Jann's Blog: Meryl Streep as Sage

Meryl Streep is well known. She is the recipient of two Academy Awards as well as 15 Oscar nominations and 23 Golden Globe nominations. This is more than any other actor in the history of either award. But Streep finds the fact that she is still working unbelievable.

Meryl Streep via last.fm

In a cover story article in Vanity Fair, Streep said the following:

"It's incredible--I'm 60, and I'm playing the romantic lead in romantic comedies! ... Bette Davis is rolling over in her grave. She was 42 when she did All About Eve, and she was 54 when she did What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"

When Streep was preparing to be Julia Child in Julie and Julia, she was constantly amazed that when Julia Child's famous book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was published Child was almost 50 years old. "So she didn't really become 'Julia Child' until she was 50."

Brigitte Lacombe, French photographer, has taken photos of Streep for more than three decades. She thinks Streep's power comes from fighting the pressures put on by society about aging.

As Streep ages, she refuses to alter her face with cosmetic surgery of Botox. "If you start to do something lie that, it's very hard to stop," said Lacombe. "If you understand that what makes your work good is not the way you look, as you grow older, you take different parts. It's like women in real life who want to hang on to a certain part of their life and to look younger. they miss every other stage of their life. To try to stop the time, to look young--it's such a futile, absurd way to look at life in general, and it's very detrimental to their work.

They may think that it prolongs their work, and maybe they might get one or two parts more, but their face is their tool, and also what they understand about life, what they go through in life. If you alter it, you deprive yourself of some of what you need to do your work well."

Sage-ing is all about appreciating where you are in life and making the most of it. The journey of becoming a sage involves accepting life and reflecting on life experience in order to gain wisdom to pass on to others in the form of a legacy. Being comfortable in one's skin is always the best way to live.

I have seen celebrity speakers who could barely smile because of alterations to their faces. In fact, one person kept putting her hands in front of her face when she laughed because I think she was embarrassed that she no longer looked like the video being shown of her from past movies.

While I am sure it is tempting to want to halt the signs of time, sage-ing is about acceptance and appreciation. This reminds me of a quote remembered from a long time ago (went something such as this):

"Face lines remind me that I showed some expressions during my life."

As Streep concluded:

"As there begins to be less time ahead of you, you want to be exactly who you are ..."

I agree with this.