Age is a big deal in Hollywood, especially for women. For actresses, no matter how beautiful, talented or charming, they are always “reminded” that there is a clock quietly counting down the time in their career.
Meanwhile, men in the Hollywood film industry have significantly longer careers than women. As actresses have emphasized many times, it is not uncommon for actors in their 60s to still play male leads in romantic films, having love relationships with much younger actresses.
On the last night of the Oscars, Duong Tu Quynh mentioned this double standard. In her acceptance speech for the “Best Actress” award at the 95th Academy Awards, she pointed out sexism in Hollywood, when directors brutally dismiss experienced actresses. experience when they have gradually passed the peak beauty period.
Duong Tu Quynh received a golden statue of Oscar 2023. (Photo: IT).
“Girls, don’t listen to anyone who says you’ve reached the end of your life. Never give up,” the “Everything Everywhere All at Once” actress said to applause from the audience.
Michelle Yeoh is the first Asian woman to win this award, just a few months away from her 61st birthday. According to Sky News statistics, the average age of Oscar-winning actresses is 39, while that of men is 42. Thus, Duong Tu Quynh is nearly 21 years older than the average.
The success of Duong Tu Quynh at Oscar 95 and gender inequality in Hollywood
The gender gap in the film industry in Hollywood has narrowed over the past six years. For example, the “Best Actress” award at the Oscars has been given to women over the age of 40 over the years. Frances McDormand won in 2018 and 2021 when she was 60 and 63 years old, respectively; Olivia Colman was 45 when she won in 2019; Renée Zellweger was 50 years old when she won in 2020 and Jessica Chastain was 44 when she won last year.
However, according to Lan Duong, a professor of film and media at the University of Southern California, the recent change at the Oscars is not a sign of a broader, more significant shift in the film industry as a whole. .
Lan Duong said that age discrimination has not disappeared because films are still produced with the aim of satisfying men’s preferences, leading to women being disadvantaged. “Often it’s a male perspective, mostly directed at the bodies of young women, often those with beautiful bodies and full of vitality,” she said.
A 2020 study by TENA and the Geena Davis Institute for Gender Studies in Media found that: “Older women portrayed in films are often far removed from reality and unrepresentative.”
According to research, among the characters who are 50 years old or older, 75% are male. No female characters over the age of 49 appear in the lead role, while two men over the age of 50 are cast in the lead roles. In addition, female characters in this age group are more often portrayed as lonely (19%) and at home (16%) than male characters.
However, according to Ms. Duong, there is still hope that middle-aged or older actresses will have more opportunities to continue working and keep the public’s attention. This depends on the revenue from the movie.
Ms. Duong said that the success of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” shows that audiences are willing, even eager to see a woman like Duong Tu Quynh, from a martial arts queen to a woman. An elderly woman is having a hard time being a hard-working mother, dealing with her gay daughter’s problems. The film has grossed nearly $74 million in the US and over $106 million worldwide.
“That success speaks to the audience’s willingness to accept strange images of women on screen,” Duong said.
