Happy and entrepreneurial within the “here and now”: the constitution of the neoliberal female ageing subject

Abstract

In this article, I argue that in recent years not only have we witnessed the increasing cultural visibility of ageing women across the Anglo-American cultural landscape, but that this new visibility represents the emergence of a new ideal of ageing female subjecthood. Focusing on Netflix’s hit series Grace and Frankie, I demonstrate how older women are incessantly exhorted to become entrepreneurial, make self-investments, and be happy. Challenging what scholars have described as neoliberalism’s future-oriented temporality, I show that in the case of women in their “third age” a different kind of temporal register—namely the “here and now”—is at play. I contend that the “here and now” operates by both contracting and protracting the present moment, and that through this interplay the new ideal of ageing female subjecthood is made possible. Indeed, the emphasis on the present moment provides the necessary temporal horizon for ageing women to self-invest and become entrepreneurial, while simultaneously inciting them to cultivate endless optimism. Finally, I suggest that the interpellation of older women as happy and entrepreneurial subjects responsible for their own health and well-being conceals the ongoing attack on the welfare state by neoliberal policies in countries like the US and the UK.

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