HALLIE EPHRON: Sometimes, as bossy as I can be, even I feel invisible. It’s the silver lining of the combined whammy of being older and female. Yes, you survived. Congratulations. Now we’ll tune you out.
I know this because, I confess, I’ve done it myself to “older” women.
Which is why the latest trend television murder mystery series is remarkable: older characters, most of them women, are having their moment as crime solvers.
Of course Agatha Christie started it all with Miss Marple, a character with no back story, no agility with firearms (or agility period), who remains for the most part seated in the drawing room (or working in her garden, or staying in a hotel, or riding on a cruise…) for most of her narratives.
Today we’re witnessing a plethora of older female sleuths. Elizabeth (Helen Mirren will play her) in “The Thursday Murder Club.” Judith Potts (played by Samantha Bond) on “The Marlow Murder Club.” Susan Ryland (played by Lesley Manville) on “Magpie Murders.” Madeleine/Mattie (played by Kathy Bates) on “Matlock.” Elsbeth Tascioni (played by Carrie Preston) on “Elsbeth.” And of course that great old broad who’s been solving crimes for years, Vera Stanhope (played by Brenda Blethyn).
(Also recommending, working against gender stereotype: Ted Danson as elderly Charles who's recently retired and trying to figure out what to do with himself on “A Man on the Inside.” So far so good, but I've only watched Episode 1 and I'm hoping the show doesn't caricature the elderly ladies in the retirement home where he's investigating a theft.)
These old broads don’t just sit around the drawing room or the hotel lobby, ruminating and clutching their pearls. They swim naked in the river. Speak their minds. Have notable wardrobes. Are underestimated by most of the rubes around her, with the usual exception of a young female police officer still earning her stripes.
So what do you think is going on here? Is this because older ladies are the demographic who are actually WATCHING television these days. (We’re certainly the ones who actually *buy* the books that are being adapted.)
Or are older-ladies finally getting the respect they deserve?
I'm not quite sure why we're seeing this delightful resurgence, but it certainly reminds me of the days of the classic "Murder, She Wrote" with Angela Lansbury playing older-woman-crime-solver Jessica Fletcher. [In the current lot, we are particularly fond of Kathy Bates in "Matlock."]
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if this were attributable to respect for ladies of a certain age, but I'm not necessarily convinced that this is the true reason for these lovely ladies sleuthing on our current television shows . . . .
When I think of the Hollywood casting... I think of Mary Poppins. Anyone who's read the books knows MP was no spring chicken. If the Brits had made the movie the role would have gone to an older woman (and hold the treacly songs). I'd love to see a moviemaker do justice to that character in all her prickliness.
DeleteI agree with Joan. I don’t think it’s respect for ladies of a certain age so much as it is the Baby Boomers are now “of a certain age”. It’s still a large demographic that TV show developers probably realized are not out clubbing, but rather sitting at home, watching TV. Plus, theoretically, that group has more disposable income so advertisers can target them with ads for luxury items like cars, cruise vacations, etc. I do enjoy the shows and books you cited, Hallie. — Pat S.
ReplyDeleteWhat I see overwhemlmingly are ads for DRUGS. You could fill your medicine cabinet with the drugs they hump in the commercial breaks of WHEEL OF FORTUNE.
DeleteOh it is so irritating Hallie - and to think of the money Big Pharma could spend toward lowering drug costs if they weren't funneling the millions (maybe more) into advertising.
DeleteAgreed. And I get frustrated (though I usually mute them) listening to them describe the drug, but can’t figure out what it treats! And the side effects?! Oy! — Pat S
DeleteI don't know the reason, but I'm happy about the trend. I still haven't watched Matlock, loved Magpie Murders, and am enjoying Marlow Murder Club. I'm really looking forward to Thursday Murder Club, too. (What's with all the M names, anyway?)
ReplyDeleteI have a friend in her sixties who has been doing cold-water bathing (daily, in New England...) and has begun a modeling career. It's never too late.
Edith, M is for murder, doncha know!
DeleteOh dear. This is going to be a long comment of my opinions.
ReplyDeleteHappy to see the trend of older women in movies. Still, I am seeing ads for different gimmicks to look younger because so was researching remedies for my menopause symptoms! Look forward to watching Thursday Cilub Murders, I caught the Marlowe Murders and loved it.
IMHO, there is something wrong with our society when older women are treated as if they are invisible. I grew up thinking I was invisible. Now I understand it was because most people did Not know sign language. When they talked to me, I thought they were talking to someone else. The irony is that as I get older, my self esteem goes up! I learned from my life experiences and I am more aware of myself and the world out there. I often take reality checks.
