American viewers over 50 would like to see more authentic portrayals of ageing on screen

A study conducted by the American private foundation NextFifty and the non-profit organization Geena Davis Institute of Gender and Media shows that the vast majority of American viewers above 50 years of age are not satisfied with the ways in which U.S. films and TV shows portray their age group. The study, published in 2021, evaluates viewers’ perceptions of representations of aging in entertainment media with a mixed-method approach: a representative opt-in survey of 1502 U.S. adults, and a content analysis of the ten top-grossing domestic films from 2010 to 2020 and the top 10 most popular television and streaming shows of the same period. The results of the survey indicate that only 25% of respondents over 50 perceive that screen media depict their age group accurately, against 42% of respondents between 18 and 49. Among the aspects that are less accurately represented, according to 50+ viewers, are love and sexual relationships, financial security, and retired life. Over 80% of 50+ respondents also express a concern that media are not aware of the degree in which their representations of older age are stereotyped. The survey suggests that, according to 50+ viewers, on-screen representation of ageing has improved since the 1990s. However, the content analysis shows that older characters are still under-represented in U.S. entertainment media – less than a quarter of all film and TV characters – and that gender-based biases are at play, as among 50+ characters, men are far more present on-screen than women. The study demonstrates that, when looked through an intersectional lens, cinema is the worst-performing medium, with only 1 out of 5 film characters above 50 being women, against 1 in 4 in broadcast and 1 in 3 in streaming TV. Moreover, when film directors cast 50+ women, these are more likely to play minor roles (20,4%), rather than supporting (18,7%) or leading ones (6,7%). Further research is needed to find out how European cinema compare to the U.S. in this regard.

Source: Geena Davis Institute of Gender and Media «Women over 50: the right to be seen on screen»: https://seejane.org/research-informs-empowers/women-over-50-report/