REPRESENTATION OF AGE IN TV DRAMA Tom Wichmann

COMMON STEREOTYPES oMan in a mid-life crisis oMiddle aged woman clinging to her youthoRebellious teenageroMother to all figureoSenile old man

AGE Thanks to the media we live in a world obsessed with age, quick to judge people as too old or too young. Not one single age group has one set stereotype/representation and they can be portrayed in many different ways, both in a positive and a negative light. A good example of this is how teenagers can be portrayed, some are shown as hard working and good people where as there is also the complete opposite of of this.

Often with age comes knowledge and this is a commonly shown in many tv dramas

HOW IS AGE CHALLENGED? Often age stereotypes are challenged. An example of this is an older person not following the standard conventions set out and still follow their youth and do thing that would not typically their age group. A usual representation of this is a middle aged woman who is still actively seeks out sexual experiences

(mutton dressed as lamb) The older generation demand their age group to be more fairly represented in todays media

EXAMPLES OF CURRENT REPRESENTATIONS oSkins oEastEndersoHollyoaksoDoctor WhooWar and Peace

oGame of thronesoWalking deadoHolby city oDeath In paradise o Casualty

SOAP OPERAS This type of TV Drama play a huge roll in the representation of age since they have such a large grey population . This can allow some of the standard stereotypes to be left behind. In Soap operas old people have a humorous role with some frightening vulnerability. They bring a good balance to British television