Ageism in children content
Theories and debates on age and ageing
Definition age
Natural or socially constructed?
o When you became 10, you were very proud like ‘wow i’m getting older’, but from a certain
age on it is like a taboo if you’re birthday comes, sometimes it’ts a taboo to ask for
somebody’s age and so on
Boundaries via age categories & life course
o Different age categories have different expectations of how you have to represent yourself
and how you should behave (eg sexuality not appropriate at older age)
o Life course: At this age you have to be married, at that age you have to buy a house
o Institutionalized (eg retirement systems)
o Intertwined with other identity axes (eg gender)
What does it mean to be seen as old?
Definition ageism (Robert Butler (1969))
"the prejudice by one age group against another age group”
= discrimination, stereotypes and prejudice based on age
Can be present in any age category
o Yet, societal and academic focus has been on older persons
Age(ism) is everywhere
o 1 in 2 people are ageist towards older people (WHO, 2021)
o In 2022, more than one fifth (21.1 %) of the EU population was aged 65 and over (Eurostat,
2022).
o Different domains, including media
o But: not talked about as much as gender discrimination or ethnic discrimination
Age and power
o Different age categories have different statuses
o Privileges based on age (mostly people in 20s en 40s)
Age and context
o Often focus on Western concept of age
The process of decline vs successful ageing discourse
Getting older is seen as a decline on different parts in life (eg; physical, social (isolation), less
happy, less sexual active)
o <-> Successful ageing discourse: alternative to negative view on age
▪ Older people should have an active life style, so that they can change the
stereotypes about them
▪ How to de-stereotype
• Minimalize risk of illness and disability
• Maintain physical and cognitive function
• Continue engagement with life
▪ Individualistic approach: individual itself has to change its life
▪ Standards not reachable for everyone
, Related to
o The ideal of youthfulness/compulsory youthfulness (Gibson, 2016)
o Third (or ‘golden ager’) and fourth agers
▪ Third agers = successful older persons, who live the ideal
Agelessness and anti-ageing
Intersectionality
Close intertwinement with dis/ability,
o Body as key marker for age
Normative life course: often heteronormative
Successful ageing: linked to consumption and SES
Gendered ageism
Studies on age in popular media culture
Images and representation
Who and how?
o Ageism by invisibility (McGuire, 2016)
o = total absence of older characters
o Cf. symbolic annihilation
Lack of diversity
o Overrepresentation of certain identities (eg white male heterosexual) £
Stereotypes and recurring narratives/tropes
o Role attribution
o They’re just there, but don’t really contribute to the story
o Often linked with (intersecting) identities
o Some stereotypes:
▪ Doddery but dear
• Old people are warm and cute
• So actually aso imcompetent and that we need to help and support them
▪ The schrew
• bitter, angry at the world, nagging
▪ Humor
• The comic relief in the story, ageist jokes
▪ Wise old mentor
• Supporting role in narrative, always helping other younger characters, but
don’t have a personal character development
▪ The villain
▪ Asexual
,Geena Davis Institute
Content Analysis: longitudinal
o An analysis of the ten top-grossing domestic films from 2010 to 2020 (top 10, per year).
o An analysis of the most popular television shows (broadcast and streaming) from 2010 to
2020 (top 10 per year, per platform).
o In American context!
o However: also largely watched in other contexts
Reception
What do older people themselves recognize in movie and tv representations?
physical aging
romantic and social relationship dynamics
o eg; older people who have no children not represented
financial realities
mixed feelings about social progress
production
underrepresentation in both on-screen and off-screen
focus on children content
recent debates
roald dahl: can you just change the sentences he wrote? (authorship)
can’t we just give a reflextion rather than rewriting?
Debate on responsibility of streaming platforms to provide diversity
What makes children content special?
Cultivation theory (Gerbner) & social learning theory (Bandura)
o These theories are very one-way where child is seen as very passive
o Idea of the innocent child
, However:
o Children are active and television is an important storyteller
o Children content as valuable for society as well as for research
Recent findings Geena Davis Institute
Good tv show from Disney: the owl house
Historical overview: longitudinal study of Disney
Follow-up study of Towbin et al. (2004) en Robinson et al. (2007) → longitudinal
o Sample: 42 Disney movies between 2004-2016 (following up from start)
Coding book based on previous research on the representation of older characters
Who is old:
o Coding instruction involved training on (1) older character identification, (2) physical
features, and (3) mental/personality characteristics. Older character identification involved
one or more of the following subjective criteria: (1) an appearance of retirement; (2)
extensive gray hair; (3) wrinkles of the skin; (4) extensive loss of hair or balding; (5)
cracking voice; (6) use of an aid such as a cane or wheelchair; (7) the parent of a son or
daughter who is middle-aged or older; and (8) evidence of grandchildren or great-
grandchildren
Results
o Lack of representation of older adults
o Overrepresentation of male older characters (66%)
o Overrepresentation of white characters (72%)
o Decline in presence and significance to the story
o Slight increase in stereotype of ‘villain’
o Trend towards depicting older characters as less physically old
o Overall negative portrayal of older characters (44%) (eg; loss of power)
Theories and debates on age and ageing
Definition age
Natural or socially constructed?
o When you became 10, you were very proud like ‘wow i’m getting older’, but from a certain
age on it is like a taboo if you’re birthday comes, sometimes it’ts a taboo to ask for
somebody’s age and so on
Boundaries via age categories & life course
o Different age categories have different expectations of how you have to represent yourself
and how you should behave (eg sexuality not appropriate at older age)
o Life course: At this age you have to be married, at that age you have to buy a house
o Institutionalized (eg retirement systems)
o Intertwined with other identity axes (eg gender)
What does it mean to be seen as old?
