Content analysis of television drama reveals that the dominant age group in the world of television is the mature adult—30 to 54 years of age. The old appear infrequently on TV and, like the young, are shown in contrast to the competent adult male or in contrast to the attractive adult female.
Herbert C. Northcott, MS1
Television is a reflective-projective medium. Television reflects selected aspects of the "real" world and through this selective process projects a somewhat transformed image of reality back upon the world. The real world is made up of a population that can be described in terms of its age structure. In the real world, from a society-wide perspective, various roles are allocated to specific age categories and various norms and values apply to these age categories. The television world also has its age structure and its patterns of role allocation, norms, and values. In part these reflect the real world and in part these are projections. The purpose of this study is to describe "age" in the world of television. Age, as it is portrayed by the medium of print, has been studied by several investigators (see McTavish, 1971). Seltzer and Atchley (1971) did a content analysis of children's literature between 1870 and I960 in the USA. They concluded that the "evidence suggests that attitudes and stereotypes toward the old may not be so clearly delineated as has been assumed." Palmore (1971) did a content analysis of jokes about aging and found that the majority reflect a negative view of aging and that aging among women appears to be more negatively viewed than aging among men. Martel (1968) did a content analysis of USA magazine fiction between 1890 and 1955. He found an increasing tendency to characterize young adulthood as the best years of life. Some interesting comparisons and contrasts are evidenced by this present study which reports a content analysis of television drama. I. Currently a doctoral candidate in the Dept. of Sociology, Univ. of Minnesota, 1114 Social Science Bldg., Minneapolis 55455.
The Content Analysis Technique The technique used in this study was a content analysis of drama shown during prime time on network TV in a major midwest city. The ABC, CBS, and NBC networks were each monitored for I week in February of 1974 and data were collected on a total of 41 programs representing 35 hours of television programming. All drama portraying a modern setting and shown between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. was viewed. Cartoons, news broadcasts, advertisements, quiz shows, variety shows, documentaries, westerns, and sports were excluded. All role portrayals lasting 2 min. or longer were analyzed. Data were collected on age (categorized as dependent child, dependent adolescent, young adult, adult—30s to early 50s, older adult—late 50s to mid-60s, aged— later 60s and on), occupation, sex, race, ethnicity, social role (employed, unemployed, dependent, retired, illegitimately employed, in prison), dramatic role significance (major or minor character), physical state, mental state, and living situation (studied in terms of wealth, whom the individual lives with, and institutional status). All dialogue positively or negatively evaluating age and aging and all references to age-related norms and expectations were recorded and summarized to show what kind of age-related comments were made by any given age group to other age groups. Age in the World of Television Of the 464 role portrayals analyzed, only seven or J.5% appeared to be over 64 years of age. This is a contrast to the real world where 10.1% are over 64 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1973). Of these seven portrayals of old age five were minor roles. One such role
184
The Gerontologist
Downloaded from http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/ at Tulane University Library, Serials Acquisitions Dept. on December 1, 2015
Too Young, Too Old — Age in the World of Television
2. Tables detailing the data discussed in this paragraph are available from the author.
April 1975
47% of the population. In contrast, the adult (30-54 years of age) is far more prominent on TV than in the real world. The adult age category represents 64.4% of the television population but only 28.1% of the population in the real world. Regarding the sexes, on television males outnumber females almost three to one. Of all males, 69.4% are adults and 9 . 1 % are young adults. In comparison 50.8% of all females on television are adults and 22.6% are young adults. In the television world, adults, especially male adults, predominate; however, females tend to be a more youthful adult in comparison to their male counterpart. Stereotypical problems traditionally associated with old age, such as poor physical health, senility, poverty, institutionalization, were not emphasized in the television programming. While older men tended to be physically limited, poor health was a problem more likely to plague young children. Mental health problems were portrayed as adult ills but none of the aged were portrayed as senile. Older people were not portrayed as more likely to live alone, and none were shown in institutional homes. The young were more likely to be hospitalized than the old. Poverty did not appear to be a problem associated with any one age group.
