Ageism Tropes

By Ted Rall

An index related to tropes about discrimination against people based on their age.

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Categories:

• Age Dissonant Index
• Child Abuse Tropes

Age Neutral (some of these can fall also in the Against Elders category below)

• Age-Appropriate Angst: A character's age determines what is appropriate for them to angst over.
• Age-Gap Algebra: Using calculator math to determine the "appropriateness" of an age difference in a relationship.
• Age-Gap Romance: Age differences between romantic partners are subject to societal stigma.
• Age-Inappropriate Dress: Age dictates how a character dresses.
• Age Insecurity: A character feels insecure over their age, which can very much be due to ageist stereotyping and discrimination.
• Age Is Relative: Competent people are depicted as physically mature while incompetent people are shorter and undeveloped.
• Age-Stereotypical Food: A character is thought of as immature or childish for being a Picky Eater.
• Animation Age Ghetto: The belief that animation is exclusively a children's medium.
• Artistic Age: Characters aren't depicted in fiction the same way they look in real life.
• Competence Zone: Only certain age groups are portrayed as competent and intelligent while everyone else is weak and stupid.
• Entertainment Above Their Age: A character enjoying entertainment for an older demographic is considered unusual.
• Entertainment Below Their Age: A character enjoying entertainment for a younger demographic is considered unusual.
• Fictional Age of Majority: Characters are forced to experience a turning point at a certain chronological age.
• Growing Up Sucks: Social norms dictate the things people can no longer do as a result of getting older.
• Improbable Age: A character's age determines the appropriateness of their occupation.
• Kids Versus Adults: A setting where the child characters face a rivalry with the adult characters.
• Milestone Birthday Angst: A character suffers displeasure from reaching a certain birthday due to the negative connotations associated with that age.
• Mistaken Age: Assuming someone's age based on stereotypical factors.
• Music/Age Dissonance: A character's age determines the appropriateness of their music taste.
• Not Growing Up Sucks: A character is treated younger just because they haven't aged physically, much to their chagrin.
• Really Was Born Yesterday: A seemingly unwise character is mocked as having been born recently, but it turns out they really are chronologically that young.
• Still Believes in Santa: Believing in Santa Claus past a certain age is considered immature.
• Too Old to Trick-or-Treat: A character is deemed too old to go trick-or-treating on Halloween.
• While You Were in Diapers: Boasting about a young-age accomplishment when your foe was still learning at that age.

Against Elders

• Adult Hater: A character who hates adults.
• Aging Would-Be Hipster: A middle-aged (not necessarily "old" in an objective and literal sense) or elderly character tries to break the stereotype that old people can't be hip.
• Children Are Special: Children have special powers that are lost on adults or adolescents.
• Double Standard: Violence, Child on Adult: The same kind of violence an adult would inflict upon children is seen as acceptable for children to inflict upon adults.
• Elder Abuse: Old people are physically harmed.
• Elder Employee: (When Played for Drama) The older employees/eldest employee at a job is discriminated against due to their age (having them is a liability, they're incompetent at the job, etc).
• Embarrassed by a Child: A child, often accompanied by a parent/guardian and in a public setting, makes another character feel embarrassed by sticking their nose in their business and criticizing them, with the parent usually taking the child's side. Notice how most of the victims tend to be adults or teenagers.
• Games of the Elderly: Stereotypical old person games, such as bingo.
• Historical Longevity Joke: A character's age is joked about by an exaggerated or misunderstood perception of their time.
• Hollywood Mid-Life Crisis: Middle-aged people have stereotyped and exaggerated aging trauma in fiction.
• Manchild: An adult character is seen as immature for having interests associated with children/teenagers.
• Needlework Is for Old People: Sewing is considered a hobby exclusively for old people.
• Old Maid: Woman is deemed too old to find a husband.
• Old People are Nonsexual: The stereotype that libido dies as you approach old age.
• Only Fatal to Adults: Something that only harms adults that children are immune to.
• Pulling Your Child Away: Someone is marked as an outcast when a parent pulls their child away from them even if the person did nothing wrong. Another trope where most of the victims are adults or teens.
• Rambling Old Man Monologue: A stereotype to portray old folks as cranky.
• Reluctant Retiree: A character is mandated to retire against their will despite their competence.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: The misguided belief that being old makes a person self-entitled.
• Technologically Blind Elders: Old people are not up-to-date with the latest tech.
• Teenage Wasteland: Kids with power rule over adult society.
• There Are No Adults: Adult characters are absent in a setting inhabited by kids.

