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Original poster

To think that the idea that no one wants to watch middle aged women on TV/Film should be OVER

98 replies

littleripper · 11/05/2023 11:33

I was speaking to a man who works for Amazon streaming service yesterday and he was repeating the idea that no one wants to watch middle aged women, therefore no one invests in shows/films about them.

In the last year Happy Valley has been the stand out smash hit British TV show and Everything Everywhere All At Once did very well and took the awards. I challenged him and was told I was wrong and didn't know what I am talking about (which I don't)

I spoke to DD18 and DS 19 about it later and they both said that not only did they think I was right, but that the current reality TV choice in their groups was Race Across the World and everyone was rooting for the 2 middle aged women!

I am sure some of you do know what you are talking about. So am I unreasonable to suggest that if they make good quality TV starring women, people of all ages will watch and enjoy it?

OP posts:
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6
W0tnow · 11/05/2023 11:41

A thousand times yes.

And I also quite like to watch women play football, thanks very much.

thecatinthetwat · 11/05/2023 11:45

Totally agree. I love jean in sex education so much and I think greys anatomy gets better when the characters, esp women are older.

Tessisme · 11/05/2023 11:52

I'm watching 'The Stranger' on Netflix at the moment. It really is a load of old tosh (great for watching while I crochet though😊), BUT Siobhan Finneran is in it and she's fantastic - as usual. She's the reason I have persevered with it!!

Lesley Manville, of course, can do no wrong. She makes everything she is in, better.

But then I'm a middle aged woman myself so I'm biased.

melodypondisasuperhero · 11/05/2023 11:53

I will watch anything with Alex Kingston in it

LongRoadtoNowhere · 11/05/2023 11:56

Just wanted to say even though I absolutely love the two women in Race Across the World, I want the couple to win! I just want them to be my friends they seem so fun 😊 (I’ve not seen the final yet no spoilers please!)

We’ve been watching Beef on Netflix which centres around a 40 something year old woman and a late 30s man, great watch 👍🏼

Yamaya · 11/05/2023 11:56

Yellow jackets - superb and featuring really interesting and damaged middle aged women.

Sissynova · 11/05/2023 11:57

no one wants to watch middle aged women, therefore no one invests in shows/films about them

I can't see this to actually be true in the media though. There are plenty of shows and films including and about middle aged women.

Greenfinch7 · 11/05/2023 11:58

Better Things- a fantastic show about a woman in her late 50s- her aging mother is also an important (and fantastic) character.

GeriKellmansUpdo · 11/05/2023 11:59

Ageism is the last taboo. Especially in the case of women.

lljkk · 11/05/2023 12:01

Sissynova · 11/05/2023 11:57

no one wants to watch middle aged women, therefore no one invests in shows/films about them

I can't see this to actually be true in the media though. There are plenty of shows and films including and about middle aged women.

er, yeah. Not sure what OP is on about. Who was this guy who works for Amazon & why do you rate his opinions as influencing anyone ever ?

Silent Witness was top tv programme what... 30 years ago?

Ilovetea42 · 11/05/2023 12:01

I think people often want to watch things they see themselves represented in. I think men especially are prone to considering TV and film with female leads as 'women's shows' and dismissing them whereas women are more likely to consider TV and film with male leads as still just shows and still watching them, probably because women historically have been under represented in certain genres etc or fulfil very particular roles in those genres. I think the next generation are becoming more aware of this and are naturally more exposed to more inclusive media in general.

lljkk · 11/05/2023 12:05

I was telling my parents to look up As Time Goes by on Britbox, the other day. Was that early 1990s ? It's all about late middle-aged romance. Dench was born in '34.

Barbara Windsor on East Enders in the 1990s. She was born in '37. Yup, deffo proof right there that nobody ever wanted to watch middle aged women on TV, and that this prejudice existed has forever just like OP says decided to try to rile us.

