Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty Images and Max
Throughout Hollywood’s history, an older actress was often only given a few options for roles: She could play a matron (Doubt), an abhorrent sexual predator (Notes on a Scandal, Misery), or a horror’s hag, a figure that goes as far back in Hollywood’s history as 1950’s Sunset Boulevard and still persists today (2022’s Barbarian and X). If none of those appealed, she could bow out of the limelight once she was “past her prime,” in the hopes that no paparazzi would photograph her aging face—because a woman’s wrinkles could not be captured without ridicule.
It’s taken decades for Hollywood to open itself up to older actresses, as it has done in recent years. But there’s still much work to do, as one of the most prominent platforms for older women on TV proves. Despite the over-50 stars of And Just Like That experiencing the pressures placed on aging women and the misogynistic undertones of this relentless judgment, the Max comedy is still stuck in Hollywood’s old ways. Only a handful of episodes into the Sex and the City sequel’s second season, the show has already made its refusal to grow on this front plain, and its most recent episode solidifies this persistent, self-perpetuating ageism.
In Episode 4, which premiered on Max last Thursday, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) comes head-to-head with her mentor, retired Vogue editor Enid (Candice Bergen). While Carrie claims to have nothing but respect for Enid, the women always end up dueling with each other whenever they cross paths. Carrie is appalled when Enid invites her to the launch party for Vivante, a magazine focusing on “women our age”—that is, over 60. As Enid repeats the phrase, Carrie’s face tells all: She doesn’t see herself in this demographic and secretly shudders at the thought of belonging to it.