Successful Images of Successful Ageing? Representations of Vigorous Elderly People in a Swedish Educational Television Programme

Abstract

The dominant discourse concerning older people used to be one of decline and loss. Lately, however, representations of old age have tended to be more diverse and two paradigms have been introduced – one framing enfeeblement and one framing new, positive roles for older people, conceptualized as successful ageing. The present article demonstrates how repre - sentations of vigorous elderly people are construed in the programme VeteranTV , produced by UR, Swedish educational television. Part of the aim of VeteranTV was to enhance the image of life after 65 in an anti-ageist spirit. The article discusses the images of vigorous elderly people with respect to their emphasis on sameness or difference, their age-coding, the discourses and subject positions emphasized in them, and not least, their possible ageism.