Older Adults in Prime-Time Television Dramas in Taiwan: Prevalence, Portrayal, and Communication Interaction
Issue Date
2009-09Author
Lien, Shu-Chin
Zhang, Yan Bing
Hummert, Mary Lee
Publisher
Springer
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, author accepted manuscript
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
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.
Description
DOI: 10.1007/s10823-009-9100-3
Collections
Citation
Lien, S-C, Zhang, Y.B., & Hummert, M. L. (2009). Older adults in prime-time television in Taiwan: Prevalence, portrayal, and communication interaction. Journal of Cross Cultural Gerontology, 24, 355-372. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10823-009-9100-3
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