Lingnan University Digital Commons @ Lingnan University Theses & Dissertations Department of Sociology and Social Policy 10-2003 Images of older persons in Hong Kong popular films Nga Man WONG Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.ln.edu.hk/soc_etd Part of the Gerontology Commons Recommended Citation Wong, N. M. (2003). Images of older persons in Hong Kong popular films (Master's thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.14793/soc_etd.25 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. Terms of Use The copyright of this thesis is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved. IMAGES OF OLDER PERSONS IN HONG KONG POPULAR FILMS WONG NGA MAN MPHIL LINGNAN UNIVERSITY OCTOBER 2003 IMAGES OF OLDER PERSONS IN HONG KONG POPULAR FILMS by WONG Nga Man A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy Lingnan University October 2003 ABSTRACT Images of Older Persons in Hong Kong Popular Films by WONG Nga Man Master of Philosophy Film watching is a popular leisure activity in modern society. Films, as a medium, provide powerful tools to deliver social messages and to create images of particular social groups. The cinematic images portrayed by films toward a particular social group may consequently shape our social perceptions and expectations of that social group. The ways that cinematic images portray older persons are, therefore, a potentially major source for detecting social values and views about them. As some cinematic images tend to reflect social attitudes and behaviours, the present research aimed at investigating how popular films portray the images of older persons. Focus was on the examination of: 1) the representation of older persons in Hong Kong movies, 2) whether older persons are positively or negatively portrayed in movies, and 3) any changes in the cinematic images of older persons over the last two decades. The present research examined Hong Kong movies released between 1981 and 2001. The population of the present study is the most popular Hong Kong movies, based on the turnover of the Hong Kong ticket offices. The sampled films were derived from the three highest-turnover movies for each year from 1981 to 2001. Content analysis was employed in this study to determine the representation and images of older persons in the 63 sampled movies. Generally speaking, older persons were found to be under-represented in the sampled movies relative to their presence in the population. Older persons were portrayed as having white hair, wrinkle skin, and walk independently in terms of physical appearance. Older persons were also portrayed as having generally good health status. However, older persons were portrayed to have a decline in both family status and socio-economic status in the 1990s as compared to that of the 1980s. In terms of occupation, most older persons were portrayed as retired persons in the movies. Apart from these features, the present research also found that there was a gender differences in the portrayal of older persons. Many older persons were depicted in the movies in the home setting, perhaps reinforcing traditional Asian family values and stereotypes. However, this perhaps underplays older persons’ active roles and contributions in the light of such current concepts as productive and active aging. There is a temporal division in that older persons in many movies of the 1980s were portrayed as more home-based while, in the 1990s, they were becoming more actively involved in external activities. I declare that this thesis 《Images of Older Persons in Hong Kong Popular Films》is the product of my own research and has not been published in any other publications. WONG Nga Man October 2003 Table of Contents Abstract Table of Contents i List of Tables iii Acknowledgements iv Chapter One: Introduction 1 Demographic Ageing: A Worldwide Phenomenon………………………… 2 Research on Older Persons’ Images in Western Societies…………………. 7 Research on Older Persons in Hong Kong…………………………………. 8 Images of Older Persons in the Media……………………………………... 9 Film Watching……………………………………………………………… 11 Purpose of Study……………………………………………………...……. 14 Significance of the Present Research………………………………………. 15 Research Questions………………………………………………………… 15 Organization of the Thesis…………………………………………………. 17 Chapter Two: Literature Review 18 Stereotypes of Older Persons………………………………………………. 18 Social Perceptions towards Older Persons in Western Society………….… 20 A Theoretical Review of Negative Stereotype towards Older Persons… .… 21 Changing Perceptions towards Older Persons……………………..………. 