Shelby Smith
9/3/10
Seniors on Television
One of the ways that people develop ageist points of views in through prejudiced points
of views in the media. Television is one of the most common devices of the media to negatively
portray older adults. Shows such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Everybody Loves Raymond
often depict older adults as dependent, senile, grumpy, and mean, and are famous for their
depictions of seniors and older adults. All of the older adults in these television programs depict
to the rest of the world how older adults are supposed to behave.
In shows such as “The Simpsons,” “Grandpa” Simpson is seen as a nuisance, clingy,
dependent, and annoying. He is often ignored by his family, and he lives at a run-down nursing
home where the treatment is no better. I think that this unfortunately might be true for some
American families, as often older adults are the subject of abuse and neglect; however the view
that older adults are all senile or not worth spending time on is absolutely false. Grandpa
Simpson is a white, male middle-class senior who portrays a fairly common point of view in our
world. He rambles for hours with pointless stories and is a racist with narrow-minded views. I
think that this is sometimes how people in our society view older adults, but ageism will never be
eradicated until people stop believing in this point of view of older adults.
Another show called “Family Guy,” there is a grumpy, rich old man named Carter
Pewterschmidt. Mr. Pewterschmidt is also greedy, racist, and intolerant of other people. Many
people I think view older adults as often wealthy and conservative. However, this is not only
true, but is also dramatically shifting the other way as the baby boom generation begins to
become seniors themselves. These negative stereotypes portray older adults as “the bad guy,”
and in turn negatively influence society into thinking this is how all older adults act. I don’t think
that these are at all believable to me or to the people that I associate with, but to many
Americans, this is all that they believe, and in turn are leading more generations into ageist
points of view.
A third television program that depicts aging in a strong way is the show “Everybody
Loves Raymond.” Marie and Frank Barrone are a middle-class Italian married couple who are
more than a little dysfunctional. Frank is seen as inappropriate old man who often says crass or
rude comments. Marie is a meddling and offensive older woman, who constantly berates her
husband and family. However, they are frequently involved in their family’s lives and at times
do show great affection and love for one another, which thankfully show a more positive view of
aging. I think that sometimes these images are believable, perhaps because they are mixed with
more positive elements of the show, and also because the older adults portrayed are not just
portrayed as people who only act like older adults, but people that may act just like them.
In conclusion, I think that media is one of the strongest influences that the world has on
how we shape our views and how reality is constructed regarding aging and old age. These
shows too frequently depict aging and older adults as negative, and to be avoided at all costs.
Sometimes they are convincing, but often they are extreme points of view that are designed to
look exaggerated. Very infrequently, the images portrayed on the shows are positive, but more
often than not they are very negative. I think that race and class are often included in their
negative depiction, and the stereotype of grumpy old white, middle class adults is often the norm.
Ageist views will continue to exist as long as television shows such as these maintain their
negative and stereotyped points of view.