So much has been said and sung
of beautiful young girls, why doesn't somebody wake up
to the beauty of old women?" Harriet
Beacher Stowe *In the film The First Wives' Club, Goldie Hawn's
character, Elise, laments,"There are only three ages
for women in Hollywood: babe, district attorney, and Driving
Miss Daisy."
"I am not a complainer, but
I feel incredibly frustrated knowing that there's an unserved
audience that will come out to the right movie." Goldie Hawn, AARP Magazine March 2006
“I’m excited about getting older – the roles
are becoming more interesting. But it’s hard because
I’ll go up for a role that I’m the right age for
and they’ll want a 22-year-old. It’s insane!" Rosanna Arquette
“Society considers me discardable:
my opinions irrelevant, my needs comical and my tastes not
worth attention in the marketplace. What these thirty-year-old
executives don’t realize is
how impoverished their world is by focusing only on the limited
perspective of youth.” Doris Roberts of "Everyone Loves
Raymond
"Harvey Weinstein, the cofounder
of Miramax and head of the new company The Weinstein Company,
says Judi Dench was snubbed by three network talk shows
because of her age while promoting Mrs. Henderson Presents.
' They said she didn't fit their demographics. I told my
mother; who was pretty offended,' he said. 'I mean, what
do they think, 25-year-old people can't watch 70-year old
people? The insanity of youth. It also assumes none of
us like our families.' " New York Magazine
“Every so often, someone asks, ‘Why is she doing
so many movies?’ I just look at them and think, maybe
you don’t know that almost nobody makes it past 40 without
their career taking some kind of turn.” Nora Ephron
“My peer group was all panicked about turning 40. But
I sat with an actress friend the other day who is under 30
and who makes $10 million a picture and is concerned about
turning 30. So now it isn’t even 40 – it’s
30.” Ellen Barkin
“The great thing about getting older is that you don’t
lose all the other ages you’ve been.” Madeleine L’Engle
*“So much has been said and sung of beautiful young
girls, why doesn’t somebody wake up to the beauty of
old women?” Harriet Beecher Stowe
“Every time I think that I’m
getting old and gradually going to the grave, something
else happens." Lillian Carter
"We did FIRST WIVES CLUB,
and it netted around $250 million. It was a great success,
but they didn't want to do a sequel." Goldie Hawn, AARP Magazine March 2006
"Hawn believes that the huge
success of THE FIRST WIVES CLUB in 1996 proved that she
and her costars Diane Keaton and Bette Midler tapped into
a market of older females hungry to see screen characters
with whom they could identify. But the studios won't green-light
movies with actresses over 40 in the leading role, with
rare exceptions, such as Keaton's SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE,
a movie that got financed only because Jack Nicholson joined
the cast. The great screen actresses over 40 have been
all but sidelined. Even the mighty Meryl Streep, has had
to settle for plum supporting roles, as in PRIME and THE
MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE." Nancy Griffin AARP Magazine March 2006
"Since 1989 there has been only one woman over 40 that
has won the BEST ACTRESS OSCAR. That was Jessica Tandy for "Driving
Miss Daisy". Before that it was 1981 with Katherine Hepburn
winning for "On Golden Pond". So it has been over
15 years since a woman over 40 has won an Oscar for a leading
role." CBS Los Angeles Evening News January 2006
"There's no doubt that women in the entertainment world
find this frustrating and disheartening. But such marginalization
also ripples out to the rest of us. People of all ages, bosses
included, need to see women not just playing minor roles, such
as the background mom or quirky aunt, but with "360 degrees
of personality traits. If characters in pop culture are not
reflecting...women over 40, it makes it even easier for employers
to express biases - to put you into a little box based on gender
stereotypes." Janice Grackin, a social psychology professor at Stony Brook
University
"While 37% of all male roles
cast in television and film went to actors 40 and over,
just 24% of the female roles went to women in that age
group. When it came to lead roles, just 21% of the females
were more than 40, compared with the 34% of male leads
who were in their fourth decade and, in some cases, well
beyond. A statement issued by SAG, which has more than
96,000 members, said ageism remains a critical issue for
American performers." Nick Madigan, 1999
"If I were to speak only
about the images of older women in television, this would
be a very short presentation, since we are virtually invisible.
Several studies have been made of programming and I base
my observations on those studies and my own experience.
First, some demographic facts: the 50 plus age group is
the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population; the
net worth of seniors is 5 times greater than that of other
Americans; seniors control 48% of all discretionary spending.
