You might be interested to know there is more to this woman than a beautiful face. She’s got a brain, too. And a healthy dose of attitude. In a recent interview in More Magazine, JM revealed that she is aging thoughtfully and with confidence. For one thing, she is moving away from acting in dark movies. “I used to think, ‘Life’s really challenging. Things are tough, so they should be tough in a book, in a movie. They should be sad.’ But the older I get, the more I like happy endings.”
So she has decided to forego negativity, to a certain extent, because – hello – it’s not necessarily productive. At our age, we’ve dealt with a lot of pain in our lives. So why torture yourself with depressing novels, stories, and movies? I don’t mean stick your head in the sand, but be mindful of what you expose yourself to.
Consider the news. Bill and I practically fast-forward through the whole thing. A story would come up about a dog biting off the ear of a 1-year-old, and I’d speed past it. Then a drunk driver plowing into another car, killing the whole family. I swear to God, I used to shout at the TV, “Why the hell do I need to know this?” Stupid, gratuitous, heartbreaking “news.” One night I realized we were basically just fast-forwarding to the weather. Like I can’t get that from my phone.
Julianne also said, “When you’re starting out in this business, you feel like you’re not in charge, that
you’re still looking to the world for a kind of validation. But as you get older, you realize that direction comes from yourself,
from your own desires and responsibilities. You choose your work. You choose your life. That’s where your power comes from-and that’s a great feeling.”
She seems to have a sense of humor, and when asked to complete the More questionnaire, she gave these somewhat testy responses.
- What is more important to you today than 20 years ago? – Being alive.
- What’s more terrifying than failure? – Broken bones.
- More women seek to age gracefully. What’s your advice? – What’s the alternative? To not age?
I think she’s cool with whatever time is going to do with her face and body. If Hollywood’s obsession with taut skin and perky boobs ends up sinking Julianne’s career, she’ll shrug and do something else. No big deal. As Bill Maher said in the video, “You’re beautiful when you’re young and you’re wise when you’re old. Duh. Get over it.”
Have a great Thanksgiving.
I also fast forward and more often than not just turn the blasted TV off.
Not only the news is sensationalized but the crime shows and movies are horrendous. The victims are almost always women and it’s frightening to think that people actually think up these murder plots, it’s quite sickening. Unfortunately there is an appetite in our culture for this disgusting material. The Media Gurus who market this crap have made evil into an art form. Thanks for another thought provoking post Lynne.
Hi Lynda, I used to read the Alex Cross series by James Patterson, but then one day I realized that every novel began with the gratuitous sexual or violent abuse of a woman. It was for quote unquote entertainment, of course. Like we could all pretend to be horrified, but really nobody was horrified. We were in fact all completely cool with it. Because woman as victim was just a device, not really a depiction of an actual human. So I quit reading Patterson and I am so with you on this!
Wonderful post, Lynne. Where do I start? I’m with you on the news being harmful to one’s peace of mind. I haven’t completely stopped watching it but I find myself less and less inclined to tune in on a regular basis. I love Julianne’s attitude. Rather than bemoaning old age, celebrate that we’ve made it this far intact and wiser because of all we’ve had to endure to get to this point. And Bill Maher’s video is spot on. Thank you for always making it worth stopping by!
Thanks for saying so, Kathy! Happy Thanksgiving, my friend.
What a refreshing, wonderful outlook. I see it in you, too, Lynne.
Thanks, Jim. What a nice thing to say.
Lynn, I found myself swearing at the news, cringing at beheadings and crying over so many sad happenings. A good friend told me to go on a “fasting” from the news, that what I was experiencing and expressing was bad for me and my soul. So I cut my news watching 75% sometimes more. I also read a comment by Joseph Campbell that said it all. “Anyone who believes that they can make the world better is barking up the wrong tree. The world is perfect. It is a mess. It has always been a mess.” He also went on to say if you feel you need to do something to help do it with the awareness that it may help or it may not and that’s fine or words to that effect. When I think about his life’s work studying the world’s cultures from ancient to present times, I realized even though these are messy more than messy times, nothing much under the sun seems to change.
Oh, boy, Dolores, you are so right. Nothing is new under the sun. It’s just that now the media shines a light on every sad thing that’s going on. For example, on the FRONT PAGE of my newspaper this morning, there was a story about cruelty to a child. Excuse me while I shout: HOW THE EFF IS THIS GOING TO HELP ME OR THEM? But it sells papers, I guess. But we don’t have to participate. If we can help, fine. Otherwise, save yourself! Don’t read it.
This morning at breakfast with two counselor friends we spoke of eros. Not sexual eros, but the eros of connective friendship, communion of the three of us. I said, and I believe with agreement, that the older I am, the more into connective eros I am. Younger, much younger I was searching for sexual eros….only. Of course, my memory is not what it once was.
Bob, I have a blogger friend whose posts are closed to comments. Every time. She doesn’t prefer to receive commentary. I don’t understand this. For me, the connective eros is everything. Without community, my writing is nothing. It’s vapor. Thanks for sharing that concept.
I love Julianne Moore! Thanks for helping us access this. It’s encouraging.
Jan, did you see her in The Shipping News with Kevin Spacey? She’s wonderful.
I am pleased that we are not alone in celebrating out age.
For the longest time I felt that I was alone.
Your blog posts are my weekly Light Lynne.
Thank-you.
Kathleen, your words mean everything to me. Without the interaction from friends, I’d just be shouting into the void. Thank you.