If you watch TV, you’re likely to hear ageist language, see worn-out stereotypes and wonder why older characters lead such one-dimensional lives.
That’s if older adults even exist, much less speak, on your favorite shows. Seniors are underrepresented on screen, behind the camera and as TV writers and producers, according to a University of Southern California study of the 72 highest-ranked TV series among U.S. viewers.
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The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism researchers evaluated two groups of TV series airing from June 2016 through May 2017. They looked at the 50 most popular series among viewers 18 to 49, and the 50 most popular for viewers 65 and older. Twenty-eight series overlapped, making it onto both lists.
For both age groups, “The Big Bang Theory,” “Bull,” “This Is Us,” “Designated Survivor,” “Chicago P.D.” and “Law & Order: SVU” were among the top 25-most-watched shows.
For viewers 65 and above, “NCIS,” “Blue Bloods,” “Madam Secretary,” “Hawaii Five-O” and “MacGyver” were among the most popular shows in the study’s time frame. In the younger group, “The Walking Dead,” “Game of Thrones,” “Empire” and “Modern Family” were some top choices.
Researchers led by Stacy L. Smith, director of the Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative, an Annenberg-based think tank, did not single out specific shows in their report. Rather, they say, their intent was to look at broader patterns. Released last month, the study highlighted a number of trends.
Adults 60 and older represented less than 10 percent of speaking characters on these shows. Seniors accounted for slightly more than 8 percent of regular characters in a series. Older men were more likely than older women to be series regulars.
Of the 39 series with main senior characters, 41 percent included at least one ageist comment. Overall, demeaning language was common, both in younger characters’ comments and in self-deprecating remarks by older characters. Dialogue included wisecracks about wrinkled skin and references to failing memories.
Although the offending shows weren’t named in the study, several examples of ageist language were included. “You like the color? It’s called ‘ancient ivory’, like you,” “Things just sound creepier when you’re older,” “I need to write down all these precious moments before I forget them” and “wrinkled old bastard” were all samples of dialogue quoted from popular shows.
“Often, we don’t hear folks taking a stand on ageism like we do with the other categories of inclusion,” Smith says. While it’s still considered socially acceptable to say, “I’m having a senior moment,” she notes, it would never be OK to reference any other ethnic or minority group that way. “And yet,” she says, “it’s acceptable to refer to individuals 60 and above in really problematic terms, which we know from research can have potentially negative effects.”
Ageist remarks were not confined to shows favored by younger viewers. “We see more shows that are popular among viewers age 18 to 49 that have ageist comments, but we still do see a solid proportion of shows popular among viewers age 65 and up that have ageist comments as well,” says Katherine Pieper, a research scientist and study co-author.
The reality of many older adults’ lives is not accurately reflected in their TV-show counterparts. In real life, older adults often develop chronic health problems such as diabetes and arthritis. TV seniors enjoy better health. Seldom do they succumb to cancer, stroke, heart or respiratory disease on screen. Instead, when older adults die on TV shows, it’s due to violence.
Relationships between grandparents and grandchildren are largely absent. “We know that that’s a hugely important part of life for many older adults,” Pieper says. “That connection is important; there may even be caretaking as part of that role. But that’s not really a part of what we see on screen.”
Career and work-life portrayal of seniors was a rare bright spot. “One positive across the shows was that we saw a lot of seniors with jobs,” Pieper says. “So they were working; employed in various capacities. Some seniors were really at the top of their fields with a lot of occupational clout or prestige.”
Behind the camera, about 13 percent of show creators were 60 or older. One-quarter of directors were 60 or older. Of writers, 5 percent were seniors. Among showrunners, or executive producers, 11 percent were seniors. Shows without older writers or producers were more likely to feature an ageist comment than those with seniors in these positions.
Other disparities appeared. “When 72 out of 72 shows evaluated don’t depict one senior Asian female; in 70 out of 72 [there’s] not one Latina 60 years of age or older; and 64 out of 72 shows have not one black senior female on screen, none of that is exemplary,” Smith says.
The study included caveats. Only one episode was evaluated from each series. Streaming content from platforms such as Amazon or Netflix was not included. Less-popular shows may represent seniors differently.
[See: 7 Surprising Things That Age You.]
Unfortunately, TV viewers can’t just brush off all the negative portrayals to which they’re exposed, says Tracey Gendron, an associate professor in the department of gerontology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Gendron, who has conducted extensive research on ageism, was not involved with the USC study.
“TV is part of the cultural messages that inform how we feel about ourselves as aging people,” Gendron says. Often, older adults are depicted as “out of touch, cognitively impaired — the kind of goofy, ‘I don’t know what’s going on’ persona,” she says. Conversely, seniors might be idealized as symbols of “hyper-physical successful aging,” as in, “I’m 90 and can jump out of an airplane.”
Ageism, ageist language and resulting health harm is a consistent theme in recent studies. The December 2016 issue of The Gerontologist included a study by Gendron on the language of ageism. Discriminatory language included referring to seniors as if they were children, treating “old” as negative and “young” as positive attributes and speaking of older people as different than others.
A study in the February 2016 issue of Psychology and Aging found a link between people harboring more negative age stereotypes early in life and likelihood of showing hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease in brain imaging done years later.
Also this September, Humana released findings on seniors’ perceptions of aging from an online survey conducted by Golin. Of the 2,000 participants, all 60 and older, those who were more optimistic about aging tended to report better health and to have experienced less ageism. The least-optimistic seniors were more likely to report restless sleep, lack of energy and sadness.
TV commercials are also part of the problem, Gendron says. Commercials routinely push products to make people think they should feel or look younger. In addition, seniors are deluged with what she calls “decline-based” ads for assistive devices like braces or canes, as well as a wide variety of medications.
Older viewers might feel that if they’re not extremely physically fit or highly sexually active, or don’t otherwise match super-senior stereotypes, then they risk becoming irrelevant, Gendron says. “That can lead to all kinds of negative things, even social isolation, which leads to negative health outcomes,” she says. “These messages are super-important. It does matter.”
[See: 13 Ways to Solve Sleep Problems in Seniors.]
Smith encourages viewers to speak up when ageism crops up on screen. Viewers can reach out to studios distributing offending content, as well as guilds representing TV directors and writers. “They can vote with what they watch,” she says. “They can vote with what they stream. And they can also vote by posting on social media, emailing and calling and saying ‘These [shows] do not reflect the world in which I live.’ And they need to do better.”
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Ageism in Top TV Shows May Affect Seniors’ Well-Being originally appeared on usnews.com
