Aysha55′s Blog

March 20, 2009

March 20, 2009 at 1:02 pm (Blogs) (ageism, media)

 

 

 

When the younger generation hear of old people they think disease, vulnerable, ridiculous and childish. I think this is a misconception that the media gives out to the people and they don’t give the older generation the credit they really deserve. When people think about aging they think that they will be ugly and not attractive and will not receive the attention they need. Mostly on TV older women are usually played as mothers or grandmothers. Nowadays, older women are getting stronger roles and not always shown as weak and dependent on others.

                What television shows portray is a process of systematic stereotyping and discriminating against older people because of their age. Older people are mostly branded as old fashioned, traditional, inflexible and people who despise change. They are usually shown on day time advertisement because that is when there are more older people staying at home. They are normally dressed in styleless clothes such as  frilly sweaters and hats. They are usually portrayed in ads about, retirement, funeral, insurance, and greeting cards.

                I think being older in a society is being devalued. This give the older generation more pressure to be young and really try to pass as younger individual. Older people try to be young by wearing hipper clothes and getting cosmetically altered. Also many magazines show women and men that are 60-65 , who are airbrushed making them look more like they are 40. This really makes the reader more distress that a person at the age of 60 does not look like them and they think that they are too old because they are comparing themselves to the people in the magazine.

                I know many individuals that over the age of 60 and are not frail, vulnerable and confused. These individual sometime are in better shape physically then I am. I see the older people getting more active and getting more involved. Also where I worked during my summer internship these people don’t want to retire. These people want to work keep themselves busy rather than staying home and let their energy go to waste. I have my dad and uncle that are reaching the age of 60 and nothing stop s them from doing what they want to do. I think society doesn’t give them the credit they really be worthy of. I think they are more willing to learn now than ever. My father is preparing himself for retirement and his planning to take courses that will keep him busy. At home I am helping him upgrade his computer skills and he wants to improve his other skills such fluency in another language. I think this just shows that older people are not worthless and not vulnerable.

                I am happy that the media slowly, but surely are changing that way that they are seeing  the older generation. As it mentions in the book it not older women and men that will benefit from this it will be all of society as well. It is a good thing to teach the younger children to value the older generation because they know soo much more than we do. They have been here longer and seen the world change and are aware of more things than we are. We can ask question about the wars and of that certain time and moment because they were there.