27 Images of Older Persons in Various Mass Media Sources…………………. 28 Beliefs of Older Persons in Modern Asian Culture………………………… 35 Research on Older Persons in Hong Kong…………………………………. 36 Chapter Three: A Framework for the Analysis 42 A Brief Description of Modernization Theory……………………………... 42 Causal Linkages of Modernization-Related Factors to Ageing Problem… ... 46 Research Supporting Modernization Theory… ……………………………. 48 The Modernization Process in Hong Kong………………………………… 49 Chapter Four: Research Design and Methodology 61 Population and the Sample of Films……………………………………….. 61 Research Method…………………………………………………………… 65 Measurement……………………………………………………………….. 67 i Chapter Five: A General Profile of the Sampled Movies and a Brief Description of the Older Characters Portrayed 77 General Profile of the Sampled Movies……………………………………. 78 A Brief Description of the 88 Identified Older Characters………………… 80 Chapter Six: Findings: the Representation and Portrayal of Older Persons in Hong Kong Movies 102 Research Question 1: Are Older Persons Under-represented in Hong Kong Movies?………………………………………………………………….. 102 Research Question 2: How are Older Persons Portrayed in Hong Kong Movies and are there Any Gender Difference in the Portrayals?……………………………………………………………….. 110 Research Question 3: Have there Been Any Changes in the Cinematic Images of Older Persons During the Period Early 1980s to the Later 1990s?…………………………………………………………………… 121 Summary Remarks…………………………………………………………. 124 Chapter Seven: Discussion 126 Under-representation of Older Persons…………………………………….. 126 Gender Differences in the Portrayal of Older Persons’ Images……………. 131 Changing Status among Older Persons… ……………………….…………. 132 Practical Implications………………………………………………………. 135 Theoretical Implications of the Study.……………………………………. 138 Chapter Eight: Conclusions 141 Limitations and Recommendations for Further Study……………………... 143 Appendix I: Reviewed List of Hong Kong Journal of Gerontology 146 Appendix II: Synopses of the 63 Sampled Movies 157 Bibliography 183 ii List of Tables Table 1.1 Hong Kong’s Older Population (aged 65 or above), 1961-2031 4 Table 1.2 Hong Kong: Selected Vital Statistics, 1961-2031 5 Table 1.3 Hong Kong: Proportion by Age Groups (%), 1961-2031 6 Table 3.1 Working Population by Industry, 1981-2001 (%) 53 Table 3.2 Labour Force Participation of Older Persons, 1981-2001 (%) 54 Table 3.3 Educational Attainment by Age Group, 1981-2001 (%) 57 Table 3.4 Household Composition by Broad Area, 1981-2001 (%) 58 Table 3.5 New Town Population, 1991 and 2001 (%) 60 Table 5.1 Characters by Age and by Gender 105 Table 5.2 Role Prominence by Character Age (%) 106 Table 5.3 Role Prominence by Character Age and by Gender (%) 107 Table 5.4 Occupation of Older Persons 117 Table 5.5 Physical Appearance by Gender (%) 118 Table 5.6 Images of Older Characters by Gender (%) 119 Table 5.7 Occupation by Gender (%) 120 Table 5.8 Status of Older Characters by Year (%) 122 Table 5.9 Occupation by Year of Film (%) 123 iii Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to my two supervisors. My chief-supervisor, Prof. David R. Phillips provided me valuable advice and guidance throughout my study. His encouragement and patience made the completion of this thesis possible. Under his supervision, I have a great exposure to my area of study. Apart from that, I would like to thanks Prof. Phillips for giving me a chance to present my initial findings at an overseas conference, which was invaluable experience for my study. Dr. Kenneth Wing-kin Law, my directed research project supervisor and co-supervisor of my MPhil study, has advised me and encouraged me during my study in Lingnan. He has helped me greatly in clarifying many conceptual and methodological issues in this thesis. His enthusiastic support, pleasant and understanding has given me confidence to complete my study. Without his support and guidance, this thesis would not be completed in a valuable way. It is Dr. Law who encouraged me to participant in an overseas conference which had broadened my horizon in the field of Sociology. I am also indebted to Dr. Annie Hau-nung Chan, Dr. William Keng-mun Lee and Dr. Peter Baehr for their valuable comments on my thesis. I am also grateful to Miss Sabrina Hiu-wai Ng, my best friend since our undergraduate days. Her enthusiastic help and emotional support are beyond description. She is the person with whom I shared thoughts and she helped me with many difficulties. Also, I would like to thanks Sabrina for providing me the initial idea to research this interesting topic. My thanks also go to Miss