We are living in the golden age of the mature female performer. From the Oscar-winning fury of The Father (Olivia Colman) to the quiet revolutionary Past Lives (Yuh-Jung Youn), the industry has realized a simple, profitable truth:
Female characters over 50 are vastly underrepresented, making up only of all 50+ characters in film. The "40 Drop": Roles for women drop sharply as they age, with only of female characters in their 40s compared to in their 30s. Stereotyping:
Historically, cinema struggled with what to do with the aging female body. If a woman wasn't a sexual object, she was often a prop—wise, sexless, and singularly focused on the younger protagonists.
Older women are often pigeonholed into clichés like the "feeble grandmother," the "senile" elder (portrayed 4x more often than men in similar roles), or the "shrew". Ageism & "Invisible Labor":