Since most of the people were already elderly when I was born, I grew up around many older people and it is hard for me to understand why older women are dismissed. My grandfather was 69 when I was born and my grandmother died a month before her 61st birthday (emphezma even though she Never ever smoked). My great aunt was 71 when I was born, My great uncles were in their 60s. I was shocked when several neighbors, who are older women, felt that they were dismissed by younger people. I .grew up with a great deal of respect for older people. I am aware that it is very unusual.
Has anyone noticed that the Older ladies sleuths in novels are mostly written by BRITISH.authors for British readers? There seems to be a big difference between English mindset and Hollywoodish American mindset. I can think of only ONE AMERICAN tv series - Murder She Wrote, produced by Angeles Lansbury and her husband, both born in the UK and emigrated to the States. Now we only have Kathy Bates as Matlock. I wonder if Mattie is the daughter or a relative of Andy Griffith’s Matlock.
Looking at British and American actors, I noticed many more older actors on the BBC. Thinking about older British actresses. If they lived in Hollywood, I highly doubt that they would still have acting roles. The other thing about British actors is that they look like REAL people.
Yes the brits don't retire their old-broad actresses. Helen Mirren. Judi Dench, Maggie Smith... the list goes on... actresses in lead roles until they themselves are ready to retire.
DeleteI suggest that you watch The Gold (story of the Brink's gold theft) when it comes to PBS this spring (we saw it on CBC in Canada) and look at all the older and working British actors. I am about to google-rabbit-hole this morning to check on their ages! Then there is Judi Dench, and the inimitable Maggie Smith. The British seem to respect their older people - not saying elderly here.
DeleteDiana - I liked your comment "British actors ... look like REAL people." This is so true. They are often overweight, grumpy, balding (men), not necessarily very attractive. I love Brenda Blethyn who plays my favorite character Vera Stanhope. And Father Brown (on PBS) which has great actors all of which look like ordinary people.
DeleteIt's so true about British actors! And they are just as likely to provide a love interest as the glamour puss hot ones of US shows.
DeleteShakespeare and Hathaway on Britbox doesn't have elderly characters, and neither does The Madame Blanc Mysteries on Acorn, but the characters have well-rounded lives--including having romantic encounters, despite being overweight and completely normal looking. I love that.
It could be both: Boomers being a significant audience and a growing respect. (Numbers nurturing the respect.) I agree with those who have noticed British film and TV roles for older women always more plentiful than American roles. Both my husband and I were hooked on Murder She Wrote, but she did seem to be the only older sleuth in America, and except for Jessica Tandy, there weren't many non-sleuth roles for older women.
ReplyDeletePlease excuse some omitted words - in a hurry with clumsy fingers. 😐
DeleteDame May Witty comes to mind. The first Miss Marple. But of course she was British. Mary Wickes but she was never given a proper LEADING role.
DeleteCoronation Street, now littered with murderous young people, also has Ken Barlow and Rita - both still acting (well) in what is often considered their dotage.
DeleteThe rest of American soaps would collapse if not for their aging actors who have been on those shows for donkeys' years.
DeleteDo you actually watch a soap? I understood they are all gone from daytime television? We do not watch network television only streaming..
DeleteI haven't watched soaps for decades, but my mother still follows a couple she's watched since the 1960's. There are still a few hanging on.
DeleteI thought they were all gone. Thanks for your response!
DeleteI watched by osmosis, when they were playing adjacent to the quiet ares in my college student union.
Margo, did you mean to say that Coronation Street is littered with “murderous” young people or “numerous” young people?! — Pat S
DeleteAll of those theories are valid of course, but I'll add that they have just run out of other types, so decided to give us a shot.
ReplyDeleteMost wise-thinking men (especially those who wish to survive) learn early on not to discount the old broad, not that you nor any of the fabulous readers of this blog can be considered "old broads." All of you are younger than springtime, but still not to be safely discounted. I think I'll shut up now because I wish to survive.
ReplyDeleteOh, Jerry, not to worry. As for me, I embrace my "old broad-ness" - Often it's useful to be invisible or underestimated.
ReplyDeleteHallie, I completely agree with you. I was thinking of how often the "gray" card has been beneficial to me. There is something about looking like someone's grandma that softens an individual's approach to you. I decided not everyone needs to know I have a fully functioning brain. -- Victoria
DeleteSo right, Victoria!
