Female ageism

Yes, but it is only cherry-picked already famous older stars that get on TV. What about all those ordinary older actors jsut doing bit parts and in the back ground or starring in something which isn't aimed at the elderly market and on elderly issues.

I admit Ian Mckellen as Hamlet has not been a great success, but there must be a middle way.

That annoys me as well Canadiangran why is that more important than her other achievements grrrrr

Generally speaking, people like looking at fairly attractive people on TV - Nature as it is, means your average 80 year old isn’t particularly attractive so tv bosses don’t want them. Plus, it’s very hard, demanding work, so they’re probably not up to the physical challenges.

Sheila Hancock is gamely jumping on and off canal boats, as well as steering them, still working as herself, and she is 88 to Gyles Brandreth's 73.

It applies to everything. DS is an archaeologist and archaeological miseries used to whine because Time Team , didn't show the months of preparation before a site was filmed or all the post excavation, fromback filling the tranches etc to publishing the report.

They seem to forget that the purpose of tv is to entertain and that means cutting corners and speeding things up, providing they do not get things badly wrong, so what.

There is also the immense amusement those in the know in a subject get when watching it dramatised on tv.

I think that if we got too het up over inaccuracies like that, there would be no drama on TV at all?.

It's true that Vera would have been pensioned off, but you could say the same about Morse - even Lewis was hauled out of retirement. Liberties have to be taken, or the programmes would be more like documentaries.

I can't remember many of the details, but I once went to a fascinating lecture given by a police forensic scientist. She was half amused and half exasperated by the portrayal of things like the speed with which tests came back from labs, but as she said, the story would be slowed right down if they did it in 'real time'.

I see things like Vera's age as a bit like that. We just suspend disbelief in order to enjoy the story. At least it's a positive representation of older age.

It is amazing how quickly diversity has been taken up since the The Black Lives Matter campaign started. Suddenly actors from all ethnic communities can be seen much more frequently in the media.

Why has the same not happened to older peopl? There are more of us and we have been here for a long time.

varian

The point about Brenda Blethyn as Vera was that she portrays a successful detective- who could be a man or a woman of any age (maybe over 25). The point is that she is not just portraying an old person with old person's issues

The point was that Brenda blethyn at THAT age would not be on the force!!! Good bad or indifferent may her detection skills be. I adored the portrayal of Jane Tennyson by Helen mirren and that was in 1991!!! It was realistic that a woman of her age experience etc would hold that elevated rank and so very accurate, one of the very few cop shows we could watch without cringeing and turning off! (Ex job!)

Is there a television producer out there who will rise to the challenge and dump the stereotypes. Someone has to be the first. Ideas/suggestions?
I’ll go first then: woman past childbearing/possibly reluctant grandparent, not necessarily though. Intelligent, humorous, a few health problems, sympathetic, social conscience, lifelong feminist and not on a permanent slimming diet, a bit lonely sometimes, but not desperate and not afraid to go to the pub/holiday un accompanied. There you can have that, go create

Baggs I was thinking of popular media, newspapers, main internet news sources - BBC, Sky etc. Read more targetted and informed sources and yes, they are improving, but you only need to read (or listen) to those coy children, or interviews with teenagers and those in their 20s and their ideas of what on old person looks like, can do and thinks, is depressingly negative and stereotyped

One thing that I have noticed that really bothers me is the news calling a woman a grandmother on a human interest story.

One headline in the news:
"Grandmother named 1st female chief of --- First Nation'
The woman has a Bachelor's degree in Social Work, and was the Director of Health for her area. If the person elected was a male, would the fact that he was a grandfather be mentioned? No, not at all!

I hear this all the time, and it really burns me.

That's true, Baggs, but as you say, you surround yourself with all sorts of different sources - a lot of people don't. If all you see is one representation (which I know you don't) then it would be difficult not to think that people in groups with which you don't mix socially are as represented on TV.

A diet of ITV3, for example, would do very little to broaden anyone's horizons, and it is clearly aimed at older people, as can be seen by all the ads for walking frames, stair lifts, incontinence aids and so on.

