The Wheel of Time
Ever since the release of George Romero’s The Amusement Park on Shudder last month, I have be thinking more about aging. Sure, we all know it is coming, but to really sit and have existential occurrences run through your brain is different. It weights differently on the mind and how you look at the world. It got me thinking about the older women in horror. As someone who will eventually become one of these older women (no matter how much companies will sell you youth you cannot fight time) specifically those who have been portrayed that aging in an of itself is the real horror. We all know that sexism and ageism in film is alive and well, time still hasn’t caught up to those tropes, but when you really examine the types of stories being put forth for older women you notice the imbalance. There are of course exceptions and a new resurgence in allowing older women to grab these meatier roles and shift the narrative i.e., Jamie Lee Curtis and Lin Shayne, and how dress plays a larger role in this then what we realize. I am merely scratching the surface on this because there is so much to investigate and really unpack. I could go on for hours about the plight of the “undesirable older woman” marked and scorned by the patriarchy and the pesky male gaze. Just short of putting scarlet “A’s” on these women but in this case the “A” stands for aging.
The unfortunate reality is that when men rip years off the calendar wall, those pages remain neatly stacked on the floor. Equating that they “age like fine wine”, I’ve been guilty of this very sentence because there are some older men that I do think have aged gracefully. But we hold them up and look to them for wisdom, and their workload only grows. Still swooning the girls well under their age range, still wearing that perfectly tailored suit a la James Bond, and are given the opportunity to explore the complexity of life. So why is that when a woman reaches a threshold of over 35, she’s thrown a potato sack and her calendar pages are messily spewed across the floor. No marker of wisdom, but a branding of “crazy”. We explore this trope in the idea of witches, they are usually seen as old and decrepit. Usually wearing rags and hoods to conceal any sign of aging, yet they exist completely for themselves. But yet their faces, their sagging skin, age spots, and less then perfect posture is used as a scare tactic all its own. “Well, I hope I never get THAT old” we whisper to ourselves, over commercials of “age defying” whatever. Personally, I can’t wait to get old, and I hope my hair gets grey so I can grow it out and become the urban legend on my block all the kids are afraid to ring my doorbell. There is a wisdom in aging that I am thoroughly looking forward too, if I’ve finally gotten to a place at 28 where I gave far less fucks then my early 20’s, imagine what that will feel like at 50, or 70!
What I’ll be wearing then, who knows, I have a feeling I will continue to look (as I do now) like Toni Collet in Hereditary. Comfortable artist chic is what I call it. Olga Mill designed the costumes for the film, and I must say it was the most accurate representation of aging women I have seen. In my reading I came across the idea of how the older naked female body is used to disturb. We are shocked and a little grossed out when they appear in horror movies, when in the same film moments before we could have been given a younger woman naked and be aroused by it. This is the issue with the male gaze, that our bodies in whatever age do not belong to us. I want to commend Ari Aster, because for Hereditary we see far more naked older men lurking in shadows, shocked and disgusted by them for once. The women and their stories are driving this piece, with the help of Paymon of course. Possession is often used as a device to younger girls and women, where the male savior is facing his own internal demons to then overcome them to eradicate her actual demon. A thin veil disguising what we think is a story about a woman when actually its about the man in charge. However, we are seeing a demon find it’s way to a male host directed by the women, specifically Joan (Ann Dowd). What we are shown are old photographs of grandma in a cult wearing innocent white dresses, drenched in lace and wearing flowers. Soft textures and motifs that can’t in anyway be alarming. I love the subtly of playing with opposites like that with clothing, it is a brilliant redirecting devise. Even Joan is seen in soft clay and earth tones to match the environment of the southwest where they live. There is the realistic idea of layering that she has done for these women, light sweaters over tank tops, and billowy skirts. Having designed and dressed quite a few older women, I know that they are always self-conscious if they’ve gained any weight (another sigma we need to break because that woman created life a few times so sorry she isn’t a size 2 anymore). I know that these choices were not only playing into the characters symbolically that what is on the top layer is not what is underneath, but also serves a practical purpose so your actor feels comfortable.