Definition ageism (Robert Butler (1969))
"the prejudice by one age group against another age group”
= discrimination, stereotypes and prejudice based on age
Can be present in any age category
o Yet, societal and academic focus has been on older persons
Age(ism) is everywhere
o 1 in 2 people are ageist towards older people (WHO, 2021)
o In 2022, more than one fifth (21.1 %) of the EU population was aged 65 and over (Eurostat,
2022).
o Different domains, including media
o But: not talked about as much as gender discrimination or ethnic discrimination
Age and power
o Different age categories have different statuses
o Privileges based on age (mostly people in 20s en 40s)
Age and context
o Often focus on Western concept of age
The process of decline vs successful ageing discourse
Getting older is seen as a decline on different parts in life (eg; physical, social (isolation), less
happy, less sexual active)
o <-> Successful ageing discourse: alternative to negative view on age
▪ Older people should have an active life style, so that they can change the
stereotypes about them
▪ How to de-stereotype
• Minimalize risk of illness and disability
• Maintain physical and cognitive function
• Continue engagement with life
▪ Individualistic approach: individual itself has to change its life
▪ Standards not reachable for everyone
, Related to
o The ideal of youthfulness/compulsory youthfulness (Gibson, 2016)
o Third (or ‘golden ager’) and fourth agers
▪ Third agers = successful older persons, who live the ideal
Agelessness and anti-ageing
Intersectionality
Close intertwinement with dis/ability,
o Body as key marker for age
Normative life course: often heteronormative
Successful ageing: linked to consumption and SES
Gendered ageism
Studies on age in popular media culture
Images and representation
Who and how?
o Ageism by invisibility (McGuire, 2016)
o = total absence of older characters
o Cf. symbolic annihilation
Lack of diversity
o Overrepresentation of certain identities (eg white male heterosexual) £
Stereotypes and recurring narratives/tropes
o Role attribution
o They’re just there, but don’t really contribute to the story
o Often linked with (intersecting) identities
o Some stereotypes:
▪ Doddery but dear
• Old people are warm and cute
• So actually aso imcompetent and that we need to help and support them
▪ The schrew
• bitter, angry at the world, nagging
▪ Humor
• The comic relief in the story, ageist jokes
▪ Wise old mentor
• Supporting role in narrative, always helping other younger characters, but
don’t have a personal character development
▪ The villain
▪ Asexual
,Geena Davis Institute
Content Analysis: longitudinal
o An analysis of the ten top-grossing domestic films from 2010 to 2020 (top 10, per year).
o An analysis of the most popular television shows (broadcast and streaming) from 2010 to
2020 (top 10 per year, per platform).
o In American context!
o However: also largely watched in other contexts
Reception
What do older people themselves recognize in movie and tv representations?
physical aging
romantic and social relationship dynamics
o eg; older people who have no children not represented
financial realities
mixed feelings about social progress
production
underrepresentation in both on-screen and off-screen
focus on children content
recent debates
roald dahl: can you just change the sentences he wrote? (authorship)
can’t we just give a reflextion rather than rewriting?
Debate on responsibility of streaming platforms to provide diversity
What makes children content special?
Cultivation theory (Gerbner) & social learning theory (Bandura)
o These theories are very one-way where child is seen as very passive
o Idea of the innocent child
, However:
o Children are active and television is an important storyteller
o Children content as valuable for society as well as for research
Recent findings Geena Davis Institute
Good tv show from Disney: the owl house
Historical overview: longitudinal study of Disney
Follow-up study of Towbin et al. (2004) en Robinson et al. (2007) → longitudinal
o Sample: 42 Disney movies between 2004-2016 (following up from start)
Coding book based on previous research on the representation of older characters
Who is old:
o Coding instruction involved training on (1) older character identification, (2) physical
features, and (3) mental/personality characteristics. Older character identification involved
one or more of the following subjective criteria: (1) an appearance of retirement; (2)
extensive gray hair; (3) wrinkles of the skin; (4) extensive loss of hair or balding; (5)
cracking voice; (6) use of an aid such as a cane or wheelchair; (7) the parent of a son or
daughter who is middle-aged or older; and (8) evidence of grandchildren or great-
grandchildren
Results
o Lack of representation of older adults
o Overrepresentation of male older characters (66%)
o Overrepresentation of white characters (72%)
o Decline in presence and significance to the story
o Slight increase in stereotype of ‘villain’
o Trend towards depicting older characters as less physically old
o Overall negative portrayal of older characters (44%) (eg; loss of power)
