Similarly, 80 for Brady (2023) starring Lily Tomlin (83), Jane Fonda (85), Rita Moreno (91), and Sally Field (76) proved that the appetite for silver screen legends is voracious.
The industry’s logic was brutally transactional: Cinema was obsessed with the male gaze, and the male gaze, culturally conditioned, was trained on youth and perceived fertility. A 2019 study by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that of the top 100 grossing films of the previous decade, only 13% of protagonists were women over 45. Furthermore, dialogue for older female characters was statistically shorter than for their male peers, often reduced to reactive sighs and exposition. Similarly, 80 for Brady (2023) starring Lily Tomlin