Here’s a weird story to get your head around. According to a study, movies are more likely to star someone named Chris or a talking animal than an older woman. It makes you wonder who conducts these studies. I’m guessing someone called Chris, or a talking animal.
A study in the UK found that, out of the top movies in the past three years at the UK box office, movies are more likely to star Chris, rather than a lady over 60. The study went on to say that movies are four times more likely to have a talking animal than an over-60 female lead.
It’s not a big ratio, but looking at over 100 of the highest-grossing movies from 2023 – 25, six of them feature a Chris, while five starred a woman over 60.
It has started a campaign, the Age Without Limits, which is being supported by actresses like Emma Thompson. She said:
“Women are half the population and we get older. So where are the stories about us? The older we get, the more interesting we are. I want to see more films centre aging women, we are compelling, relatable, and overdue for centre stage. Older women don’t need permission to exist on screen. They already exist in the world, cinema just needs to catch up.”
Are older women more interesting, though? If you had the choice to spend an evening with Sydney Sweeney, and let’s make this fair and pick an older lady who’s interesting, say, Condoleezza Rice. Who are you going to pick? Here is a completely unbiased comparison to help you make up your mind.
In the Variety article, it was interesting that it mentioned the older ladies and the movies they were in. However, they didn’t mention the Chris’. Then, I guess they don’t need to; we all know the four main Chris actors.
Side note: do not search for ‘interesting older ladies’, the results make you want to bleach your eyes.
