Changing Narratives of Ageing: Emma Thompson’s Performances of Female Old Age in Late Night and Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Résumé At the onset of her sixtieth decade, Emma Thompson remains an active and prolific actress, whilst 'age' has become a more salient trait in her cinematic roles. In the recent Berlinale presentation of her latest film, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022), Thompson’s declarations on her character (a recently widowed woman called Nancy Stokes) received considerable media attention. Referring to her character’s story, Thompson declared that not only is women’s pleasure silenced and made invisible still in the twenty-first century, but the female ageing body is also hidden and considered a hateful view to look at. Thompson’s previous film in a leading role, Late Night (2019), depicts a similarly critical moment in the life of a successful late-night talk show host called Katherine Newbury, whose career seems to reach a dead end when she turns sixty and the channel she works for decides that her show is not profitable anymore. While Nancy Stokes starts a quest to have an orgasm past her sixtieth birthday, Katherine Newbury’s quest focuses on proving that a woman’s creativity and popularity do not have to diminish with age. In this article, we present a textual analysis of the counter-narratives of female aging developed through two of Emma Thompson’s latest lead roles. Within the genre of dramatic comedy, these cinematic narratives of female old age address and subvert topics that are still considered taboo from either ageist or sexist perspectives, or both, and which are closely related to (female) sexuality, creativity and body image in later life.
- Referencias
- Cómo citar
- Del mismo autor
- Métricas
Austin, David, et al. (Producers) and Freig, P. (Director). (2019). Last Christmas. United Kingdom: Calamity Films et al.
Bevan, T., et al. (Producers) and Warchus, M. (Director). (2022). Roald Dahl’s Matilda: The Musical. United Kingdom and United States: Working Title Films et al.
Brennan, Z. (2005). The Older Woman in Recent Fiction. Jefferson: McFarland and Company.
Browning, B.; Henderson, J.; Kaling, M.; Klein, H. (Producers) and Nisha, B. (Director). (2019) Late Night. United States: FilmNation Entertainment, 30West, Imperative Entertainment, 3 Arts Entertainment, Kaling International.
Buckley, C. (2019). Emma Thompson Gets a Shock at 60. The New York Times. 23 May. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/movies/emma-thompson.html
Burr, K. et al (Producers) and Gillespie, C. (Director). (2021). Cruella. United Kingdom and United States: Walt Disney Pictures et al.
Byrski, L. (2014). Conscientious Objections: Feminism, Fiction and Phoney War on Ageing. In Wehelan, I. and J. Gwynne. (2014). Ageing, Popular Culture and Contemporary Feminism. Harleys and Hormones (pp. 14–28). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Casado-Gual, N. and M. Oró-Piqueras. (2017). Romantic, Sexy, Creative or Simply Unruly: Affirmative Models of Ageing Femininity in the Cult Series Six Feet Under. Women: A Cultural Review. Vol. 28 (3) 217–239.
Chivers, S. (2011). The Silvering Screen. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
Devine, K. (2022). Emma Thompson reveals that looking at herself in the mirror without judgement was the 'hardest thing I've ever had to do' as she prepares to take on her steamiest role ever at 63. Daily Mail Online. 20 May. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10837979/Emma-Thompson-reveals-looking-mirror-hardest-thing.html
Dolan, J. (2017). Contemporary Cinema and Old Age. Gender and the Silvering of Stardom. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Faircloth-Isaacs, K. (2014). Mature Meryl and Hot Helen: Hollywood, Gossip and the ‘Appropriately’ Ageing Actress. In Wehelan, I. and J. Gwynne. (2014). Ageing, Popular Culture and Contemporary Feminism. Harleys and Hormones (pp. 140–154). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gravagne, P. (2013). The Becoming of Age. Cinematic Vision of Mind, Body, and Identity in Later Life. Jefferson: McFarland & Co.
Grayson, D. (Producer) and Hyde, S. and Politowski, A. (Directors). (2022). Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. United Kingdom: Genesius Pictures et al.
