Feminism Does Not Have an Expiration Date
How Netflix’s “Grace and Frankie” is Changing the Conversation about Ageism and Sexism in Hollywood
If I were to ask you to name a television series about the trials and tribulations of older women, there is little doubt that one of the first shows that will come to mind is Golden Girls. If you’re a true fan you may even hum a few of the lyrics, “Thank you for being a friend.” But the recent premiere of Netflix’s orginial series Grace and Frankie may soon have you humming a different tune. The 13 episode comedy series, starring former Nine to Five costars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, is doing exactly what these two Hollywood legends do best — giving the middle finger to a town that says women over 50 can’t work in Hollywood.
The show portrays the friendship of Grace (Fonda) and Frankie (Tomlin). Grace is a former beauty account executive who prides herself on being consumed by her social engagements. Frankie is a free spirit who teaches art classes to ex-cons in her garage. The long time frenemies have tolerated each other only because their husbands (played by Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston) are law partners. But when the men reveal that they have been secretly in love for the past 20 years and are planning on leaving their respective wives so they can get married, the women are jolted together into a new post-divorce reality.
Created by Marta Kauffman (“Friends”) and Howard K. Morris (“Home Improvement”), the show and its creators have worked diligently to reframe the conversation about women, aging and sexuality. In many respects the show does an appropriate job of allowing us to see Grace and Frankie completely unfiltered; even when they are discussing solutions for vaginal dryness, discussing how to pick up men, or even experimenting with the mind-opening effects of peyote. When the show does stumble into ageism cliches, it is often for the hope of a cheap laugh, such as the grating joke repeatedly made about Grace’s refusal to wear glasses. But overall the true intention of the character’s is evident in their relationships with each other and their children (played by Brooklyn Decker, Ethan Embry, June Diane Raphael, and Baron Vaughn). Luckily for all of our sanity, the show avoids the biggest travesty that typically befalls older actresses, that of being typecast as the senile grandmother.
Kauffman has admitted that her goal in creating the show is not just to talk about ageism in Hollywood. Instead, she wants to focus on the larger issue of marginalization. Furthermore, she wanted to focus on the idea of “starting over,” even when you’re in your 70s. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly she said, “We set out to do a real comedy dealing with real situations.” That is an undertone that is played out through the entirety of the season. It is the acknowledgement that we not only stereotype older women, but we dismiss them, too. In one scene, Grace and Frankie are in a grocery store trying to get the attention of the store clerk. Despite their waving warms and repeated shouting of “Yoo-hoo,” the clerk is more focused on the young woman purchasing lottery tickets. It is not until Grace screams and shouts, “Can’t you see me?” that everyone in the store suddenly acknowledges the women’s presence. Like Grace, the series is waving its arms at critics and audiences while defiantly saying, “We won’t be ignored.”
But even this show, which seems just on the cusp of being feminist gold, can’t escape the snare of sexism in Hollywood. Fans were in an uproar when Fonda and Tomlin admitted that they were unhappy that they were being paid the same amount as their male costars, despite being both producers and the headliners of the show. As Tomlin said, “No. The show is not ‘Sol and Robert’ [Sheen and Waterston’s characters] — it’s ‘Grace and Frankie.’” Waterston echoed his dissatisfaction with the pay inequality in a recent interview on the Today Show. He told Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, “I think they are being [cheated].” The show has just been picked up for its second season, set to premiere in 2016, so we will cross our fingers that the show’s pay inequalities will be resolved long before the episodes air.
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All images used are property of Netflix and are used here for criticism and analysis only.