DeleteHey, Only Murders in the Building is a huge success! I've got an idea, why don't we do a similar show, but--wait for it--have an older *woman* in the lead! Brilliant! My version of the reason for the bunch of new shows starring older women. I *wish* it was due to a newfound respect for older women, but I'm too much of a cynic to believe it.
ReplyDeleteOr even an OLDER WOMAN as the sidekick. Baby steps.
DeleteTalented British actresses successfully play these roles on TV and in movies. I'm sure their popularity prompted the Thursday Murder Club books and others. I like American Deanna Raybourn's Killers of a Certain Age, about four forcibly retired sixty year olds seeking revenge.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm on the tube in London, invariably several young adults stand and offer ME a seat in a crowded car. How nice! Much appreciated.
Age is so much in the eyes of the beholder! My generation (currently almost the top of the pile – 1 aunt left in the previous generation at 85), do not consider ourselves old. We range from 68 to 81, and are just spritely! My grandmother checked out at 102, other grandmother at 96, grandfather died young at 85, Harrumper’s grandmother – 104 (cranky old bat), my father at 96, and mother at 90, so apparently longevity is in our genes. How we deal with it seems to be the thing – none of us consider ourselves old and feeble. We may wear spectacles, and struggle to get up from a crouch, but so what. Some may be (quite) a bit deaf, but we can all shout, or just ignore them. Some are bird watchers, most are gardeners, some are exercise-freeks, but nothing stops us. My father took us all on an adventure cruise when he was 90, and he hiked the beaches and went up the small ladders from the Zodiac to the boat enthusiastically along with us.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were younger, we were all aghast when my uncle, then 50 married his concubine (in our words) who was in her 40’s. They were sooo old, and surely NOT doing IT! Now we laugh. They were married (happily) over 40 years.
Have you noticed how a lot of the old people who are the new heroes are only 60-65?
How old was Jessica Fletcher supposed to be on the show?
Welp, the only people keeping me from being the oldest female in our very big family are my mom--95 next month, and my aunt, who is 11 years younger. All my older cousins but two are also gone now. It's a shocking realization. But my mother only started to think of herself as "old" in the last couple years, so you know, mind over matter.
ReplyDeleteI can add a couple more wonderful shows to your excellent list, Hallie. Mrs. Sidhu Investigates on Acorn is pretty good, and also the Jane Seymour vehicle, Harry Wild. Inspector Ellis is a new one that I really liked, somewhat improbably about a detective chief inspector who comes out of retirement at the insistence of her boss, a woman head of crime investigation, and is sent as a kind of overseer to communities with limited capacity to solve their own murders. Ellis is not only an older woman, but she is Black, as well. Queens of Mystery, which centers around a young woman, but her three older aunts are the brains of the outfit. Britbox also includes Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, with Hetty played by Hyacinth Bucket herself, Patricia Routledge, only she isn't zany and silly in this show.
On Netflix one of my favorites is The Green Glove Gang, a Polish series with English dubbing, about three cat burglars, women of a "certain age", who, to avoid being caught after one member's new tattoo shows up on a security camera, move into a nursing home-type situation. They end up changing the community in every way. My Polish hairdresser, by the way, says it is not filmed in Poland, disappointingly, since that country has some very beautiful areas for filming.
I loved A Man on the Inside, especially the lovely way it treats the memory loss of one of the characters. And the rest of the residents defy expectations, and are actually given dignity in most cases. Ted Danson plays himself, for the most part, but that's okay here.
I've definitely noticed this and hope it continues since these women all make excellent sleuths! They're wise, insightful, and consistently underestimated. Vera is among my favorite fictional characters because her inner life is so complex, and she's so vulnerable, yet her exterior completely throws everyone off. I'd add the book Killers of a Certain Age to the list as well. Even though it's not being adapted to a movie (as far as I know), it fits the theme perfectly since it's about female spies being forced out of the business because of their age.
ReplyDeleteI have not seen any of the TV shows you mentioned but have read the Marlow Murder Club and Magpie/Moonlight Murders books. Continuing the trend of having older female leads, I also enjoyed reading the adventures of retired female spies Helen Warwick in SECOND SHOT by Cindy Dees and Maggie Bird + Martini Club members in THE SPY COAST by Tess Gerritsen.
ReplyDeleteLove this post, Hallie. I'm reminded of the line from the Carly Simon song about the river not stopping here anymore. Yep, it's like that. I'm so enjoying Matlock, and thank you so much for the other recommendations. I'm so glad that those of us of a certain age are having a moment.
