Older Adults in Prime-Time Television Dramas in Taiwan: Prevalence, Portrayal, and Communication Interaction

Abstract

Abstract:A content and thematic analysis of 109 episodes (94.9 hours) of prime-time dramas examined the portrayals of aging and the nature of intergenerational interaction involving older adults on Taiwanese television. The content analysis revealed that older characters, regardless of sex, appeared less frequently and in less prominent roles than other adult characters, but not in comparison to adolescents and children. The older characters who did appear, however, were predominantly portrayed as cognitively sound and physically healthy. The thematic analysis provided a different picture, showing that older characters talked about age explicitly, strategically linking it to death and despondence, to influence younger characters. Communication behavior themes identified included supporting, superiority, and controlling for older characters, and reverence/respect for younger characters. Findings are compared to those from similar studies of U.S. media and discussed from a Cultivation Theory perspective in terms of their reinforcement of Chinese age stereotypes and the traditional values of filial piety and age hierarchy in the context of globalization and culture change.

Progress on Understanding Ageism

“…Further suggesting that more research is needed on these complex issues, there is long-standing research showing the coexistence of positive and negative characterizations of aging and older persons in Western cultures (e.g., Cuddy et al, 2005;Kite et al, 2005;Levy et al, 2004;Palmore, 1990). More exclusively positive views of aging and older persons have been identified in societies around the world such as Taiwan (e.g., Lien et al, 2009). Accordingly, this special issue spotlights insights from scholars in Asia (China, Bai et al, 2016), Europe (England, Abrams et al, 2016;Netherlands, Kooij & Zacher, 2016), South America (Colombia, Ramírez, & Palacios-Espinosa, 2016), and North America (Chrisler et al, 2016;Macdonald & Levy, 2016;Ng et al, 2016;North & Fiske, 2016).…”

“…Early research on ageism tended to be conducted in Western cultures in Europe and North America where negative ageism was predominately documented. The study of ageism has expanded to include countries such as Brazil (e.g., de Paula Couto & Koller, ), China (e.g., Bai et al., ), Colombia (e.g., Ramírez & Palacios‐Espinosa, ), Israel (e.g., Bodner, Bergman, & Cohen‐Fridel, ), New Zealand (e.g., O'Sullivan & Ashton, ), and Taiwan (e.g., Lien, Zhang, & Hummert, ). Some of the greatest expansion of research on ageism has been to other cultures where scholars sought to explore positive ageism as well as the coexistence of positive and negative ageism.…”

Ageism in a Cross-Cultural Perspective: Reflections from the Research Field

“…Whereas in the UK ageism is mostly visible in unrealistic images of active and healthy older people, in Taiwan the same phenomenon is reflected in advertisements that mainly focus on ill health and the vulnerability of older people. Lien et al (2009) and Raman et al (2008) further demonstrated that, although the underrepresentation of older people in the media is widely spread around the world, the particularities of marginalization and stigmatization of older people in the media need to be contextualized.…”

Media portrayal of older people as illustrated in Finnish newspapers

“…These studies have mostly been carried out in the fields of social and communication sciences and gerontology, but seldom in the nursing field. Various forms of media have been of interest: drama television series (Lien, Zhang, & Hummert, 2009; Signorielli, 2004), advertisements on television (Kessler, Schwender, & Bowen, 2010) and in magazines (Ylänne, Williams, & Wadleigh, 2009), newspapers (Martin, Williams, & O’Neill, 2009; Rozanova, Northcott, & McDaniel, 2006; Uotila, Lumme-Sandt, & Saarenheimo, 2010), animated films (Blakeborough, 2008; Robinson, Callister, Magoffin, & Moore, 2007), paintings (Wikström, 2000), song lyrics (Aday & Austin, 2000), and even birthday cards (Ellis & Morrison, 2005). …”

“…On television, older people and old age are mainly portrayed in a positive light; they are depicted as cognitively alert and in good physical health, and old age is presented as a phase of activity and productivity (Kessler, Rakozy, & Staudinger, 2004; Lien et al, 2009; Signorielli, 2004). However, older characters are often portrayed more akin to those in middle age, and the attributes of old age are mostly excluded (Kessler et al, 2004; Signorielli, 2004).…”