It’s no secret women are undervalued in almost every aspect of life, especially those who are in the middle-age spectrum. With that being said, that sexist behavior reflects perfectly in the way the media perceives matured women.
Where are the narratives about those women in their forties who are always backstage but never in the spotlight? We have amazing and talented women who could represent that huge part of society, but, once again, they are not being noticed, they are not being seen.
The actress Francis McDormand made an amazing act back in 2018, when she won the Oscars for Best Actress for the movie Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri!. At the end of her speech, she said the words “inclusion rider”. According to the law firm Cohen Milstein, an inclusion rider is a provision in an actor or filmmaker’s contract meant to promote diversity in the crew of the film casting or production, the agencies or the actors can use that as a way to promote and advance representation in the film industry. That obviously includes the diversity of gender, race and ethnicity, LGBTQIA+ individuals, age and disabled people. The contractor decides whether they’d like to engage in the matter or not.
Those middle-aged women are constantly reminded that their careers are coming to an end as they get older, because once they are not considered to be in their prime – which means, once they’ve lost their “youthful talent” – they’re not meant to be represented on the big screen anymore. Films are still, in 2024, made entirely to please the male gaze; in other words: made to objectify women.
According to San Diego State University Center for the Study of Women in Film & Television, only 15% of female characters were in their 40’s, meanwhile, the percentage of middle-aged male characters remained steady at 28%. Females over 60 are still unnecessarily underrepresented, with only 7% of all female characters. The representation of middle-aged women on screen matters, because it shapes the way society sees them and how those women see themselves.
“The tendency to feature younger female characters in films emphasizes the value of their youth and appearance at the expense of allowing females to age into positions of personal and professional power”, said Martha Lauzen, the executive director of the study mentioned above. “We see a handful of mature female actresses and assume that ageism has declined in Hollywood. But unless your last name happens to be Streep or McDormand, chances are you’re not working much in film”.
The protagonist of the new movie “Civil War” , Kirsten Dust, talked about ageism in Hollywood and how she has only been considered to play one kind of role: the sad mom.
The film industry makes it seem like women in their 40’s are fit to only represent mothers, grandmothers or side characters, not the romantic interest of anyone, and that reflects how those women in real life perceive themselves in the aspect of love, for example. There are no movies for them to relate to, so that means they’re not the target audience for that type of content.
Another big star vented about how she had stopped to receive the role of the protagonist in romcom’s: Anne Hathaway. “I received a lot of romantic scripts in my 20s, and then in my 30s, I was so focused on my family life and motherhood and trying to find whatever my path was going to be. I didn’t notice I hadn’t been sent a script in a long time”, said the actress who is currently staring as the romantic lead for the movie The Idea of You.
Women of all ages are capable of doing whatever they put their mind to. The more middle-aged women see themselves represented in the media as powerful ladies with powerful roles, the more these women will believe that they are still enough and will stand up for themselves. Aging shouldn’t be dreadful, but a privilege.
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The article above was edited by Anna Maria Prado.
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