185
Downloaded from http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/ at Tulane University Library, Serials Acquisitions Dept. on December 1, 2015
featured a white male security guard who adequately carried out his employment responsibilities despite his "tottering" physical condition. A pair of minor roles featured two white females at a party. They were portrayed as nosey, silly gossips. Another two minor roles featured an Italian-American immigrant couple, living in modest circumstances and enjoying reasonable health. One of the major roles portraying old age featured a white male grandfather, retired, but active, who lived with his married son's family and enjoyed good health. The other major role portraying old age featured a wealthy white male who, during the movie, dies of "old age" leaving a young wife. In this particular movie one of the major themes is the contrast between the age and disabilities of the older man and the youthful vigor of his much younger wife. A comparison of the television world and real world age distribution patterns2 reveals that the younger adult and the older adult population percentages are approximately the same, while children, adolescents, and aged are much less prominent on TV than in the real world. On TV the young and the old make up 12.1% of the portrayals; in the real world they constitute
Dialogue involving normative references to age and actual evaluations of age and aging was rare. Negative comments outnumbered the positive three to one. Positive evaluations tended to favor youth over age and negative evaluations tended to depreciate both youth and age. The adult middle years tended to receive neither positive nor negative evaluations.
References Martel, M. U. Age-sex roles in magazine fiction. In B. L. Neugarten (Ed.), Middle age and aging. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1968. McTavish, D. G. Perceptions of old people: A review of research methodologies and findings. Gerontologist, 1971, I I , (4:2), 90-101. Palmore, E. Attitudes toward aging as shown by humor. Gerontologist, 1971, I I , 181-186. Seltzer, M., & Atchley, R. C. The concept of old: Changing attitudes and stereotypes. Gerontologist, 1971, I I , 226-230. U. S. Bureau of the Census. Statistical abstract of the United States: 1973. (94th ed.), Washington, 1973.
Spring, 1975 Gerontology Institute Sangamon State University Springfield, Illinois Session I—"The Processes of Aging"—21 and1 22 March Session II—"Confrontations of Death"—4 and 5 April Session III—"Meeting the Needs of Older Persons"—18 and 19 April
All sessions meet Friday afternoons and evenings and Saturday mornings. University credit available. Gerontology Committee, Sangamon State University, Springfield, Illinois 62708. (217) 786-6687. Co-sponsors: State of Illinois, Department on Aging State of Illinois, Office of the Lt. Governor
186
The Gerontologist
Downloaded from http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/ at Tulane University Library, Serials Acquisitions Dept. on December 1, 2015
The Cult of Competency The quantitative image of age in the world of television might be summarized by a dramatic episode aired on television shortly after this study was completed. In this drama, an aging pharmacist is struggling with dizzy spells and memory lapses representing, we are told, the early symptoms of senility. He makes several mistakes, one precipitating a diabetic child into a coma, and another endangering the health of an adolescent. The crises are overcome by the competent intervention of a male physician aged in his later 30s. This doctor, after several confrontations, helps the aging pharmacist to accept his problem and adjust by hiring a younger man to dispense the drug prescriptions. This is only one dramatic episode of course. Nevertheless it represents the general findings of the study. Those findings indicate that on television, it is the young and the old who disproportionately suffer problems, and it is generally the competent adult male who solves those problems. Crime presents a slightly different picture. In the crime crisis, both the criminal and the crime fighter tend to be adult and male. The old and the young are generally not involved. The recurrent themes of television drama center around the crisis. Crime, health problems, interpersonal problems, and so on present constant crises and the drama features those who cause or suffer from the problems and those who
solve the problems or who are auxiliaries to the problem-solving agent and process. Age is important to the TV world because of its (cultural) link with competence. According to TV, health problems plague the young and the old relatively more frequently than other age groups. According to TV, mature adults more often than any other age group and males more than females solve those problems. According to TV, crime is primarily a male adult phenomenon with both criminals and crime fighters tending to be male adults. In sum, on TV, the mature adult male is the dominant figure both in terms of relative frequency and in terms of competency. How then do the aged see themselves portrayed on television? First of all they see themselves represented only infrequently. Second, when the aged do appear they tend to be seen in contrast to the predominant competent adult male or in contrast to the predominant attractive and often youthful adult female. Third, the aged, similar to the very young, tend to see themselves portrayed as suffering more than the average share of problems and relying for help on the "competent" adult. Finally, dialogue tends to negatively evaluate both youth and age. In short, television idealizes vigor, competency, and attractiveness. It is undesirable to be either "too young" or "too old."
