Representation Of Age In The Media

I will be discussing my initial ideas of how age is represented in the media. I'll be looking at two main age demographics firstly, being elderly people and young people.

Firstly I'll be looking at the representation of elderly people. Usually elderly people are represented as slow and not up to date with certain technology. They are usually represented as being useless in a way. This usually leads them to be represented in a TV show as a bit dim and isolated with whats going on. A good example of this is Abe Simpson from the Simpson's. Although the show is a comedy show it usually shows Abe, the old man, as being slow or dim and usually rambles on about things people don't care about. This creates a semi unfair representation as although some of these tropes can be true ,such as slow movement, some of these aren't true like the rambling on about uninteresting stories.

Young people are usually represented in the media as rebellious and menaces. The representation i've chosen is bart simpson. He is usually out and about without his parents' supervision and carries a lethal weapon with him, being a slingshot. This representation of the rebellious teen is always played with throughout all forms of media. Even in comic books with dennis the menace, who acts very similar to bart. Bart is also very cocky and energetic. These representations, although maybe not untrue in the sense that there are rebellious young people, creates this stereotype nether the less