Gullette, M. (2004). Aged by Culture. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Hincliff, S. (2014). Sexing Up the Midlife Woman: Cultural Representations of Ageing Femininity and the Sexy Body. In Wehelan, I. and J. Gwynne. (2014). Ageing, Popular Culture and Contemporary Feminism. Harleys and Hormones (pp. 63–77). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Jones, S. C. et al. (Producers) and Jones, S. C. and L. Mulcahy (Directors). (2019). Years and Years. United Kingdom: Red Production and HBO.
Kentish Barnes, N. et al. (Producers) and Kapur, S. (Director). (2022). What’s Love Got To Do with This? United Kingdom: Working Title Films et al.
Mangan, M. (2013). Staging Ageing: Theatre, Performance, and the Narrative of Decline. Bristol and Chicago: Intellect.
Markson, E. (2003). The Female Aging Body through Film. In C. Faircloth (ed.). Aging Bodies: Images and Everyday Experience (pp. 77–102). Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
Marshall, B. L. and M. Rahman. (2014). Celebrity, Ageing and the Construction of ‘Third Age’ Identities. International Journal of Cultural Studies. Vol. 18 (6) 577–593.
Mindfood. (2022) “Emma Thompson Shares her Tips for Better Mental Health”. 16 September https://www.mindfood.com/article/emma-thompson-shares-her-tips-for-better-mental-health/
Oró-Piqueras, M. and A. Wohlmann. (Eds.). (2016) Serializing Age. Aging and Old Age in TV Series. Bielefield: Transcript Verlag.
Oró-Piqueras, M. and N. Casado-Gual. (2017). Broadening the Scope of Ageing Femininities on TV: the Evolution of the Older Women in two Contemporary Catalan Soap Operas. Feminist Media Studies. Vol. 17 (5) 703–720.
Richardson, N. (2019). Aging Femininity on Screen: The Older Woman in Contemporary Cinema. London: Bloomsbury.
Shary, T., and McVittie, N. (2016). Fade To Gray: Aging in American Cinema. Austin: The University of Texas Press.
Waxman, B. F. (1990). From the Hearth to the Open Road: A Feminist Study of Aging in Contemporary Literature. New York: Greenwood Press.
Wehelan, I. and J. Gwynne. (2014). Ageing, Popular Culture and Contemporary Feminism. Harleys and Hormones (pp. 140–154). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Williams, A., et al. (2007). ‘Selling the Elixir of Life’: Images of Elderly in an Olivio Advertising Campaign. Journal of Aging Studies. Vol. 21 (1) 1–21.
Woodward, K. (1991). Aging and Its Discontents: Freud and Other Fictions. Indianapolis: Indiana UP.
Woodward, K. and N. K. Miller, (Eds.) (1999). Figuring Age: Women, Bodies, Generations. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Bevan, T., et al. (Producers) and Warchus, M. (Director). (2022). Roald Dahl’s Matilda: The Musical. United Kingdom and United States: Working Title Films et al.
Brennan, Z. (2005). The Older Woman in Recent Fiction. Jefferson: McFarland and Company.
Browning, B.; Henderson, J.; Kaling, M.; Klein, H. (Producers) and Nisha, B. (Director). (2019) Late Night. United States: FilmNation Entertainment, 30West, Imperative Entertainment, 3 Arts Entertainment, Kaling International.
Buckley, C. (2019). Emma Thompson Gets a Shock at 60. The New York Times. 23 May. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/movies/emma-thompson.html
Burr, K. et al (Producers) and Gillespie, C. (Director). (2021). Cruella. United Kingdom and United States: Walt Disney Pictures et al.
Byrski, L. (2014). Conscientious Objections: Feminism, Fiction and Phoney War on Ageing. In Wehelan, I. and J. Gwynne. (2014). Ageing, Popular Culture and Contemporary Feminism. Harleys and Hormones (pp. 14–28). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Casado-Gual, N. and M. Oró-Piqueras. (2017). Romantic, Sexy, Creative or Simply Unruly: Affirmative Models of Ageing Femininity in the Cult Series Six Feet Under. Women: A Cultural Review. Vol. 28 (3) 217–239.
