‘There’s more to middle age than a saggy belly’: gender, ageing, and agency in Kate Winslet’s post Weinstein star image

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the changing star image of Kate Winslet as she enters middle age. It interrogates the media reception of her recent work and off-screen image, considering how discourses around women’s agency, visibility, and opportunity in the wake of #MeToo and #TimesUp have impacted this reception specifically in relation to age. Taking Winslet’s work in the HBO series Mare of Easttown and the independent film Ammonite as case studies, the article maps her contemporary star image in relation to gender and ageing from 2020 to early 2022. It argues that the rhetoric of #MeToo and #TimesUp has both challenged and reinforced strands of her star image focussed on notions of desirability and gendered and raced body image ideals. Whilst the ‘post Weinstein’ era has in some instances produced new opportunities for older female performers like Winslet, the article considers how discourses on age, visibility, and value nevertheless maintain barriers for older female stars in the contemporary screen industries.