We see this idea again in 1962 Whatever Happen to Baby Jane, designed by Norma Kotch. However, within this film the idea of holding onto youth is more prevalent, where as the women of Hereditary are embracing the aging that has come in through this possession. Jane Hudson (Bettie Davis) is a former child vaudeville star who tried to make it in the pictures in her 20’s but failed for not being good enough as an actress. Blanche Hudson (Joan Crawford) is her sister who has always been in her shadow, but is discovered to be a fairly good actress in her 20’s. When a horrific accident cripples Blanche, Jane blames herself but keeps Blanche hostage her entire life. Confining her to her wheelchair in her bedroom on the second floor. There are a lot of further complexities in this piece but what I noticed, was that through the wardrobe we can see exactly where each sister has remained stuck, holding on to a part of their life that was lost. In 1962 when this movie was released, we never really saw older women in leading roles. What is now the term “hagsplotation” citied from a Guardian article from 2018, this genre of horror where old Hollywood screen queens were able to seek refuge for their careers and play a version of themselves going mad. Although we as fan love every decade of the genre, it wasn’t really until the 90’s that horror was taken seriously, it still isn’t but we are making strides. The idea of a woman who has not let go of her youth in the way that Jane does, really shows how the male gaze thinks that we don’t have lives after a certain age. She is desperate to revive her act. Fluttering around the house singing songs from her glory days, wearing robes and dresses that mirror those of 1917 where she got her start. Bold floral designs ruffled laced sleeves; it is all very juvenile. When we see her interact with her neighbor Mrs. Bates (Anna Lee) who is a woman of the time her clothing looks completely out of place. Mrs. Bates is wearing tailored suits and pencil skirts. Garden trousers to work around the house in, and Jane in contrast looks completely gaudy and out of place. That was solely the intention in her costumes as well, and it lands. While Blanche isn’t as stuck as Jane is, her wardrobe isn’t modern either. Long dresses with tied sailor collars, her patterns, and cuts mirror that of 1935, where we see her career end. The choices that Norma made create this juxtaposing world, one that women face even still today, how do you remain in your “prime” or any sort of value to society, if time moves forward. And what happens when even your body starts to fail you that you become inhuman?
The last film I want to scratch the surface of is 2014’s The Taking of Deborah Logan designed by Jayme Bohn. This found footage style film shows us medical film students chronicling the events of Deborah Logan (Jill Larson) as her daughter Sarah (Anne Ramsey) is trying to take care of her. Deborah suffers from Alzheimer’s, a horrific neurological disease that attacks the memory in the brain. Those who suffer from it can go from forgetting family members names, to not being able to take care of themselves in a matter of years. Because Deborah is going through this, it has left her vulnerable for a demon to possess her. We see a woman at the beginning of the film, bright, wearing khakis and basic clothing for gardening turn into a monster adorning only a hospital gown and eating a small child. Hospital gowns in and of themselves are creepy, unlike a standard issued uniform from someplace like a school or job, there is a blankness that comes with medical wear. They are muted in color, and are made from light cheap fabric, thin and vulnerable garments, the fragility of life and death. Using this in contrast with Sarah who has a very “tough” look to her, blue jeans, layered sweatshirts, and steel toed work boots. We are shown just how dehumanizing this garment is, just like how the disease dehumanizes the patient.
There is still so much to unpack when it comes to how older women are used in films like this, how they are shown to age, and whether their value decreases or we see them finding their agency. Isn’t that always the cry? Women needing to find their agency in a patriarchal society. I hope that in the wake of Halloween (2018) and now Halloween Kills, we will start to see older women pick up the axe (pun intended) like Jamie Lee has done for Lori. I know for myself I want to be taken just as seriously and still feel beautiful as I do now when I get older. What I do see a shift in, is costume designers making more thoughtful choices within these women to represent more accurately the characters. This is most in part to more designers, like me, shouting to the mountain tops that our work has and always will be valuable. Costuming isn’t just some throw away element like people think it is. This topic is something I will keep coming back to and exploring from different perspectives, as I have only just scratched the surface, because not one of these older women I spoke about were women of color or queer. Their stories and how we age a multitude of women are worth exploring and unpacking.