And yet most US programming is directed at people between
the ages of 18 and 49." Speech by Marlene Sanders before the United Nations Division
for the Advancement of Women (DAW) - Expert Group
"Women 40 and older comprised
12% of all characters. In contrast, men 40 and older accounted
for 27% of all characters." Women on Screen and Behind the Scenes in the 2004-05 Prime
Time Season Dr. Martha M. Lauzen 2005
"Madison Avenue's preoccupation with youth doesn't fit
the real world, which is increasingly diverse and aged," said
David F. Poltrack, a CBS executive vice president at a AARP
seminar. "Business issues are negatively impacting the
portrayal of mature Americans on television...This doesn't
make good business sense, said Mr. Poltrack, who has worked
for CBS since 1969. "I've led research documenting that
older Americans have and spend more money and are as responsive
to advertising as the young."
"Researchers who have examined the representation of
age and gender in the media have found that men enjoy longer
and more vital screen lives than women do. The resulting double
standard allows substantial numbers of male characters to age
at least into their 40s, whereas many female characters remain
forever frozen in their 20s and 30s. Moreover, female characters
who do age into their 40s and beyond suffer more substantial
consequences than do their male counterparts, including diminished
mental and physical capacities" (Bazzini, McIntosh, Smith,
Cook, & Harris, 1997; Gerbner, Gross, Signorielli, & Morgan,
1980; Greenberg, Korzenny, & Atkin, 1980; Vernon, Williams,
Phillips, & Wilson, 1991).
Maintaining the Double Standard: Portrayals of Age and Gender
in Popular Films by Martha M. Lauzen , David M. Dozier
AGEISM IN HOLLYWOOD AND SOCIETY
The media has a powerful impact on the views of society.
"Nancy Griffin, our West
Coast editor, points out that the ageism in Hollywood may
hurt people in the industry more than it does the rest
of us. After all, we can simply choose not to go to the
movies if there's nothing to see. But those who work in
the movie industry get shoved aside as soon as they get
past a certain age." Steven Slon AARP Magazine 2005
"In our studies, we talked
to many women who anticipated having the same experience
that their mothers had, and some of them have had that
experience to a certain degree in their business environments
and in certain social environments -- the sense of being
in the room and not being noticed, and being overlooked
professionally. Certainly in terms of the media, you walk
to any magazine stand and you're very unlikely to see any
woman beyond her thirties on any cover anywhere. Or on
the evening news." Dr. Jimmy Laura Smull, "The Silver Pearl: Our Generation's
Journey to Wisdom" By Tim Miejan December 2005
"So many actors who are vital
and talented and have a lot to offer are under appreciated
because Hollywood is so obsessed with the youth market." Nancy Griffin AARP Magazine 2005
"Actors under 40 represented
73% of the roles, while those over 40 constituted 27%." SAG Data Report, 2004
"People under the age of 40 are favored in the entertainment
industry," SAG reported. "More than twice as many
roles were cast with actors who were under the age of 40
than actors who were 40 or over, although Americans who are
40 and over comprise 42 percent of the American population." Ageism in Hollywood by Clem Boyd and Roberta Rand
"This hearing addresses the issue of ageism and explores
how we can pro actively change cultural misperceptions of age
as we become a truly aging state...The hearing focused largely
on addressing ageism within the entertainment industry and,
more importantly, the potential for the industry to lead the
way in shaping our state's public perceptions about aging. " CALIFORNIA
INTEGRATED ELDER CARE AND INVOLVEMENT ACT OF 2001:
ADDRESSING AGEISM AND CHANGING OUR MISCONCEPTIONS OF AGING
(JOINT HEARING) -
California Senate Publications
"America is no place to age gracefully. Of course, basketball
players, dancers, and fashion models are finished young; mathematicians
and chess players peak early too. So do construction workers
and coal miners. Once you're 55, it's almost impossible to
find a job in business. But a new trend is emerging: In corporate
America, 40 is starting to look and feel old. Since the early
1980s big companies have been getting rid of people. For a
long time, though, seniority mattered. Hierarchy was respected
too. If people had to be fired, the younger, junior people
were usually the first to go. That's no longer true. The working
world has changed. It has become faster and more efficient
and, for many people, crueler. .. Companies today have less
and less tolerance for people they believe are earning more
than their output warrants. Such intolerance, or pragmatism,
hits older workers hardest. The older an employee, the more
likely it is he can be replaced by someone younger who earns
half as much. "For my salary the company could hire two
twentysomethings," says a 41-year-old we spoke to. "I'm
good at what I do. But am I better than two people? Even I
know that's not true." Today, for many people, the longer
you've been at one company, the more disposable you are. "Finished at Forty", Nina Monk
Fortune Magazine: Vol. 139, No. 2, February 1, 1999
"Increasingly what matters to companies is potential,
not experience; street smarts, not wisdom. "The traits
most commonly desired for the new world of work are flexibility,
acceptance of change, and the ability to solve problems independently--performance
attributes on which managers generally did not rate older workers
highly,"notes the AARP study. "The message is consistent:
Managers generally view older workers as less suitable for
the future work environment than other segments of the work
force." AARP Study 1999