Cate Blanchett: Menopausal women still consume cultural products, just FYI

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A few weeks ago, we discussed Cate Blanchett’s Vogue Australia cover and some early excerpts. The cover is… odd. I still think it’s weird. Cate doesn’t look like Cate. She looks like Elizabeth Banks to me, but some of you got Robin Wright vibes. Anyway, I didn’t think the interview was all that noteworthy, quite honestly. I expect more from Cate, although she’s not really famous for giving amazing interviews, preferring instead to keep some mystery about her life. But some new quotes came out, and Cate is talking about the female audience and how the market is changing.

Cate Blanchett recently spoke to Vogue Australia about gender inequality in Hollywood, giving her opinion on how women’s roles are changing. Interviewer Anna Funder asked Blanchett, “Tina Fey wrote in Bossypants that any woman in Hollywood who’s no longer considered f–kable is ignored. In the era of Judi Dench and Meryl Streep and other actresses we love, can this really be true, or are they exceptions?”

“Female audiences are driving the change, I think,” responded Blanchett. “Women don’t stop consuming cultural product once they stop menstruating.”

Funder spoke with Blanchett about people being surprised to learn about the wage equality gap for women. “People were surprised?” said Blanchett, “There are countless industries around the world where women in top positions are not equally remunerated for equal work.”

[From Vogue Australia & THR]

I think that’s a good quip – “Women don’t stop consuming cultural product once they stop menstruating” – but the problem is actually worse than that. Cate is right to a certain extent that young women (or girls, really) are being targeted by Hollywood with franchises like Twilight and The Hunger Games. But what about those young women on the cusp? Where are the quality films for a woman of 20, too old for Twilight and the like? The superhero films from Marvel and DC are so clearly aimed at guys aged 12 to 60. But what do the ladies have once they’ve outgrown the PG-13 rated films?

Oh, and Cate wants a part on Downton Abbey’s final season. She’s serious about it too – she says that she’s spoken to some of the Downton people AND her agent about doing a guest role. My opinion: Paul Giamatti was so bizarrely cast, surely they can make room for La Blanchett.

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Photos courtesy of Vogue Australia.

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23 Responses to “Cate Blanchett: Menopausal women still consume cultural products, just FYI”

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  1. Naddie says:

    The best she’s ever looked (shallow comment, but I just had to say it).

    • MrsBPitt says:

      I agree, however, I think the pictures are photoshopped to death…Cate is a beautiful woman, with beautiful skin, but her skin isn’t THAT tight (unless, she’s had some work done}…and I find it ironic, that IF these photos are photoshopped or if she has had PS to “tighten” up, that she is arguing the fact, that menopausal women are still viable consumers…while trying to look younger…I don’t know, I’ve always loved Cate, but she went down in my book, after working with Woody Allen….And, please, don’t yell at me or imply that I am saying menopausal women can’t be or aren’t beautiful. I am a menopausal woman…

      • Naddie says:

        Yeah, unfortunately the photoshop addiction became a plague nowadays. Even babies are photoshopped, I think this is unacceptable.

      • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

        Agree with everything you said, MrsB

  2. GoNatural says:

    Agree. She’s redefining age for all of us.

  3. Aussie girl says:

    At first glance I thought it was robin wright

    • Bread and Circuses says:

      Same!

      In fact, I still do. She looks nothing like herself in those photos.

  4. ncboudicca says:

    It looks like they messed with her nose and brows in these photos. I wouldn’t know it was her, just looking at the photos.

  5. GlimmerBunny says:

    Marvel movies are targeted at 12-60 year old boys?? I must have missed the memo – I’m a huge fan of the movies (and the comics they are based on) and I’m a 22-year-old girl :/ And I know plenty of other girls who like them…

    • Jessica Fletcher says:

      Me too, GlimmerBunny! I know it was a throwaway comment by Kaiser, but that attitude is EVERYWHERE. Girls don’t like comics, or comic book movies, girls like twilight, girls just watch Marvel films to please men. I’ve gotten it for years – started reading comics when I was around 14, I’m in my late 20s now, and still, when I was reading the latest Hawkeye on the train, someone asked my if my boyfriend gave it me! I was LIVID 😡

      I understand Kaisers larger point, that there aren’t always great movies targeted to women, and I agree completely- it’d be great to see more female led stuff, more female writers / directors, more diversity in the largest sense, but you i think you can make that point without implying that most movies are geared to men. In fact, I’m starting to think more and more that movies shouldn’t be “geared” to one gender or another. The focus should be on making great films, with diverse voices, and market them towards people that might like them, rather than thinking “let’s make a movie for boys, cast a gorgeous woman as the idiot girlfriend” or whatever.

    • itzblissy says:

      we can like them, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s target audience is males. Just like i’m an avid gamer as are many of my girlfriends, but that doesn’t change the fact that most of the games we play are targeting a male audience. (like how the avatar is almost always male with no options to change it…and even if it is female it’s a female with unrealistic body wearing so little that makes you wonder how the armor protects her when she gets hit by energy blasts)

      • Virgilia Coriolanus says:

        I had that discussion with my dad when I told him legos/video games are all targeted toward guys. If you want something with a female led target in legos, it’s all pink. There really aren’t any lego sets (that I’m aware of), that are just about women. Not about the damsel in distress, but about portraying a character that happens to be a woman.

        And yes, the video games annoy me with that. Why would I want to play a game, where the programmers/companies make it quite clear to me that I’m just a piece of ass?

    • Amanda says:

      Same, I am a 23 year old girl who loves Marvel and other superhero films and comics. I know a lot of girls who like them, too. Pretty sure women are a large part of their overall fan base and I wish people would stop thinking of them as just a guy thing.

  6. Madly says:

    There are plenty of films of women in their 20’s. There are even less when you go to 30’s. Women go from the young hot thing to someone’s mother and not much in between. That is the real issue.

  7. MAP says:

    maybe she can appear as the queen on downtown abbey. that’s really the only suitable role for her!

  8. meme says:

    I love Cate but at first glance I thought of a young Julie Christie. Doesn’t look like her at all. Photoshop is so overdone everywhere.

  9. bondbabe says:

    Are they trying to make turban/hats a thing? Umm…no thank you.

  10. lila fowler says:

    Eh, she’s just baiting for a Guest Emmy.

  11. Lola says:

    I like her! Would love to meet her.

  12. jferber says:

    I agree with Mrs. B. Pitt that my estimation of Cate Blanchett as a person has gone down since she filmed with Woody Allen. Yes, she won the Oscar, but I still respect her less for doing so.

  13. jferber says:

    And yes, she’s photoshopped to hell. I even see some cat eye going on. The hell? I much prefer Kristin Scott Thomas to her. Cate just should have said no to Woody and to photoshop.