ReplyDeleteYou raise good questions. Being an occasional cynic, I wonder if it's not because Gen whatever marketers haven't realized that we are a viable financial base. The optimist in me likes to think it's because those same Gen whatevers realized that us old bats have been around a long time and have the scars, and wisdom to prove it. A group of my college friends and I snapped up mugs a few years ago. They read, "Go ahead and underestimate me, this will be fun!"
Thank you for introducing this topic this morning. I am one of those disgruntled "older" women who do not like that we get dismissed in the general arena of life. We fall off the research charts by the time we reach our 50's as if we no longer are in the land of the living. During one of Hank Phillippi Ryan's book signings I thanked her for bringing up the subject of how women in the 70's decade were basically on their own to resolve whatever harassment came their way in the workplace. There was no one to file a complaint with and no one who was going to come to our rescue. We were responsible for getting ourselves out of a jam that we were often unfairly put into and it sometimes cost us our jobs. Unless we were able to create a clever way of getting around the nonsense especially if we loved our job and wanted to keep it. Later on in life, however, we suddenly become dispensable in other ways because we are older but thankfully our skills at fighting back have given us the courage to stand up for ourselves to make sure that we are still visible to the world....thank you very much. No one likes to be overlooked, excluded or disrespected so we speak up wherever we happen to be. We Boomers are a brave lot who helped pave the way for those following behind us and even though there is still that age and physical discrimination going on we are not easily pushed aside. I so agree and loved what Kait wrote just above my post. Thank you, Kait...well said!
ReplyDeleteI honestly LOVE this trend, and what seems more interesting, my two daughters (32 and 24) enjoy various shows and movies with older protagonists as much as I do.
ReplyDeleteAs a another bit of data, I have to point out there's been a corresponding willingness to cast actresses in their fifties in roles where they are the romantic leads or the center of attention: several of the recent Netflix Christmas movies, Nichole Kidman in A FAMILY AFFAIR and THE PERFECT COUPLE, Julia Roberts in TICKET TO PARADISE and Jennifer Lopez in SHOTGUN WEDDING. Not that they look like your average fifty-something, but they're clearly older women with adult children and different concerns than thirty-year-olds.
It seems to be a trend in mysteries. Master Crimes with Muriel Robin, age 69, is an example. She's tough, brilliant, snarky (sometimes too much of all of these!), but the focus is on her expertise and not her age. And yes, always Brenda Blethyn, Leslie Manville, Samantha Bond (that water always looks so cold...!), Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren. As for Kathy Bates, this is one case where she flaunts her age in order to manipulate all those poor youngsters for whatever she wants!
ReplyDeleteOops. The Anonymous post (It seems to be a trend....) is Victoria Zackheim.
DeleteI do not know why this trend is happening but I am all for it. We old-ish women do have some smarts after all, so why not solve crime, have romances, etc? We're young for our ages and smarter than the average bear!
ReplyDeleteI’m loving this trend also. I love stories about women who kick butt, and if they are outside the young/slim/beautiful slice of life, so much the better. Nothing makes me grind my teeth like watching a show where a woman spends the night chasing rough bad guys, then wakes up with full makeup on and hair sexily tousled. (Insert eyeroll here).
ReplyDeleteNot even a smudge! So irritating.
DeleteI loved Keri Russell's no make-up, no fuss Kate Wyler in The Diplomat. Russell is creeping close to fifty so definitely falling into the "middle-aged" category!
DeleteMy thirty-one-year-old son and his wife suggested we watch A Man on the Inside, so it appeals to younger people too. This new trend makes me happy.
ReplyDeleteYes, my forty-year-old daughter recommended it. So apparently it is appealing across age groups. We watched the first episode last night and thought it was charming. Ted Danson--what's not to love!
DeleteHA! It is known in Hank lore that my first book featured a Charlotte McNally who was 55 years old. My agent LOVED the book--but said, oh, no, 55 is TOO OLD. Which is why she became instantly 46, which, I was told, was still pushing it.
ReplyDeleteThen in about--2011? I pitched a novel where four 50-something retired women--a reporter, a flight attendant, an olympic swimmer and an accountant--who lived in the same neighborhood, solved crimes. My editor looked at me as if I had lost my mind. "We are not interested, "she said.
So this either is ,or isn't ,my favorite topic.
I am much more likely to enjoy a book where the character is NOT 20-something.
And it is a well known fact that I worship Lesley Manville. :-)
Hank, I still want to read that book!!
DeleteThank you! It was to be titled The Justice League of Suburbia. SIgh.
DeleteThis really makes me want to do it. I am going to find my old su=ynopsis. I insist it's a good idea. Although now, DERIVATIVE. Which drives me a little batty.
Delete