23 January
Blog 4: thirty six
emmmmmmmmmmmm. Just watched Greys Anatomy. Good stuff. Blood Gore al la ER but much prettier people. And fake Seattle films better than fake Chicago.
But something other than the plot came to my attention. Maybe it was because good tv (or at least tv with high viewing figures) attracts advertisers or because good TV attracts cameo's from actors who haven't done much on the big screen lately throwing in a cameo so are so much older than the regular cast... but I noticed no one seemed to be over 36. Maybe it was seeing the likes of actors the quality and age of Bernadette Peters, Kathy Baker and Mariette Hartley made me realise that for most of the evening that the goggle box was on i hadn't seen anyone over 36 on TV.
Must watch less Living channel!
But once you are aware of it... look and see.... all those ads... holiday in Wales, buy a renault, wash your hair with pantene, brush your teeth with macleans,lose weight with lighter life, spread your toast with clover, buy jeff buckley album,or even sloosh your gums with corsodyl daily... images of people 36 or younger.
Yep advertisers will push it and give you the Renault man... mid 30's enough to have wealth and a sense of self but far away enough from any taint of middle age. TV will push it enough to give us Ms Peters, Baker and Hartley... once they have insulated us with an ensemble cast of such lovelies as Katherine Heigl, Chyler Leigh and Ellen Pompeo to assure us that the REAL story is about the quandaries of youth rather than anything the special guest stars may have to do. (Besides they'll be out of the story soon like all guest stars!)
No don't get me wrong I think under 36 is JUST GREAT... if anyone thinks I'm watching Grey Anatomy for any other reason than Justin Chambers (well okay I do think I could handle him AND Eric Daneon the same night...oh lord give me the opportunity!) ..then they are a fool.... BUT don't you think it is odd that for the first time in human history the numbers of over 36' s on this planet of ours exceeds the unders... and yet?... we've never been so youth obsessed.
We shriek and run from anything..anything at all that may make us think we may exceed 36 years old. We claim no knowledge of or give no value to events that happened before the early 80's! The girls I work with often say "oh well that happened before I was born' with such a dismissive shrug... like there is no purpose or worth in anything that pre-dates them.
How did this happen?
We are living in a world that never as much as before needs to look at it's past to plan for it's future. After all are we not fighting the Gulf war again (so soon after the last one?)... did we forget we did it already... or was it in the past so it was forgotten! We middle agers have contributions to make still - we are still vibrant, we are still active and we are still living! And yet I don't seem to see us or hear us anywhere much.
We have more people than ever before... this isn't because more are being born ...it is because more are living longer. And yet there is little representation of this. Not just on TV... but EVERYWHERE... just try and buy a chick-lit book to read on the train home. Find me a heroine over 36?... Can't be done! Or maybe a magazine... nope, they give advise on everything from sex to fashion to rows with your best mate.... providing your are no older than 36... if you make the mistake of picking up a general womans mag and you are over 36 be prepared to find EVERY article reflecting where you were a decade or more ago. Wanna pop to the movies...watch a rom-com maybe?... unless Diane Keaton is in it playing someones mom...same problem!
It's a mighty achievement that people are living longer - we as a species should be proud. But that is so not the case. It's almost like we are ashamed . We don't wish to be reminded of our elders.
What is odd is women like me in our 40's are aging in a climate where ageing has actually become a taboo. We can't go to our mothers for advise on this issue as they never experienced getting older in this climate..they were not expected to be pre child bikini perfect , have faboo style , brilliant careers, scorching hot sex lives, brilliant relationships and the face of a mid thirties woman for the rest of their lives. But we are... or we must become invisible. After all WHERE are the genuinely grey haired mob? Have you seen one lately?
Certainly not on my TV.
Not tonight anyway.
Unless... every one was actually older than 36 BUT were looking younger than their years. No that can't be natural?... not for THAT amount of people surely! Ageing well naturally is a minority thing... the reward to people like me who were always having to produce ID to get a pint until they were 30! Pay back for not being allowed into higher certificate films, for being refused entry into clubs cause I looked like a kid. This is MY time. You can't tell me EVERYONE is now looking younger than their age? That would involve large scale cheating! not fair... all our elder women shooting their foreheads with botox? all our elder men weaving hair over middle aged balding heads and having their moobs reduced? everyone dressing like they are about to appear in a Gap commercial? NO WAY! they can't sucker everyone into playing the game of being 36 or younger?.. No that's not it at all. I think the older people are being marginalised...hidden from view.
I think there is a rule ... 36 is as old we can accept.
So chick lit, TV, Rom-coms and advertising don't cater for older than that... however there is rebellion afoot... if you are a crazy nana who wants to knit some breakfast cereal of course! What WOULD we do without Shreddies eh?
Do you think they'll get their own show anytime soon?
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