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How the Frances McDormand drama 'Nomadland' defies Hollywood ageism

How the Frances McDormand drama 'Nomadland' defies Hollywood ageism

Feb 21, 2021 1 min, 42 secs

But it is almost as unusual to see an American movie centered on an ordinary older woman, according to film historians and gender equity advocates — in this case, a fiercely independent wanderer named Fern, played by Oscar-winning actor Frances McDormand, 63.

“It is extremely rare to see a woman in her 60s in the lead role, especially one who is allowed to look her age on screen,” said Alicia Malone, a host on Turner Classic Movies who has written two books about women in cinema.

“Hollywood has historically been a very ageist place, certainly since it became a commercial business where men were at the helm and women were discarded once they got to a certain age,” said Malone, who recently co-hosted a TCM series spotlighting 100 movies directed by women.

“When we see older women, they’re in sideline roles with a lot of stereotypes around them and a lot of jokes being made at their expense,” Malone said.

In a report published in September, the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that only three of 2019’s top 100 movies featured a leading or co-leading role filled by a woman over 45, and only one of those roles went to a woman of color.

The previous year, USC researchers found that 11 of the top 100 movies featured a woman over 45 — whereas nearly a quarter (24 movies) featured a man over 45 in a leading or supporting part.

“We don’t have enough movies about women to begin with, let alone women over 45,” said Melissa Silverstein, the founder of Women and Hollywood, an organization that advocates for more inclusion in the film industry.

In an analysis published in January 2020, USC’s inclusion initiative found that just 13 of the 1,300 top-grossing movies released between 2007 and 2019 were directed by women from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups.

Nell Minow, a film critic and expert in corporate governance, said she believes there has been more cultural oxygen available to small-scale and women-led projects during the coronavirus pandemic because leading studios were forced to postpone the release of many male-driven blockbusters

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