Original poster
littleripper · 11/05/2023 12:06

It's a well known trope that no one will watch women's football (as PP said) or shows starring older women. But it is rubbish, imo. Here is an article from last year:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/03/hollywood-middle-aged-actresses-reese-witherspoon/621308/

With this quote: In 2012, two economists from Clemson University analyzed the gender balance of American films from 1920 to 2011 and offered a more wonkish take on the phenomenon. Overall, they found that men accounted for two-thirds of all roles in mainstream movies. For starring roles, however, age is everything. At 20, women play four-fifths of leads: Hollywood is very interested in them at their nubile prime. Fast-forward to 40, and that statistic is reversed. Men utterly dominate the juiciest parts. The male-female gender split then hovers around 80–20 until, well, death

Hollywood Discovers the Middle-Aged Woman

Thanks to the streaming wars, stars in their 40s are finally getting interesting roles.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/03/hollywood-middle-aged-actresses-reese-witherspoon/621308

OP posts:
travelingtortoise · 11/05/2023 12:07

"...he was repeating the idea that no one wants to watch middle aged women"

"I challenged him and was told I was wrong and didn't know what I am talking about "

Connecting the dots, I think the conclusion to draw here is less about whether middle-aged women belong on TV, and more about the fact you were talking to a wanker.

AtrociousCircumstance · 11/05/2023 12:08

Who is this jerk, and why were you in this conversation with him? He’s obviously wrong and it sounds like he was just spitting out his own little bit of vitriolic sexism. Probably enjoyed being demeaning.

OP posts:
Original poster
littleripper · 11/05/2023 12:10

AtrociousCircumstance · 11/05/2023 12:08

Who is this jerk, and why were you in this conversation with him? He’s obviously wrong and it sounds like he was just spitting out his own little bit of vitriolic sexism. Probably enjoyed being demeaning.

A friends brother - 7 years at the BBC, 4 at C4 and now 4 at Prime. Very experienced and yes, a knob.
But this is a well recognised problem.

OP posts:
Sissynova · 11/05/2023 12:10

OP who the hell was this 'man from amazon' you were talking to? This sounds like a really weird scenario.

Sissynova · 11/05/2023 12:12

littleripper · 11/05/2023 12:10

A friends brother - 7 years at the BBC, 4 at C4 and now 4 at Prime. Very experienced and yes, a knob.
But this is a well recognised problem.

Show quote history

Are these supposed to be credentials though? Man works for amazon prime and previously the bbc and is a dick. Like, so? No one thinks where he works adds any credibility to his opinions.

Original poster
littleripper · 11/05/2023 12:12

Sissynova · 11/05/2023 12:10

OP who the hell was this 'man from amazon' you were talking to? This sounds like a really weird scenario.

😂He is a man, who works for Amazon

OP posts:
OP posts:
GeriKellmansUpdo · 11/05/2023 12:13

I don't think the OP is being goady.

JoanJettsMullet · 11/05/2023 12:13

Not scripted fiction but middle-aged women on Taskmaster have been brilliant and hilarious - Liza Tarbuck, Jo Brand, Sally Phillips, Bridget Christie, etc.

So much more entertaining than the twatty Ed Gamble/James Acaster competitive lad types. Yawn.

OP posts:
JuneShitfield · 11/05/2023 12:15

I think TV is a broader canvas than movies, especially Hollywood movies, for this. It's increasingly common to see middle-aged women leading (or being a main part of an ensemble cast) in big TV shows: Sarah Lancashire in Happy Valley, Gillian Anderson in Sex Education, Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates in American Horror Story, Olivia Colman and Imelda Staunton in The Crown, Glenn Close in Damages and The Shield, Viola Davis in How To Get Away With Murder, Nicole Kidman in The Undoing, Sally Field in Brothers & Sisters.

Cinema is less good, I think. Although getting better; as you say, EEAAO was a massive hit both commercially and critically, and starred Michelle Yeoh (60) and Jamie Lee Curtis (64). The recent Halloween trilogy (also starring Curtis) and The Woman King (Viola Davis) were pretty big hits in cinemas too.