Are You Dissatisfied, Too?

Posted on June 8, 2010

Are you tired of the way pop culture never tires of hammering, filming and featuring young women in the throes of making mistakes, living badly or simply growing up in front of the camera? Why is the media’s camera so seldom turned to women like Sylvia Earle – one of our Wise Women who is passionately working to right the oil spill catastrophe in the gulf? She is speaking up loud and clear – point the cameras at her!


Sylvia is one of the brilliant, immensely current, wise older women at whom I pointed my camera it in the documentary, Get Real! Wise Women Speak. My own personal dissatisfaction with the media’s unrelenting focus on youth, and its crass and superficial representation of women inspired me to search for more authentic and varied portrayals of women. Specifically, I was searching for inspiration in the accomplishments of older women — cool women, wise women, old women — I wanted to learn more about the special kind of wisdom women gain with age. And I wanted to find out what they are doing with that wisdom. Let’s imagine a new, more expansive concept of what aging means for women and all human beings.


Life does not end when the babe stage is over. In fact, for most women it gets better – much better!


The media’s relentless obsession with the most superficial aspects of youth culture is sharply contrasted in Get Real! Wise Women Speak by the power, vitality and the deep worth of the extraordinary women showcased:


Nobel Laureate Jody Williams; actress Jane Fonda; entertainer Della Reese; editor Susan L. Taylor; author Marianne Williamson; Buddhist nun Tenzin Palmo; poet Nikki Giovanni; and oceanographer Sylvia Earle. Jane Fonda discusses how age has brought true self-acceptance and even moments of magic to her life.


Spunky dance teacher Roberta Pollard with her hearty laugh, feisty attitude toward aging, determined physical ability and personal warmth paints her own very accessible image of aging that reads as genuine to many women.


Get Real! Wise Women Speak! does not shy away from the real issues women face. Is there beauty in aging or only in youth? Isn’t the role of grandmother universally appreciated? If so, why are women often afraid to embrace the look and reality of that role? What does it mean to be no longer valued for sexual attraction? Can the allure of an aging woman be equally attractive in its own way? How does an older women navigate the world of work? What is the special wisdom an older woman offers? Why does the world need it now? (That may leave you wanting to say –“ Duh! It’s kind of self evident.” We agree.)


The women in the film are as diverse as the possibilities that lay before them, but what unifies them is the choice to celebrate the third act of their lives in a manner which is rich, rewarding, and of tremendous benefit to society. A benefit to society which we believe is critical.