M0nica

The media should represent a cross section of the whole population. Articles about older people should not always be illustrated by photographs of the old, frail and needy. You do not need to be frail and needy to qualifiy for Pension Credit, a bus pass.

I agree with your shoulds and should nots. The articles I read are not lacking the qualities you say should be there.

Maybe people need to diversify their news and information consumption.

Doodledog

Because when a group of people is never represented they stop being in the public consciousness, and they stop being significant for many people. If the only time you see Africans is in ads for charities or news reports about the starving, you see all of Africa as a problem, and ignore the fact that it is a continent with many different countries, economies and lifestyles.

Similarly if old people are always portrayed as lonely or needy, or in care homes or hospitals instead of workplaces or at the heart of families, that is how they will be perceived.

Better to show a range of different ‘types’ of oldies, as is happening with other groups such as gay people or black people.

White thirty/forty somethings are portrayed as good, bad, indifferent, rich, poor, criminals, police, etc etc. As long as they dominate the media it will be their (albeit diverse) views, needs and concerns that will dominate society.

A good post, doodledog but I think, even without a telly, that I manage to expose myself to a very wide variety of news sources because all the sorts of things you suggest might not be covered are indeed covered. For example, the old people I see in the media I look at are not always lonely or needy; there is masses of information about the various countries and peoples of Africa; the images I see of people are extremely diverse in every possible way.

There is no shortage of coverage of all sorts of everything. This is why I don't think there's really an issue.

varian

The point about Brenda Blethyn as Vera was that she portrays a successful detective- who could be a man or a woman of any age (maybe over 25). The point is that she is not just portraying an old person with old person's issues

Exactly.

The media should represent a cross section of the whole population. Articles about older people should not always be illustrated by photographs of the old, frail and needy. You do not need to be frail and needy to qualifiy for Pension Credit, a bus pass.

The point about Brenda Blethyn as Vera was that she portrays a successful detective- who could be a man or a woman of any age (maybe over 25). The point is that she is not just portraying an old person with old person's issues

varian

Brenda Blethyn is still playing Vera. I'm not sure that there are any DCIs male or female who've not retired by the age of 75.

I love the series ‘Vera’ and don’t care how old she is.

Because when a group of people is never represented they stop being in the public consciousness, and they stop being significant for many people. If the only time you see Africans is in ads for charities or news reports about the starving, you see all of Africa as a problem, and ignore the fact that it is a continent with many different countries, economies and lifestyles.

Similarly if old people are always portrayed as lonely or needy, or in care homes or hospitals instead of workplaces or at the heart of families, that is how they will be perceived.

Better to show a range of different ‘types’ of oldies, as is happening with other groups such as gay people or black people.

White thirty/forty somethings are portrayed as good, bad, indifferent, rich, poor, criminals, police, etc etc. As long as they dominate the media it will be their (albeit diverse) views, needs and concerns that will dominate society.

Why does everyone want their particular niche to be particularly "represented"? We are all 'special' in our individual lives but in the mass we are just people.

People are "represented" everywhere in the media and you can now represent yourself on a whole host of social media forums.

It’s a state of mind isn’t it?
If someone is boasting about reaching pension age and being old enough to stay at home now......then they are surely old. However if someone wants to quit working because it’s their time and they want to do things, thats a whole other ball game.
Let’s be real, some are old in their forties and others vibrant and fun to be with into their nineties.

Brenda Blethyn is still playing Vera. I'm not sure that there are any DCIs male or female who've not retired by the age of 75.

What about Moira Stuart, she’s still got an active career as well as being a woman about town who seems to have lots of fun - and she doesn’t dye her hair.

Kate1949

Judi Dench is in her 80s and still sought after. As is Maggie Smith.

They are, and it's good to see people like them, and Pauline Collins etc in films, but they do tend to be in films where the point is that they are old. Their oldness is the plot.

I agree with M0nica that it would be better if women of all ages were cast in role in which age wasn't an issue. Strides are being made when it comes to casting black people in roles that aren't about being black, and gay characters who are just characters who happen to be gay, and it would be good if age were treated in the same way, whether in acting roles or as pundits/experts/members of the public on fox pops and discussion programmes.

Judi Dench is in her 80s and still sought after. As is Maggie Smith.