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Where are real portrayals of women over 50 on screen? New study highlights dearth of leading roles
The Industry Oct 29, 2020
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Where are the leading roles for women over 50 in major movies? A new study finds that women of a certain age group are relegated to supporting roles in films – or are consistently portrayed as grumpy, frumpy or worse. The Ageless Test study, released Tuesday by TENA in partnership with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media at Mount Saint Mary’s University, reveals only 1 in 4 films passed what they call the Ageless Test.
The test examines whether women 50 or older are presented as having fully realized lives “rather than serving as scenery in younger people’s stories,” according to the study. In order to pass the Ageless Test: The film must have at least one female character who is 50+ who matters and is tied into the plot in such a way that their removal would have significant effect The character must be presented in humanizing ways and not reduce to ageist stereotypes
The study analyzed 2019’s top grossing films from the U.S., U.K., France and Germany. The results were sobering: No women over 50 were cast in leading roles in 2019’s top films, while two men over 50 were featured as leads. And when […]