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The Rules Episode 6 - Old Ladies
Hollywood didn't make older women invisible. It did something more calculated than that: it built a system of permits. You can be the detective. You can transgress amusingly. You can decay on screen as long as the decay is your fault. You can share a film with four other women the industry won't back individually. What you cannot do is simply exist, unremarkable, on your own terms, without justification.
This episode names the rules.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? - dir. Robert Aldrich (1962)
Sunset Boulevard - dir. Billy Wilder (1950)
Death Becomes Her - dir. Robert Zemeckis (1992)
The Substance - dir. Coralie Fargeat (2024)
Barbarian - dir. Zach Cregger (2022)
The Visit - dir. M. Night Shyamalan (2015)
Still Alice - dir. Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland (2014)
Away From Her - dir. Sarah Polley (2006)
The Father - dir. Florian Zeller (2020)
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - dir. John Madden (2012)
Nebraska - dir. Alexander Payne (2013)
Calendar Girls - dir. Nigel Cole (2003)
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning - dir. Christopher McQuarrie (2025)
F1 - dir. Joseph Kosinski (2025)
THE COMPANION PIECES
Non-fiction: The Deal - therulespodcast.substack.com/p/the-deal
Fiction: Mindbend and Invincigirl - available from 22nd May 2026 - therulespodcast.substack.com/
Director's Cut: Old Ladies - therulespodcast.substack.com/p/old-ladies-directors-cut
The Rules is an independent podcast from Pegasus Podcasts. New episodes drop weekly. If you liked this one, the best thing you can do is tell someone.
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By Neil ChapmanHollywood didn't make older women invisible. It did something more calculated than that: it built a system of permits. You can be the detective. You can transgress amusingly. You can decay on screen as long as the decay is your fault. You can share a film with four other women the industry won't back individually. What you cannot do is simply exist, unremarkable, on your own terms, without justification.
This episode names the rules.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? - dir. Robert Aldrich (1962)
Sunset Boulevard - dir. Billy Wilder (1950)
Death Becomes Her - dir. Robert Zemeckis (1992)
The Substance - dir. Coralie Fargeat (2024)
Barbarian - dir. Zach Cregger (2022)
The Visit - dir. M. Night Shyamalan (2015)
Still Alice - dir. Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland (2014)
Away From Her - dir. Sarah Polley (2006)
The Father - dir. Florian Zeller (2020)
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - dir. John Madden (2012)
Nebraska - dir. Alexander Payne (2013)
Calendar Girls - dir. Nigel Cole (2003)
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning - dir. Christopher McQuarrie (2025)
F1 - dir. Joseph Kosinski (2025)
THE COMPANION PIECES
Non-fiction: The Deal - therulespodcast.substack.com/p/the-deal
Fiction: Mindbend and Invincigirl - available from 22nd May 2026 - therulespodcast.substack.com/
Director's Cut: Old Ladies - therulespodcast.substack.com/p/old-ladies-directors-cut
The Rules is an independent podcast from Pegasus Podcasts. New episodes drop weekly. If you liked this one, the best thing you can do is tell someone.