There is a surprising growing trend among 2020s movies of reversing one of Hollywood’s more problematic tropes surrounding age gaps in the romance movie genre. Romance movies often explore somewhat idealistic worlds where fate brings two people together in a light-hearted and sometimes comedic adventure, making them the perfect watch for those who want to kick back and relax. However, there are a lot of rom-com movies that have not aged well for modern audiences due to controversial themes, such as the Hollywood trope of casting an older man and a younger woman to play the main love interests.
Recently, Christopher Nolan’s hit movie Oppenheimer was the subject of age gap controversy as Cillian Murphy (47) is 20 years older than Florence Pugh (27), despite them playing a couple in a romantic relationship in the movie. Furthermore, Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman’s erotic thriller, Miller’s Girl, has faced some backlash as a result of their 31-year age difference, although the age gap was done to intentionally invoke discomfort in the film. Yet a growing number of recent rom-coms seem to be reversing this Hollywood trend by casting older women and younger men in romantic relationships.
Romance Movies About Older Women & Younger Men Are Becoming More Common
Popular Female Actors Are Dominating The Trend
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Romance movies that feature an older woman and a younger man are becoming much more common in the genre than they used to be. Films such as 2022’s Good Luck to You, Leo Grande are exploring the sex lives of older women, who venture to find a relationship with younger men, in a complete reversal of previous Hollywood trends. These romance movies are often headed by big-name stars, including the likes of Emma Thompson, Nicole Kidman, and Anne Hathaway, making them extremely popular with mainstream audiences, especially due to their previous appearances in romance movies.
Examples Of Romance Movies With Older Women & Younger Men A Family Affair (2024) Babygirl (2024) The Idea Of You (2024) Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)
However, not all of these new age-gap movies have been well-received by romance movie fans. While Emma Thompson’s comedy Good Luck to You, Leo Grande has an 85% positive audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it fairly liked among audiences, Anne Hathway and Nicholas Galitzine’s The Idea Of You only has a 66% score. Despite both movies being Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, it shows there is a division within the audience of the romance genre, although The Idea Of You’s poor rating may have been down to its plot mirroring Harry Styles fan fiction, as the writer drew inspiration from the singer.
Hollywood Has Traditionally Paired Older Men With Younger Women
Traditionally, Hollywood has paired older men with younger women on-screen, and not just in romance movies. Jurassic Park’s Laura Dern has commented on Ellie and Alan’s age gap in the movie, saying that looking back now made her realize that “Our age gap in Jurassic Park was completely inappropriate.” Dern was 23 when she appeared in 1993’s Jurassic Park, while her co-star Sam Neill was 42, making a 19-year age gap between the two actors. However, this wasn’t the only case, as classics like American Beauty and Lost in Translation also focus on romances between older men and younger women.
age gaps were normalized by the frequency of movies in which they occurred.
Although Laura Dern has talked about her age gap with Sam Neill in Jurassic Park being inappropriate now, at the time it was filmed, age gaps were normalized by the frequency of movies in which they occurred. Therefore, when talking about these types of relationships, they must be examined in the context of their creation; a time in which the patriarchy eclipsed roles in cinema. Nonetheless, considering many of these classic movies feature actors with large age gaps, their ability to portray convincing chemistry and romance between them in the movies showcases their skills as actors.
Why Hollywood’s Gender Role Reversal Is Happening Now
Older Women Are Getting More Representation
There are a number of reasons why these gender role reversals are happening now. One of the main reasons is that, in light of Hollywood controversies, “older men and younger women” plots in romance movies are considered creepy. Movies like The Substance demonstrate this subject quite well in that female actors in the industry used to be considered more worthy of screentime when they were younger, and their career was based on appearance instead of skill. However, Hollywood has moved away from this in the last few decades, meaning more roles are opening up for older women than before.
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As a result of an increase in representation for women, there are a lot of actor-gender flips happening in Hollywood, including in the romance genre. Instead of an older man, who is often in the midst of a midlife crisis, finding love in a younger woman, modern romance movies are subverting the norm and doing gender role reversals to explore the lives of older women instead. Regardless of whether age gaps are something to be celebrated or not, the recent influx of movies demonstrates a clear message that Hollywood has progressed in representing older women in romance movies.