: Women were often relegated to supporting "matriarch" roles or caricature-like "eccentric" characters, losing the complexity afforded to younger leads.

recently received widespread acclaim and major award nominations for her role. Television as a Haven

: Despite successes, a 2026 study found that lead roles for women in top-grossing films hit a seven-year low in 2025. Alarmingly, in that same year, not a single top-100 film featured a woman of color aged 45 or older in a leading role.

Focuses on aesthetic and narrative techniques of "age affirmation". Bloomsbury / Tidsskrift Revealing Gendered Ageism