Women Get Better With Age...

If Hollywood dictates the absurd, then I am afraid, Hollywood needs the boot.

Writing this, I am wondering if I too am guilty of only favouring movies that depict the young spring chickens ( or the half mature chickens carved into a youthful look ). This morning I saw a photo of the " new " Renee Zellweger and at first I thought, gosh no, that's not her!

What on earth made this actress, who by the way has a legion of fans from her Bridget Jones Diaries, change her look so drastically. Wasn't her not so perfect look stunning in itself?

It seems to me that living and working in Hollywood might be a tough job for any self confidence. Being perceived as over the hill at 40, is clearly a sign to " get out of Dodge "...Ironically, most young girls dream of making a career in Hollywood, but at what costs?

We women get better with age:

• We have lived at least a decade or more after finishing school and thus have an interesting repertoire of conversation, ideas and funny happenings.
• Those lines around our eyes and mouth should tell you in no uncertain terms, that we have humour. We laugh. We enjoy life.
• We are ( hopefully ) past that silly stage of keeping up appearances for others and are happy with our lot.
• Those extra curves that we acquired show that we eat out at restaurants without that annoying sentence:

  " Oh, I'll have the salad, but without dressing! "

  Really why bother going out to dinner in the first place, if all you do is change the menu and frankly, those women must be the most detested customer for any chef...
• Those of us who wouldn't dream of having a scalpel near us, are as we are. We don't scare people with an unmovable mask. Some of those spritzed celebrities are rather frightening because their face is void of emotions. You don't know if they are happy or sad or cross or dangerous...
• We women over 40 are full of character and can hold a conversation, argument or household.

Obviously there are big lobby groups at play when it comes to Hollywood. Hollywood movies are the vehicle for advertisers. All those potions we put on our skin make someone a lot of dosh. Enough dosh to keep up the perception that love, life and money only happens if you look young, are thin and have no wrinkles.

Maybe it is time for us to demand movies where real women have the luck of finding romance. Let's face it, didn't you also love:

• My Big Fat Greek Wedding
• Bridget Jones Diaries. Although even then their idea of overweight was my idea of normal, but still a must see if only for the scene of Colin Firth putting his coat around her. Bridget Jones: Schokolade zum Frühstück / Am Rande des Wahnsinns [2 DVDs]
• The Mirror Has Two Faces A classic with Barbra Streisand. Loved it and saw it many times.

To a certain degree, we all try to stay youthful. Maybe we dress fashionably ( but hopefully we don't come across as mutton dressed as lamb ) but with elan, we exercise to keep fit and eat mostly healthy to ensure a long life. But plastic surgery is not what we do.

" Three cheers to us real women!!! "

.

Biggi