Women, age, and the Oscars --UPDATED

I mentioned this morning that I was pulling for Annette Bening to win the Oscar for best actress this year. 

In addition to wanting to see such luminous, flawless acting rewarded, I'd also like to see an "older" actress take home the Oscar.  The dominance of wins by under-40 actresses in recent years has been troubling, and I say that with no disrespect intended towards the winners.  Compare  the winners in recent years for Best Actor and Best Actress, with age at time of performance (awards are always given the subsequent year):

1996: Geoffrey Rush (age 45); Frances McDormand (age 39)
1997: Jack Nicholson (age 60); Helen Hunt (age 34)
1998:  Roberto Benigni (age 45); Gwyneth Paltrow (age 24)
1999:  Kevin Spacey (age 40); Hilary Swank (age 25)
2000:  Russell Crowe (age 36); Julia Roberts (age 33)
2001: Denzel Washington (age 47); Halle Berry (age 35)
2002: Adrien Brody (age 29); Nicole Kidman (age 35)
2003: Sean Penn (age 43); Charlize Theron (age 28)

Average age for male winners: 43.1
Average age for female winners: 31.7

Since 1996, no actress over 40 has won the Oscar (though twelve have been nominated), while six of the eight male winners were over that chronological barrier.

Numbers-crunching doesn't necessarily tell us a great deal, of course.  But it does tell us something: older actresses are given precious few opportunities to shine, and even when they are given plum roles, rarely are they given the highest honors for their performances.   In recent years, the Academy has shown an interest in rewarding actresses who either undergo remarkable physical transformations (Swank, in both her nominated roles; Charlize Theron in last year's winning turn) or who turn in gritty, highly sexualized performances (Halle Berry).  It doesn't seem enough for a woman, particularly a young and "beautiful" one  to merely "act" -- she must strip off her clothes, gain tremendous amounts of weight, wear prosthetics, and endure tremendous physical abuse, usually at the hands of men.  Though Hollywood does like to see that kind of visceral, physical acting from men as well, it rarely demands it to the same degree. 

I  mean no disrespect to the young women who have carried Oscar home in recent years; all were surely deserving.  But this year, with the nominations of Annette Bening and Imelda Staunton, the Academy has the opportunity to honor women of "a certain age" (or older)  who underwent no significant physical metamorphosis to play their parts, but who simply acted.  A win for either actress would be most welcome in our household.

UPDATE:  A little playtime with Google reveals that the last seven Best Actress winners were all on the People Magazine "50 most beautiful people" list  either immediately before or after their Oscar win.  Needless to say, Google reveals that the same is not true of the seven male Best Actor winners.  Thought you'd all like to know.

Comments

[bmmg39]

"Oh please: the entire reason that male nudity isn't as rife in the media as the female sort is down to the attitudes of MEN. It's MEN who can't handle the sight of penises onscreen--I don't know a single women who's worried about it at all."

Go take a look-see at this thread, Crys T.

[bmmg39]

"Oh please: the entire reason that male nudity isn't as rife in the media as the female sort is down to the attitudes of MEN."

Oh, yeah -- did you ALSO miss my post on which I made the very same argument as you do now?