Expendable and Abused with a Short Shelf-life
At the outset, let’s focus on shelf-life. I am not writing about a fresh-baked French baguette carried under an armpit, but about the lot of actresses on both sides of the Atlantic. Male actors have no expiry dates as exposed by the 2020 Academy Awards nominations. Four of the ten nominated actors are septuagenarians. On the other hand, the oldest female nominee is 72-year-old Kathy Bates in the best supporting actress category. As a result, the median age difference between men and women nominees is a whopping 21 years! At the Oscars, age bias has been a constant [1] , but in this period of Time’s Up , 21 years seem to be a provocation. If the male actor geriatric club is alive and kicking, leading roles for actresses over 70 are few and far between. Only Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren and Catherine Deneuve get a chance. Last week, on friends’ recommendations, I went to see the film Judy . As the name indicates, it is a...