Herbert C. Northcott, MS1
Television is a reflective-projective medium. Television reflects selected aspects of the "real" world and through this selective process projects a somewhat transformed image of reality back upon the world. The real world is made up of a population that can be described in terms of its age structure. In the real world, from a society-wide perspective, various roles are allocated to specific age categories and various norms and values apply to these age categories. The television world also has its age structure and its patterns of role allocation, norms, and values. In part these reflect the real world and in part these are projections. The purpose of this study is to describe "age" in the world of television. Age, as it is portrayed by the medium of print, has been studied by several investigators (see McTavish, 1971). Seltzer and Atchley (1971) did a content analysis of children's literature between 1870 and I960 in the USA. They concluded that the "evidence suggests that attitudes and stereotypes toward the old may not be so clearly delineated as has been assumed." Palmore (1971) did a content analysis of jokes about aging and found that the majority reflect a negative view of aging and that aging among women appears to be more negatively viewed than aging among men. Martel (1968) did a content analysis of USA magazine fiction between 1890 and 1955. He found an increasing tendency to characterize young adulthood as the best years of life. Some interesting comparisons and contrasts are evidenced by this present study which reports a content analysis of television drama. I. Currently a doctoral candidate in the Dept. of Sociology, Univ. of Minnesota, 1114 Social Science Bldg., Minneapolis 55455.
The Content Analysis Technique The technique used in this study was a content analysis of drama shown during prime time on network TV in a major midwest city. The ABC, CBS, and NBC networks were each monitored for I week in February of 1974 and data were collected on a total of 41 programs representing 35 hours of television programming. All drama portraying a modern setting and shown between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. was viewed. Cartoons, news broadcasts, advertisements, quiz shows, variety shows, documentaries, westerns, and sports were excluded. All role portrayals lasting 2 min. or longer were analyzed. Data were collected on age (categorized as dependent child, dependent adolescent, young adult, adult—30s to early 50s, older adult—late 50s to mid-60s, aged— later 60s and on), occupation, sex, race, ethnicity, social role (employed, unemployed, dependent, retired, illegitimately employed, in prison), dramatic role significance (major or minor character), physical state, mental state, and living situation (studied in terms of wealth, whom the individual lives with, and institutional status). All dialogue positively or negatively evaluating age and aging and all references to age-related norms and expectations were recorded and summarized to show what kind of age-related comments were made by any given age group to other age groups. Age in the World of Television Of the 464 role portrayals analyzed, only seven or J.5% appeared to be over 64 years of age. This is a contrast to the real world where 10.1% are over 64 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1973). Of these seven portrayals of old age five were minor roles. One such role
184
The Gerontologist
Downloaded from http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/ at Tulane University Library, Serials Acquisitions Dept. on December 1, 2015
Too Young, Too Old — Age in the World of Television
2. Tables detailing the data discussed in this paragraph are available from the author.
April 1975
47% of the population. In contrast, the adult (30-54 years of age) is far more prominent on TV than in the real world. The adult age category represents 64.4% of the television population but only 28.1% of the population in the real world. Regarding the sexes, on television males outnumber females almost three to one. Of all males, 69.4% are adults and 9 . 1 % are young adults. In comparison 50.8% of all females on television are adults and 22.6% are young adults. In the television world, adults, especially male adults, predominate; however, females tend to be a more youthful adult in comparison to their male counterpart. Stereotypical problems traditionally associated with old age, such as poor physical health, senility, poverty, institutionalization, were not emphasized in the television programming. While older men tended to be physically limited, poor health was a problem more likely to plague young children. Mental health problems were portrayed as adult ills but none of the aged were portrayed as senile. Older people were not portrayed as more likely to live alone, and none were shown in institutional homes. The young were more likely to be hospitalized than the old. Poverty did not appear to be a problem associated with any one age group.
