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Care in Culture

Care is rarely shown on screen, and the care that is shown is narrow. This page holds two things: what the research found, and a catalog of works that do show a care situation.

What the research found

A study of every scripted broadcast, cable, and streaming TV show available in the U.S. in 2021 counted 608 shows. Just 64 had a storyline that prominently featured caregiving1.

When care did appear, 75% of storylines were about parenting. Care for older and disabled characters was rarely depicted1.

The same study found that common care challenges were often missing: financial strain, balancing care with a job or personal life, and the health effects on family caregivers. Everyday tasks such as helping someone shower, dress, or eat, and managing medication or bills, were largely absent. Fewer than 0.01% of episodes mentioned any public or workplace policy that characters relied on1.

An earlier analysis of 15 popular prime-time shows in 2019 found that depictions of caregiving for an older adult most often featured health care providers, not family members2.

The catalog

Each entry describes the care situation its source describes. It does not rate the work or its accuracy. The last column points to GiveCare reference pages for a caregiver in a similar situation.

Work Form Care situation shown Related pages
The Father (dir. Florian Zeller) Film Anthony, 80, lives alone and rejects the carers his daughter Anne brings in. Anne can no longer visit every day, and his memory and grip on reality are failing3. Dementia · Emotional wellbeing
The Savages (2007) Film A brother and sister learn that their father has dementia. One finds a nursing home near his own city; the other brings their father across the country to it4. Dementia · Navigation
Amour (2012) Film Georges and Anne are retired music teachers in their eighties. Their daughter lives abroad. After Anne has an attack, the couple's bond is severely tested5. Aging · Social support
This Is Us, season 4 Television Rebecca Pearson's memory declines. Her family is in conflict over her joining a clinical trial for Alzheimer's disease, and her sons Kevin and Randall hold different plans for her care2. Dementia · Navigation
Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020) Documentary Director Kirsten Johnson films her father as she begins to face losing him to dementia, staging the ways he might die6. Dementia · Emotional wellbeing
"I'm Not Gonna Miss You" (2014) Song Glen Campbell's last recorded song, written for the documentary Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me. Its lyrics came from something he said after his Alzheimer's diagnosis7. Dementia · Emotional wellbeing

In the viewer study of the This Is Us storyline, 720 viewers were surveyed about the two sons' plans and about planning for their own aging2.

How entries are chosen

  • A work is listed only when a captured source describes the care situation. The description stays within that source.
  • Entries describe the care situation without scoring it.
  • The catalog is small on purpose. It does not yet include a work centered on a paid care worker, a disabled adult, a child with complex needs, or a stage production. Candidates for those were held back because no source could be captured for them.

  1. Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and Caring Across Generations. "Making Care Pop: What We See and Don't See About Caregiving on TV." 2023. Source → ↩↩↩

  2. Hollywood, Health & Society, USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center. "Aging & Caregiving Studies." Source → ↩↩↩

  3. Sony Pictures Classics. "The Father." Source → ↩

  4. American Film Institute. "The Savages." AFI Catalog. Source → ↩

  5. Sony Pictures Classics. "Amour" press kit. 2012. Source → ↩

  6. The Criterion Collection. "Dick Johnson Is Dead." Source → ↩

  7. Flock E. "Glen Campbell's last song chronicled his struggle with Alzheimer's disease." PBS NewsHour, 2017. Source → ↩