Netflix’s Grace and Frankie demonstrates that shows don’t have to be about young people to feel relevant, heartwarming, and hilarious.
We’re used to watching sitcoms about friends navigating relationships, work, and family in all manner of situations — from classics like Friends and How I Met Your Mother to today’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and New Girl — but while Grace and Frankie has a similar format and style, it stands out for daring to do something new.
Instead of focusing on characters in their 20s or 30s, it follows a kind of character that is usually relegated to the sidelines: the woman in her 70s.
After their longtime husbands leave them to marry each other, Grace and Frankie’s lives are completely uprooted and they have no choice but to find support in each other. As two very different women, they present two very different outlooks on life, with their strengths and their flaws, which the show thoroughly explores throughout its four seasons as they begin a new life full of new adventures.
And along with them comes an entire cast of older characters. From Sol and Robert, the women’s ex-husbands, to the friends and lovers that come in and out of their lives, Grace and Frankie tackles age as a natural part of life and doesn’t let it hold the characters back from anything.
While on-screen storytelling often relegates older characters to one-dimensional roles, Grace and Frankie are free to explore all the different facets of their life — which prove surprisingly relatable, even for viewers in their 20s.
Related: Grace and Frankie: What two women in their 70s taught me about living in my 20s
While Grace and Frankie’s idiosyncrasies (especially when it comes to their egos) can get tiresome sometimes, the show does a good job of dismantling the stereotype of old people only being wise or boring. People are always growing in different ways, and Grace and Frankie are no different.
Of course, they still always have wisdom to share with their children, and with the rest of the world; but instead of being relegated to rocking chairs from where they impart their wisdom, the women build a company, start new relationships, and even help in the births of their grandchildren.
The ‘80s Golden Girls was also a sitcom focused around women in their 70s, but Grace and Frankie tackle issues of age, romance, sex, and family with modern vigor. Featuring an interracial cast, it fearlessly explores feminist and gay issues through the eyes of an open-minded older generation, challenging usual depictions of today’s grandparents.
Grace and Frankie also experience romantic relationships throughout the show, with the same amounts of sweetness, comedy, and sex that Two Broke Girls had. But a new, interesting dimension is added with their age. As older women navigating new relationships, romance and sex take on new implications, both mentally and physically, closely tied to their family, their future, and their self-esteem.
It’s a beautiful thing to see a show that portrays the later decades of our lives in such a fun-loving, heartwarming fashion. After all, the challenge of being forced by circumstance to change one’s lifestyle, or the confusion of shifting roles between different social circles, or even learning how to deal with new relationships, are things everyone experiences, regardless of age.
Watching Grace and Frankie find solutions to their issues shows that it’s never too late to try something new — and that there’s always more to learn.
The show is also a victory in the acting industry, where actors and actresses are routinely typecast because of age — especially women. It’s wonderful to see actresses Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, who are so talented and have done such great work in their youth, shine in roles that fully take advantage of their expertise.
How often do we get to see women in their 70s in relationships just as fulfilling and romantic as youthful romances? How often can old age be explored in all of its complexities, in a way that is neither degrading nor superficial, but portrays it as natural and even funny?
Even with the difficulties in their lives, Grace and Frankie gives its younger audiences something to look forward to and people to identify with, no matter what their age. And as we look for stories that represent all areas of society, we should remember older generations as well — there’s a lot we can learn from their stories, and they’re watching Netflix, too!
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