Against Youth

• Adults Are Useless: Adult characters are portrayed as utterly unhelpful to the youth and even abuse their experience to look down upon them.
• Best Years of Your Life: A parent lies to their child about their youth being an ideal time, even when the child is facing serious struggles.
• Child Hater: A character who hates children.
• Children Are a Waste: Having kids is considered useless.
• Dog Got Sent to a Farm: A parent lies to a child about the fate of their lost pet, believing them too young to know the truth.
• Dreaded Kids' Table: An older child is forced to eat at the little kids' table during dinner.
• From the Mouths of Babes: The social stigma dictating what children shouldn't know at a certain age and should be censored from.
• Fun-Hating Confiscating Adult: An adult character who takes sadistic pleasure in taking away kids' fun.
• Harmful to Minors: Something harms underage characters but adults are immune.
• Inflation Negation: The older generation complain about the increasing prices of the economy and brag to the new generation about how things were cheaper back then.
• Just a Kid: A character has their abilities doubted simply based on their youth.
• Juvenile Hell: Juvenile detention centers in fiction are abusive to kids when in reality they are supposed to rehabilitate them.
• Kiddie Kid: A child is stigmatized for having interests associated with much younger children.
• Kids Are Cruel: Children are stereotyped as malicious beings.
• Miss Conception: Lying to children about human reproduction on the perceived ground that they're too young to know the truth.
• Most Writers Are Adults
• Nostalgia Filter: The belief that things of the past are superior to similar things of the present.
• Not Now, Kiddo: When a child is dismissed simply because they're a kid.
• Older Is Better: Things created in past ages are considered better than things today.
• Parent-Induced Extended Childhood: A parent prevents their offspring from maturing or even aging.
• Really 17 Years Old: A minor has to lie about their age to escape the stigma of being underage.
• Sex Miseducation Class: One of the justifications teachers have for teaching their pupils lies about sex or limiting their knowledge is the account that they're too young.
• Teen Hater: A character who hates teenagers.
• Teens Are Monsters: Teenagers are stereotyped as dangerous people.
• Totally 18: A work emphasizes on a young character being of the legal age for an adult act, with the audience in disbelief due to the character's youthful appearance.
• Totally Radical: Failed attempts at using slang to appeal to young people.
• TV Teen: Fiction portrays teenagers unrealistically.
• When I Was Your Age...: The older generation looks down upon today's youth for having it differently than them.
• Would Hurt a Child: A character would willingly harm a child.
• You Meddling Kids: Villains blame the young characters for catching them committing an unlawful act.
• Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb: Young people are considered stupid.

Archetype Stereotypes

• Annoying Younger Sibling: A bratty and childish sibling who's a pest to their older sibling.
• Big Brother Bully: Older siblings are always portrayed as mean to their younger counterparts.
• Bratty Half-Pint: A whiny and immature child.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: A stuck-up, obnoxious drama queen of a teenage daughter.
• Childish Tooth Gap: Immature characters are depicted with a gap in their teeth.
• Deliberately Cute Child: A child uses their endearing nature as a manipulation tactic.
• Dumbass Teenage Son: An adolescent son of a family who's stupid, weak, immature and incompetent.
• Emo Teen: Teenagers are the most expected to conform to the emo subculture, due to stereotypes that they're whiny, angsty, hormonal, and lost for identity.
• Grumpy Old Man: An old man who is cranky.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: A teenager who is impulsed by their sex drive.
• Kids Hate Vegetables: Children stereotypically have an immature disgust for vegetables.
• Little Jimmy: A young character with no awareness of a subject they are talking about.
• Little Miss Snarker: A young girl with a sassy attitude.
• Mouthy Kid: Children who act like they know everything.
• Old Windbag: An old character rambles to their young chagrins while on an adventure.
• Phoneaholic Teenager: A teenager who obsessively uses their phone.
• Scatterbrained Senior: An absentminded senior citizen.
• Scratchy-Voiced Senior: An old person with a scratchy voice.
• Smitten Teenage Girl: Teenage girls are portrayed with exaggerated crushes that make them act weird.