Older People in the Media

Television

When older people are represented in television shows, they often play stereotypical roles such as the grandmotherly/grandfatherly figure, the cranky older person, the helpless older person, or a source of wisdom. Oftentimes, older people are underrepresented in television shows, and when older people represented, they typically occupy a supporting role and not a leading role. Now, we will investigate the roles older people play in several popular shows.

American Horror Story In the third season, Coven, Jessica Lange plays a witch obsessed with achieving preventing aging. When the viewer is first introduced to her character, she is talking to a doctor about a stem cell treatment designed to renew youth. When the treatment does not work quick enough, she kills the doctor in order to drain him of his youth and transfer it to herself (because she is a witch). In the same season, Kathy Bates portrays Delphine LaLaurie, who covers her face with human blood because she believes that blood masks will keep her youthful. Both actresses are over 65. Older people are presented as resentful of their age and coveting youth, even going to extreme measures in order to obtain it. Still, despite this coveting of youth, 5 of the 10 actors/actresses that have appeared in the most episodes throughout the series are over 50 years old. Considering the fact that older people are often underrepresented in television, this is an interesting finding. American Horror Story is also one of the few shows in which an older person is cast in a leading role.

Sherlock Even though Mrs. Hudson is Sherlock’s landlady, she is often shown performing housekeeping tasks and makes tea for her tenants. Her character occupies a nurturing, home-oriented role that reflects the stereotype of the sweet, caring grandmother.

Game of Thrones- Of the 10 actors/actresses that have appeared in the most episodes, only 1 is over the age of 50, and none are over the age of 60. Of the 22 actors/actresses that have been in the most episodes, 7 are over the age of 50, and 3 are over the age of 65. Therefore, this does not necessarily indicate that older people are underrepresented overall, but they are certainly underrepresented in leading roles. While Peter Dinklage, the actor who has been in the most episodes, has appeared in 47 episodes, Iain Glen, the actor over 50 who has appeared in the most episodes, has appeared in 40 episodes. Considering the fact that the season only has 50 episodes, this is a pretty important difference. In comparison, Julian Glover, the actor over 65 who has appeared in the most episodes, has only appeared in 28 episodes.

So what sort of roles do older people over 65 occupy?

The maesters- Julian Glover, Donald Sumpter, and Peter Vaughan all play maesters, scholars and healers that offer counsel to the lords and kings. Therefore, they are stereotypic roles as the source of wisdom. While this is a positive stereotype, it is still a stereotype nonetheless.

The patriarch/matriach- Charles Dance and Diana Rigg both play the leaders of their noble houses (Tywin Lannister and Olenna Tyrell, respectively). While not an overly stereotypic role, the role doesn’t quite defy stereotypes either. While both are cunning and definitely not helpless, both of their roles are similar to the source of wisdom stereotype.

The knight- Ian McElhinney plays Barristan Selmy, a well-respected knight who is still a master swordsman and skilled fighter in his old age. This role defies stereotypes by portraying an older person as being physically fit, agile, and active instead of weak. Barristan the Bold is a victim of ageist discrimination. He is removed from the kingsguard on the basis that he is too old (although this is really just an excuse to remove him for political reasons). That doesn’t stop him, though, and he then goes to fight for a rival contender for the throne.

Film

Representation of older people on film is much like representation in television shows. Many roles for older people are stereotypical, and older people are often underrepresented, especially in leading roles. In certain genres of movies, such as action movies, horror movies, and romance movies, under-representation of older people is quite common.

2016 Oscars Nominations- 

Best actor/actress- Of the 10 nominations for best actor or actress, only 2,  Bryan Cranston and Charlotte Rampling, are over the age of 50, and only Charlotte Rampling is over the age of 65.

Best supporting actor/actress- Of the 10 nominations for best supporting actor or actress, only 3 are over the age of 50, Mark Rylance, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Sylvester Stallone. Only Sylvester Stallone is over the age of 65. 

Sure, the representation of older people is not great (especially with older people over 65), but it is also not horrible in this case. Still, as arguably the most prestigious award show, the Oscars tend to focus less on which movies are popular, and more on which movies best represent the art of acting and film-making.

2015 MTV Movie Awards- (As the 2016 nominees are not yet announced)

So, what about focusing on an award show tailored to honoring popular movies, especially since commercial action movies tend to draw in a lot of money at the box office, but not a lot of attention at the Oscars? The MTV Movie Awards are also interesting to analyze because they break down acting awards into many different categories, from the all-encompassing best male/female performance to best performance in a certain genre or role (such as hero or villain). 

