Media perceptions of aging such as those shown in the newspaper not only inform or influence the public but reflect the misconceptions of the society. By being cognizant of how different attitudes demonstrate the treatment of older people, the society would become more aware and empowered to protect the rights and overall well-being of the old ( Fraser et al., 2015) . After all, like racism and sexism, aging is a social infection that is fed or perpetrated by stereotypes.
From the above image, Tyler Perry; who acts like Madea, displays the elderly as being helpless, vulnerable, and predominantly strict. Unlike the popular media portrayal of elders being senile, unattractive, child-like, and sickly, Madea shows that elderly people can be strong and protect themselves. She even applies lipstick and nail paint with earrings and a nice bracelet. However, they have been illustrated as being ugly, unfashionable as seen with her big eyeglasses , noisy, and cranky. Therefore, aging has still been displayed as how society depicts old people to be.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
According to Fraser et al. (2015), older people have been misrepresented by the media in unfavorable ways that do not reflect the demographic reality. Their review of 65 articles indicates that the old are associated with health-related problems that make them appear senile, vulnerable, and sick. In contrary, the image shows a fraction of what the article illustrates such as vulnerability and sickness.
Ageism is not only related to growing old but also connected to the gerontological perspectives deeply rooted systems of politics and economic structures ( Loos & Ivan, 2018) . By institutionalizing retirement schemes, the elderly have been viewed as been incapable of working yet they have gained experience and expertise. In this regard, ageism could be reduced by extending retirement plans and enabling older people to work in order to eliminate the stereotyping of the elderly.
References
Fraser, S. A., Kenyon, V., Lagacé, M., Wittich, W., & Southall, K. E. (2015). Stereotypes associated with age-related conditions and assistive device use in Canadian media. The Gerontologist , 56 (6), 1023-1032.
Loos, E., & Ivan, L. (2018). Visual ageism in the media. In Contemporary perspectives on ageism (pp. 163-176). Springer, Cham.
