Essay: I felt happy when I saw Kate Winslet in a TV series eating junk food in skimpy clothes

Middle-aged women are more visible in series and movies. Journalist Iida Rauhalampi is delighted with the change, although he still does not find the surface of the identification.

We had a hockey with my friend, which we repeated throughout youth: while waiting for forty. We had heard that a woman’s self -esteem was at her best in her forties. This sounded like a great promise.

So I started to wait for middle age.

At the same time that the idea of \u200b\u200bdiminishing self-awareness fascinated me, I was afraid of disappearing youth. I had gotten the idea that everything interesting in life happens before the age of 30, and that a woman in particular mostly turns red and cynical from then on.

The idea of \u200b\u200ba fate as a saggy-breasted embittered middle-aged woman with goretex shoes and evenings at home was not appealing.

The middle-aged women I had seen in movies and series were mostly mothers or grandmothers. A woman’s life seemed to lose all tension after forty. Middle age meant at least losing one’s sexuality.

* In addition to an adult woman*, I don’t remember hearing songs that would have told what life is like after youth.

The horrors of the Middle Ages

Then it finally happened. I crossed the magical limit of 40 years. For a while it was terrified.

At the same time, the average age has become downright fashion.

There is more talk about menopause. Middle-aged women are used in ads. In Hollywood, old favorites have been excavated from naphthalene. Finnish media declare that average age is finally sexy.

It is also written that women can now be presented as the most complex characters than before. So as human beings who are diverse and have emotional life, just like in men so far?

His body is presented in the series somewhat more realistically than usual. However, Winslet herself had to fight so that her \”chubby\” belly wouldn’t be cut out of the sex scene and her wrinkles wouldn’t be smoothed out in the advertising pictures.

It says something that I found such a meaningful scene in which there was really nothing miraculous.

However, some kind of change has taken place.

There are several reasons for the change

Already four years ago, it was noted that the biggest prizes at the Emmy Gala in the television industry went to women over the age of 45. We also awarded last week at the Venla Gala in Finland for the best majority of Riitta Havukainen, 69, and Kati Outinen, 63 for the best side.

So what is the cause of the sudden change?

Researcher Varjakoski says that it has generally been awakened to how narrow and one -sided aging catalogs have been. The way they have been presented in their forties, for example, has not responded to how they themselves see and experience their lives.

I myself have not questioned myself that having children, for example, does not mean losing their own identity.

Competition from streaming services has also been suspected as one of the reasons. They have tightened up the creation of versatile and different characters. It has been awakened, for example, to the fact that a woman can be a mother without it being the characteristic that defines her the most.

In addition, the climax of a woman’s sexuality is no longer getting pregnant, as it was for a long time. A postmenopausal woman can also be desirable.

So!

The story of Linda, the protagonist of this year’s Finnish hit *Queen of Fucking Everything* (2024), also draws from this. He has everything at the beginning: a wonderful career, a million dollar apartment in Helsinki’s value area, marriage and social circle. The whole story begins when the foundation for this starts to crumble.

Linda’s character is not the most interesting of her age, but she makes her even more fascinating.

Age can also be seen in Finland

The descriptions of Finnish and US middle age and aging are very different. It is really useless to even compare them with each other. In Finland, the actor’s face can see age and lived life. It’s even desirable.

The women who receive roles in Hollywood in this new coming of middle age are very often white, lean and the lust for young men. However, the score for Babygirl has a scene that shows Romy taking Botox and running in beauty treatments.

In Hollywood, this is also a big win. This is perhaps a direction to something.

Now you can already say that the sketch is no longer completely true.

The rush years are not shown in the movies

Popular culture offers a catalog where a middle-aged woman lives in a new rise in her life, is magnificent and full of power.

I was talking about the expectations of middle age with a friend. While we enjoyed the stories of liberation and the search for new happiness, we shared the experience of some kind of pressure to perform.

Should I reset everything at this point? When can you admit that you are a little tired?

On the other hand, even if I might not identify with the women in the series and movies, I am happy about them. Maybe you don’t get an interesting drama out of exhaustion and the grind.

Still, my own experience of the forties is that even if my life looks everyday, it happens more than ever before. It is liberating to note that at the same time, a mother, a woman who is full in work and also a woman who expresses herself in different ways, can be at the same time.

In addition, realizing one’s own mortality is refreshing.

In return, it has happened that I want the most I was afraid of. Goretex shoes and home nights.

*Illustration: Antti Ollikainen \n Text editing: Hannes Nissinen*