions to these generalizations can be seen in commercials. Although the elderly are as underrepresented there as in the programs, the characterization is a bit different. The elderly in ads often appear as the young-old, with few of the stereotypic signs of aging except the gray hair, which is almost always there. Although they suffer more health problems than young people in ads, they retain their vigor. It is as if the producers give the character gray hair so we all realize that he or she is supposed to be older, but allow that person to show very few other signs of age that our society finds so distasteful. Baldness, wrinkles, and otherwise general dowdiness are unseemly (R.H.Davis & J.A.Davis, 1985). One content analysis of TV commercials in 1994 found the portrayals of older people to be largely positive (Roy & Harwood, 1997). Still, however, older adults are neglected. Ad agency Grey Worldwide found that less than 10% of U.S. television commercials are aimed at those over 50, in spite of the fact that that group has over half of all the disposable income in the country (Lippert, 2003).
Even in cases where the elderly are portrayed very positively, they tend to
be in rather a restricted and stereotyped range of roles. They are almost always in relation to family, very often as a grandparent, but sometimes as the antagonist in a relationship with their adult child. We seldom see an older executive or professional. The older mystery sleuth detectives of Murder She Wrote and Diagnosis Murder offer a couple of exceptions.
When NBC’s sitcom The Golden Girls (1985–1992) featured four single women (three widowed, one divorced), aged about 50 to 80, sharing a house in Florida, what was new was the age of the stars. Never before had a sitcom, or perhaps any U.S. TV show, had its regular cast consisting entirely of older adults. There were no precocious children, no smart-mouthed teenagers, no hunks or supermodels, and no angst-ridden yuppie couples, yet the show had consistently high ratings. Nor were the characters the stereotyped TV old ladies. Three of the four were working professionals, and all showed depth of character beyond the typical TV grandma. However, they were criticized for being excessively interested in sex, although that criticism may more reflect discomfort with sexual interest in the mature adult. Also, the humor of the show sometimes perpetuated stereotypes of aging by poking fun at counterstereotypical portrayals (Harwood & Giles, 1992). In spite of the success of The Golden Girls, it was not followed by other ensemble shows of older characters. However, as the population ages sharply over the next few decades, a greater variety of portrayals of older adults is practically assured.
In spite of these inadequacies in their portrayal on TV, older people are heavy users of media, especially television. J.D.Robinson (1989) offered a uses and gratifications interpretation of this. A reduction in the number of friends and family seen regularly, perhaps in part due to decreased mobility from health limitations, leads to a proportionately greater reliance on media,
85 A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication
especially television, with its high level of redundancy in the visual and auditory modalities. If one sense is impaired, the other may partially compensate. In the case of the sound track, the volume may be turned up, so some elderly TV viewers may actually hear more of what is spoken on TV than what is spoken by other people around them.