There were 88 different slots in which actors or actresses were nominated. (Here, a slot is each time an actor or actress was nominated. If a duo were nominated for an award together, each member of the duo is counted as 1 separate slot. If an actor was nominated for several awards, even for the same role, each time they are nominated counts as a slot. This is because that slot could have also been filled by a different actor/actress.) Of the 88 slots, only 5 were occupied by a person aged 50 or older. Michael Keaton was nominated as half of a duo for Best Fight. Steve Carell was nominated for Best On-Screen Transformation. Chris Rock (who turned 50 in 2015) was nominated for Best Comedic Performance. JK Simmons was nominated for Best Villain. Meryl Streep was also nominated for Best Villain, and not only is she the only performer aged 65 or older, she is also the only performer aged 50+ to win an award. 

This represents a significant underrepresentation of older people in popular movies. Also, it is interesting to note the categories in which older people were actually nominated. Notice how none of the older performers were nominated for awards such as Best Hero, Best Male/Female Performer, Best Scared-as-S*** Performance (MTV’s title for their award for best performer in a horror movie), or Best Kiss. While Michael Keaton’s nomination for Best Fight seems to defy stereotypes due to the implication of action, his character is described as being a “faded actor,” and therefore represents the stereotype of an older person trying to cope with being past their prime. Also, note how 2 of the 5 older performers were nominated for a role in Best Villain. This represents another common stereotype in film - the older people are more likely to play the villain than the hero. Older people are often vilified and placed in opposition to the young hero. Does this represent society’s subconscious opinion that oldness is bad and youth is good?

MTV also awarded Robert Downey Jr., who turned 50 in 2015, the MTV Generation Award. The MTV Generation Award is MTV’s lifetime achievement award. This brings up an interesting finding. Of the two awards which people 50+ won, one of the awards was specifically targeted towards older performers. Even then, 50 is not that old. In comparison, the Screen Actors Guild's Life Achievement Award has always been awarded to a performer currently over the age of 75 since 2005. Ever since the first MTV Generation Award in 2005, the award has always gone to a performer currently under the age of 55.

The MTV Movie Awards’ target audience is the youth. After all, it’s on MTV. In an award show targeting the youth, not only are older people less likely to be recognized, but even in terms of lifetime achievement awards, younger “older people” are recognized.

Media Images 

In its representation of older people, much of the media focuses on the invalid, ignoring the almost 80 percent of older people who are healthy enough to engage in normal day-to-day activities. Similarly, almost twice as many older people portrayed on TV are men, while in reality older women mostly outnumber older men. Television also portrays women as “seniors” at a younger age than men, with men more often portrayed as productive professionals.

Social Media posts 

In the vast world of the Interweb, older people are generally regarded as a mix of funny and adorable. Social media is riddled with humorous posts about older people’s attempts to navigate sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Older couples in particular are also widely admired on social media for long-lasting relationships and thoughtful displays of affection.

In general, the representation of the older generation on social media is overwhelmingly positive. People are constantly sharing cute or funny moments such as these, or sharing sage advice from grandparents or older family friends. This implies a deeper sense of respect and admiration for older people that we sometimes forget to recognize when discussing portrayals of the older generation.

Advertising

Older people are not generally found in ads for things that different ages of people use. Rather, they appear in ads that are specifically targeted towards other older people, such as medicine ads or skin cream ads. When they do appear in ads that aren’t specifically targeted at older people, they are often depicted as being bad at technology and are being made fun of.

 

An exception to this is the Celine photoshoot that features the 80 year old novelist Joan Didion. She is portrayed as a highly fashionable older woman in a magazine that is really targeted at younger people, the opposite of most fashion ads.

Products

Birthday cards featuring older people are usually meant to be funny and feature cranky older people not being able to use technology, not being able to hear, or just generally not having a great grasp of what’s going on around them. While many people do find these funny, they also perpetuate stereotypes that many people have about getting older.

Other products, such as t-shirts and mugs do not generally feature people, but versions of these products with celebrities on them do exist. However, these celebrities are generally very young, attractive, and more popular with younger people. The exception to this is products that can be found featuring older celebrities that have become cultural icons. However, these products are usually still targeted at younger people, and more often than not, feature a younger version of the celebrity, even if they are still alive and performing.