Chivers, S. (2011). The Silvering Screen. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
Devine, K. (2022). Emma Thompson reveals that looking at herself in the mirror without judgement was the 'hardest thing I've ever had to do' as she prepares to take on her steamiest role ever at 63. Daily Mail Online. 20 May. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10837979/Emma-Thompson-reveals-looking-mirror-hardest-thing.html
Dolan, J. (2017). Contemporary Cinema and Old Age. Gender and the Silvering of Stardom. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Faircloth-Isaacs, K. (2014). Mature Meryl and Hot Helen: Hollywood, Gossip and the ‘Appropriately’ Ageing Actress. In Wehelan, I. and J. Gwynne. (2014). Ageing, Popular Culture and Contemporary Feminism. Harleys and Hormones (pp. 140–154). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gravagne, P. (2013). The Becoming of Age. Cinematic Vision of Mind, Body, and Identity in Later Life. Jefferson: McFarland & Co.
Grayson, D. (Producer) and Hyde, S. and Politowski, A. (Directors). (2022). Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. United Kingdom: Genesius Pictures et al.
Gullette, M. (2004). Aged by Culture. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Hincliff, S. (2014). Sexing Up the Midlife Woman: Cultural Representations of Ageing Femininity and the Sexy Body. In Wehelan, I. and J. Gwynne. (2014). Ageing, Popular Culture and Contemporary Feminism. Harleys and Hormones (pp. 63–77). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Jones, S. C. et al. (Producers) and Jones, S. C. and L. Mulcahy (Directors). (2019). Years and Years. United Kingdom: Red Production and HBO.
Kentish Barnes, N. et al. (Producers) and Kapur, S. (Director). (2022). What’s Love Got To Do with This? United Kingdom: Working Title Films et al.
Mangan, M. (2013). Staging Ageing: Theatre, Performance, and the Narrative of Decline. Bristol and Chicago: Intellect.
Markson, E. (2003). The Female Aging Body through Film. In C. Faircloth (ed.). Aging Bodies: Images and Everyday Experience (pp. 77–102). Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
Marshall, B. L. and M. Rahman. (2014). Celebrity, Ageing and the Construction of ‘Third Age’ Identities. International Journal of Cultural Studies. Vol. 18 (6) 577–593.
Mindfood. (2022) “Emma Thompson Shares her Tips for Better Mental Health”. 16 September https://www.mindfood.com/article/emma-thompson-shares-her-tips-for-better-mental-health/
Oró-Piqueras, M. and A. Wohlmann. (Eds.). (2016) Serializing Age. Aging and Old Age in TV Series. Bielefield: Transcript Verlag.
Oró-Piqueras, M. and N. Casado-Gual. (2017). Broadening the Scope of Ageing Femininities on TV: the Evolution of the Older Women in two Contemporary Catalan Soap Operas. Feminist Media Studies. Vol. 17 (5) 703–720.
Richardson, N. (2019). Aging Femininity on Screen: The Older Woman in Contemporary Cinema. London: Bloomsbury.
Shary, T., and McVittie, N. (2016). Fade To Gray: Aging in American Cinema. Austin: The University of Texas Press.
Waxman, B. F. (1990). From the Hearth to the Open Road: A Feminist Study of Aging in Contemporary Literature. New York: Greenwood Press.
Wehelan, I. and J. Gwynne. (2014). Ageing, Popular Culture and Contemporary Feminism. Harleys and Hormones (pp. 140–154). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Williams, A., et al. (2007). ‘Selling the Elixir of Life’: Images of Elderly in an Olivio Advertising Campaign. Journal of Aging Studies. Vol. 21 (1) 1–21.
Woodward, K. (1991). Aging and Its Discontents: Freud and Other Fictions. Indianapolis: Indiana UP.
Woodward, K. and N. K. Miller, (Eds.) (1999). Figuring Age: Women, Bodies, Generations. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Casado Gual, N., & Oró Piqueras, M. (2023). Changing Narratives of Ageing: Emma Thompson’s Performances of Female Old Age in Late Night and Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. Fonseca, Journal of Communication, (26), 51–63. https://doi.org/10.14201/fjc.31225
Téléchargements
Les données relatives au téléchargement ne sont pas encore disponibles.
+
−