I keep leaving blogging until the last minute, because I forget I've decided to blog every day this month. By the end of the day, I have TOO MANY thoughts flying through my head, and I don't know where to even start laying them down. Or if I want to commit to the time it would take to go into them.
So I'll go with the easy and mention that Liz and I watched The Oranges, which we've wanted to watch for MONTHS, and it was so weirdly good! It stars Hugh Laurie, who gets sexier with age, and he sleeps with his best friend/neighbor's daughter. That's the story. HAHAHA. And it was so confusing, because a) Hugh Laurie, and b) everyone was ridiculous and sad and understandable. I love narratives that refuse to paint people as villains or heroes, but instead tell stories realistically and painfully.
Painfully funny, too. This movie does awkward like nothing. It was so wonderful. I have no opinions about it because it played spin the bottle with my moral compass, so I need time to digest and process.
Alright, that's a good couple paragraphs. Done.
It has Allison Janney?? I love her! Sold. (I fully intend to be Allison Janney by the time I am 40.)
ReplyDeleteThis movie (based on the trailer) does bring up a complaint that I was thinking about the other day: Why do actresses have a much earlier expiration date than actors? Why can a man be a romantic lead through at least his 50s, but he's so often paired with a woman in her 20s?
This also came up in the plot of My Weekend with Marilyn, in which Lawrence Olivier casts young Marilyn Monroe opposite himself because his wife, Vivien Leigh, is "too old." (Bad idea. Seriously, did he not pay attention to Gone with the Wind and all that stuff about a woman scorned? And this is not a spoiler because it's a minor movie plot point, but it's the storyline I thought was the most interesting.)
Allison Janney is FABULOUS in the film!
ReplyDeleteI will defend The Oranges by saying it's not exactly a romance movie, so I think the rules are a bit different. I'm trying to imagine the story if it were the mom and a neighbor's son. Probably, yeah, most of it would be the same, but they are kind of playing off the stereotypical "midlife crisis with a younger woman" idea. I dunno. You're right, really, I just want to defend Hugh Laurie even though he doesn't need my defense.
HOWEVER, I have a nifty website you will LOVE, with graphs and stuff. Here!
http://www.vulture.com/2013/04/leading-men-age-but-their-love-interests-dont.html
Okay, you're right; that was not the best example. Maybe House? Or I was thinking about putting Richard Gere as an example, but then I didn't have this handy chart-thing, which is AWESOME, btw. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThis pretty well illustrates the stigma against women who *gasp* age. I had a conversation a while back with a male friend where I was complaining about pressure to get married, and he said he couldn't see himself settling down for quite a while. Me: "But you're a guy!" Him: "What, are you saying that it's different for women?" Yup.
ReplyDelete(And I have nothing against decade-plus gaps in relationships as long as everyone is of age and mature and all that, but when women lose a lot more value in the eyes of society as they age -- which I feel that they still do, despite all the progress we've been making lately -- it's a problem, and really intimidating for a single young woman who's trying to think about what my life should look like over the next few decades.)
Sometimes when I read your words, I feel like I'm soft-shoe tapping, pinwheeling my arms, and singing, "I agree, I agree, I agreeee!"
ReplyDeletePersonally, YES. Oh look, I have wrinkles under my eyes. Now men DEFINITELY won't find me attractive. Oh look, my metabolism is slowing down. Guess I'm doomed to a lifetime of a) forced singleness, or b) feeling like a pity-wife. In more clear-headed moments, I realize that this is not the case (OR SHOULDN'T BE), but then I watch movies, and it all comes back.
I think media is starting to appreciate older women, but often it's in a "BAMF Grandma!" way, i.e. Betty White, Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, etc. Not so much in a sexually attractive way.
I'm trying to think of examples in which an older woman (either older than the male lead, or simply age appropriate) was portrayed as sexy but not predatory, and I'm coming up with...Sandra Bullock in The Proposal.
Definitely progress to be made.