: This trend isn't limited to Hollywood; international cinema (notably in France and South Korea) has long championed the "grande dame," a model that the global market is now aggressively adopting. The Path Ahead

Crucially, we are seeing a move toward "pro-aging." Films like 80 for Brady and the massive success of the Golden Girls -esque ensemble comedies prove that older women are a viable, profitable demographic that craves representation. Movies like Everything Everywhere All At Once showed that a woman in her 60s can carry an action-packed, metaphysical epic just as well as a 20-year-old.

This erasure created a stark narrative deficit. It deprived audiences of stories that reflected the actual complexities of midlife and beyond, treating the rich experiences of mature womanhood as unmarketable. The Forces Driving the Modern Renaissance