In “The Idea of You,” Anne Hathaway performs a 40-year-old single mother who will get swept up in a romance with a 24-year-old boy-bander.
Curiously, what struck many viewers of the Prime rom-com was how Hathaway had one way or the other stopped the onslaught of time as a result of she doesn’t appear like a brittle outdated lady at her superior age of 41.
“Ok this movie is cute but Anne Hathaway is not believable as a 40-year-old mother of a teenager,” one individual tweeted.
“No one is going to believe Anne Hathaway is 40 I mean come on!?” one other tweeted.
“It is 2001. Hollywood is trying to convince you Anne Hathaway is ugly,” one individual tweeted alongside a nonetheless from the “Princess Diaries” and a photograph from “The Idea of You.” “It is 2024. Hollywood is trying to convince you Anne Hathaway is old.”
What precisely is a 40-year-old lady alleged to appear like? A “Golden Girl”?
In response, a lot of posts cropped up on Threads and X, previously known as Twitter, the place ladies over 40 shared selfies to dispel the concept that 40 is the tip of the road in the case of intercourse attraction. (Some males participated within the pattern, too.)
“If you’re over 40, post a pic. People need to see we’re not old and gray,” the caption to many of the posts learn.
Genevra Siciliano, a 47-year-old photographer and podcast host, was amongst those that posted.
Those that had a shocked response to Hathaway’s look, she mentioned, “haven’t been spending enough time around women who are physically rocking their 40s — and not just their physical appearance but giving it off energetically too.”
The startled reactions to Hathaway got here at an fascinating time. For months there have been conversations on-line about how millennials look good for his or her age, very probably as a result of they’re the primary era to actually, actually worth SPF.
As some identified, Hathaway appears to be like like a typical 40-something lady who has a devoted skincare routine and health club routine. (Her character in “The Idea of You” can also be an upper-middle-class mother in Los Angeles, so it’s not a stretch to think about she’s been dabbling in Child Botox for years, too.)
“There is so much emphasis these days on self-care that didn’t exist when my mom was in her 40s raising me and my siblings.” mentioned Krishma Arora, a 44-year-old author, who posted a “this is 40+ selfie.”
“Advanced skin care, knowing to use sun protection, and the importance of exercise and eating a healthy diet are all things that help women in their 40s feel and sometimes look better than they did when they were younger,” she mentioned.
For what it’s price, Arora mentioned, she “absolutely” nonetheless feels as enticing and fascinating as she did 20 years in the past.
“I may have stretch marks from giving birth, but I’m healthy, strong, fit and take care of myself, not just physically but also nurturing my mental health,” she mentioned.
Many responded positively to TV writer Gennefer Gross’s commentary on the “The Idea of You” age conversation.
“The discourse around a 41-year-old Anne Hathaway not looking 40 is further proof society was gaslighted by rampant misogyny that women over 35 are undesirable hags. When, in fact, they’re more vibrant, hotter, and hornier than ever,” she tweeted. “There is nothing sexier than lived experience.”
Hollywood has a history of prematurely aging actresses, casting performers as moms and even grandmas long before their time: Last year, Emmy Rossum was cast as Tom Holland’s mom in Apple TV+’s “The Crowded Room” despite being only 10 years older than him.
The Rossum/Holland casting harkens back to “The Graduate,” where Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) was only six years older than Dustin Hoffman in real life, and eight years older than Katharine Ross, who played her daughter. At the time, Bancroft was a mere 35.
Sunset Boulevard via Getty Images
In an email interview with HuffPost, Gross said she’s sick of actresses of a certain age being “relegated to book clubs and knitting and the frumpy, haggard mom chasing after her kids.”
The writer thinks such casting “brainwashes” the public into believing that a woman in her 40s loses all her desirability and couldn’t possibly look like that. If she is “hot,” she’s portrayed as an outlier: the rare cougar in a sea of sleep-starved moms in cardigan sweaters.
The controversy around Anne Hathaway “is rooted in the archaic, misogynistic notion that women over 35 shrivel up into old hags and couldn’t possibly look sexy and appealing at that age ― something that’s perpetuated in film and TV for more than half a century,” Gross said.
Gross’s personal experiences just don’t sync up with that.
“I’m a mom at this stage in my life and not only do I think I look damn good, I feel more vibrant and confident than I ever did in my twenties and am not slowing down anytime soon,” she said. “My teenage son can’t even keep up with me sometimes!”
Enocha Edenfield, 42, posted a “this is 40-something” selfie, too. She hoped her post would get other women in their 40s talking about how proud they are of their own appearances.
“I don’t consider myself an overtly sexy person, but I also know that I don’t look like what most people think a woman in her 40s should look like,” she said.
Edenfield believes that women are under no obligation to “age gracefully” but can still be proud of how they are aging.
Like the other women we interviewed, Edenfield said she’s more comfortable in her body today than she’s ever been, mostly because she dresses for herself.
“My teens, 20s, and even the majority of my 30s were spent trying to make myself appealing for public consumption,” she said. “Now that I’m in my 40s, I just don’t care what others think I should look like. Yes, I still exercise and wear makeup and nice clothes, but it’s to present the version of myself that feels most authentic.
Louise Dockery, a 48-year-old resilience coach for ladies who posted a selfie, feels that method, too. Turning 40 was when she lastly felt completely satisfied in her personal pores and skin.
“That showed on my face and in my personality,” she told HuffPost. “I look back on photos of me in my 20s and 30s and I was stressed and burned out from constantly trying to prove myself and please everyone.”
Everything started to come together in her 40s, too, Dockery said: She started her own business at 40, met her partner and had her first child at 45.
“I’ve never had more energy or passion for life,” she said. “My friends and I go to festivals and gigs, plan our outfits, dance in the sun, and have as much fun as we did in our 20s. I’m sure we’ll still be doing it in our 60s, why not?”
Sarah Zink, 63, additionally posted a Hathaway-inspired selfie. She thinks that it’s not till ladies hit their 40s that they start to comprehend the vanity of our cultural magnificence requirements and are available into their very own.
“That’s when we begin to understand the value of our bodies, desires and appearance,” Zink said. “I’m seeing more women working on their self-esteem, versus their wrinkles. They are working on healing their past trauma versus flabby thighs. Internal work is surpassing the need for external work.”
“We learn that we can say ‘no’ to what we’ve been mindlessly buying into, and finally begin to ask, ‘What else might be true?’” she told HuffPost.
Zink said she’s definitely much more comfortable in her own skin now in her 60s than she was in years prior.
“Excuse the language, but I am un-fuck-withable,” she said, with a laugh. “I don’t need anyone’s approval of what I wear, how I wear it, or anything else. I will never be enough for some people, but ― for the right people ― I am more than enough.”
