No Oscars For Old Women

Streep and Bullock tie at the BFCA

2010-01-16T14:54:00.001-08:00

Meryl Streep, 60, and Sandra Bullock, 45, tied for the Best Actress prize at the Broadcast Film Critics Association for their work in Julie and Julia and The Blind Side respectively. They might not be worth of their wins but at least the ladies gave a great show for the audience!

A big congratulations is also due for Kathryn Bigelow and her film The Hurt Locker which won Best Director and Best Film.

See all the winners here.

Phenominal Pfeiffer

2010-01-15T00:13:00.000-08:00

(Michelle Pfeiffer in Cheri)

In a just world, Michelle Pfeiffer's final scene in Cheri alone should secure her an Oscar nomination. I really do wonder what Mirimax was thinking by dumping that film in the Summer considering much lesser performances are headed for nominations just due to their strategic release dates. The film is definitely subpar but Pfeiffer's performance is pitch perfect.

And Who Am I?

2010-01-11T16:21:00.001-08:00

I'm a user, a boozer and a loo-zer.

Actually, I'm just a 24 year old film fan from Florida going to graduate school in Buffalo, NY. I spent my entire youth watching films on TV and, when we had the money, going to the theater. Basically, I was raised by HBO and occasionally babysat by Cinemax.

It wasn't until my late teens that I became something of a cinephile (through Horror films). The two films in particular that shifted my point-of-view from DTV slasher sequels to quality filmmaking were John Carpenter's Halloween and Ridley Scott's Alien. These two films remain in my top 5 of all time and laid the groundwork for my preeminent cinematic interest; aging women on film.

But wait! There are no aging women in those films?! I know, but by the time I discovered them and become enamored with their stars, Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver were well into their 40's and 50's. As I began to devour the filmographies of these two stars it became clear to me that their careers started to wane in their midlife.

I chalked this up to the perils of Hollywood's obsession with youthful women and figured there was little that could be done about it. As I began to take film and feminism courses in college, however, I became more actively interested in critical writing about ageism and sexism in film. I am in the process of completing my MA thesis on the effects of media saturation of celebrities and the aging actress as read through Walter Benjamin's "Works of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction."

This blog will be a venue for my thoughts and writings on age, popular cinema, and feminism. My opinions might not always be popular (for example: my next post) but hopefully they will be entertaining and, more importantly, thought provoking.