185
Downloaded from http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/ at Tulane University Library, Serials Acquisitions Dept. on December 1, 2015
featured a white male security guard who adequately carried out his employment responsibilities despite his "tottering" physical condition. A pair of minor roles featured two white females at a party. They were portrayed as nosey, silly gossips. Another two minor roles featured an Italian-American immigrant couple, living in modest circumstances and enjoying reasonable health. One of the major roles portraying old age featured a white male grandfather, retired, but active, who lived with his married son's family and enjoyed good health. The other major role portraying old age featured a wealthy white male who, during the movie, dies of "old age" leaving a young wife. In this particular movie one of the major themes is the contrast between the age and disabilities of the older man and the youthful vigor of his much younger wife. A comparison of the television world and real world age distribution patterns2 reveals that the younger adult and the older adult population percentages are approximately the same, while children, adolescents, and aged are much less prominent on TV than in the real world. On TV the young and the old make up 12.1% of the portrayals; in the real world they constitute
Dialogue involving normative references to age and actual evaluations of age and aging was rare. Negative comments outnumbered the positive three to one. Positive evaluations tended to favor youth over age and negative evaluations tended to depreciate both youth and age. The adult middle years tended to receive neither positive nor negative evaluations.
References Martel, M. U. Age-sex roles in magazine fiction. In B. L. Neugarten (Ed.), Middle age and aging. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1968. McTavish, D. G. Perceptions of old people: A review of research methodologies and findings. Gerontologist, 1971, I I , (4:2), 90-101. Palmore, E. Attitudes toward aging as shown by humor. Gerontologist, 1971, I I , 181-186. Seltzer, M., & Atchley, R. C. The concept of old: Changing attitudes and stereotypes. Gerontologist, 1971, I I , 226-230. U. S. Bureau of the Census. Statistical abstract of the United States: 1973. (94th ed.), Washington, 1973.
Spring, 1975 Gerontology Institute Sangamon State University Springfield, Illinois Session I—"The Processes of Aging"—21 and1 22 March Session II—"Confrontations of Death"—4 and 5 April Session III—"Meeting the Needs of Older Persons"—18 and 19 April
All sessions meet Friday afternoons and evenings and Saturday mornings. University credit available. Gerontology Committee, Sangamon State University, Springfield, Illinois 62708. (217) 786-6687. Co-sponsors: State of Illinois, Department on Aging State of Illinois, Office of the Lt. Governor
186
The Gerontologist
Downloaded from http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/ at Tulane University Library, Serials Acquisitions Dept. on December 1, 2015
The Cult of Competency The quantitative image of age in the world of television might be summarized by a dramatic episode aired on television shortly after this study was completed. In this drama, an aging pharmacist is struggling with dizzy spells and memory lapses representing, we are told, the early symptoms of senility. He makes several mistakes, one precipitating a diabetic child into a coma, and another endangering the health of an adolescent. The crises are overcome by the competent intervention of a male physician aged in his later 30s. This doctor, after several confrontations, helps the aging pharmacist to accept his problem and adjust by hiring a younger man to dispense the drug prescriptions. This is only one dramatic episode of course. Nevertheless it represents the general findings of the study. Those findings indicate that on television, it is the young and the old who disproportionately suffer problems, and it is generally the competent adult male who solves those problems. Crime presents a slightly different picture. In the crime crisis, both the criminal and the crime fighter tend to be adult and male. The old and the young are generally not involved. The recurrent themes of television drama center around the crisis. Crime, health problems, interpersonal problems, and so on present constant crises and the drama features those who cause or suffer from the problems and those who
solve the problems or who are auxiliaries to the problem-solving agent and process. Age is important to the TV world because of its (cultural) link with competence. According to TV, health problems plague the young and the old relatively more frequently than other age groups. According to TV, mature adults more often than any other age group and males more than females solve those problems. According to TV, crime is primarily a male adult phenomenon with both criminals and crime fighters tending to be male adults. In sum, on TV, the mature adult male is the dominant figure both in terms of relative frequency and in terms of competency. How then do the aged see themselves portrayed on television? First of all they see themselves represented only infrequently. Second, when the aged do appear they tend to be seen in contrast to the predominant competent adult male or in contrast to the predominant attractive and often youthful adult female. Third, the aged, similar to the very young, tend to see themselves portrayed as suffering more than the average share of problems and relying for help on the "competent" adult. Finally, dialogue tends to negatively evaluate both youth and age. In short, television idealizes vigor, competency, and attractiveness. It is undesirable to be either "too young" or "too old."
