upworthy

older women

Old friends are the best.

One of life's greatest joys is laughing over random things with our friends, and that's true whether we're 8 or 80. Someone in the group says or does something silly, and before long everyone is in stitches, clutching their sides and trying catch their breath.

Perhaps that's why a video of a group of grandmas giggling hysterically has gone viral. A young woman shared the video with the text, "My grandma hung out with her school friends today and sent me this video of them trying to put their seatbelts on." That may not sound very exciting, but this video has everything—old friends, a confounding gadget, raucous laughter, and a granny dropping the least offensive f-bomb ever.

The video has been viewed over 8 million times and people can't get enough of these women.

Some pointed out how beautiful it is to see this kind of joy:

"This is the most wholesome thing I’ve seen in ages 🙏"

"i was laughing with them till i realised they would’ve laughed exactly the same when they were younger and now im crying, i cant wait for this part of my life❤️."

"This warms my heart so much. How lucky they’re to still have each other in their lives 🥰"

"I just sent this to my girl group and said 'I hope we are like this at this age' ❤️"

older women, old friends, best friends, aging, grandmas Old friend shenanigans are the best shenanigans.Photo credit: Canva

Others acknowledged that these ladies were probably rabble rousers back in the day:

"I just know they were trouble in the past."

"They look like trouble NOW! 😂"

"Omg I almost peed myself watching this 🤣 between the 'somebody can sit in the middle' it's Mr Bean and what the F… you know these ladies are a wild bunch. 🤣🤣🤣"

"They were definitely NEVER allowed to sit next to each other during class."

older women, old friends, best friends, aging, grandmas Every friend group has a Ruthy. Photo credit: Canva

And isn't it true that every friend group has its Ruthy?

"Ruthy was the mom of the group for sure."

"Oh Ruthy was the Type A friend. 😅"

"Ruth coming to the rescue 3 business days too late. 😂😩"

Even Dove (the beauty products company) weighed in with "Girlhood never ages 💙."

older women, old friends, best friends, aging, grandmas "Girlhood never ages." Photo credit: Canva

Some people are insisting on seeing more "Grandma & Friends" content:

"I’m just waiting to see more can we bring back grandma and her friends? 🤣❤️❤️"

"Give these ladies a tv show."

"Need THE FULL SERIES ONE AND TWO OF NANNA ADVENTURES!✨✨✨✨"

"There’s nothing more chaotic and hilarious than older women together trying to problem solve."

Which the granddaughter heard and responded to with "I am going to try and get my grandma to film their reactions to all the love and funny comments. STAY TUNED."


golden girls, older women, old friends, best friends, aging It's like a real-life Golden Girls episode. Giphy GIF by HULU

The best part of people's reactions to these granny shenanigans is how many see themselves and their own friends in them. As we see ourselves arriving at old age someday, we want this kind of joy and connection to follow us there. Seeing old friendships on display gives us a sense of hope and reminds us that whatever we go through in life, if we're fortunate, we'll have our friends around to make us laugh for the long haul.

Thanks to this raucous group of grannies for a beautiful and hopeful glimpse into the future.

You can follow @sophiespamcan on TikTok to watch for any follow-ups on her grandma's girlfriend group.

Family

A viral tweet makes a great point about who gets to be 'old' in Hollywood.

What Marisa Tomei's portrayal of Aunt May tells us about being a woman over 50 in Hollywood.

Marisa Tomei is the youngest actor to take on the role of Aunt May in a Spider-Man movie.

Tomei as Aunt May in "Spider-Man: Homecoming." Photo from Sony Pictures Entertainment/YouTube.

Not everyone was a fan of the decision to cast Tomei, who's 53, as Peter Parker's Aunt May, with many critics saying she was too young for the role, which has traditionally been played by actors significantly older. When Rosemary Harris played Aunt May in 2002, she was 75 years old; in 2012, when Sally Field took on the role, she was 66.


In an interview with the New York Times, Tomei addressed some of the concerns she had about being cast as a "dowdy widow," saying she was "horrified" and "crushed" to learn which character she had been cast as, once she was shown an illustration of Aunt May in the comic books.

"I don’t want to be coming from an ageist point of view about that, at all. It was my own personal cross to bear at that moment," Tomei clarified. She even considered going "full-on silver hair," for the role, but later learned that the goal was actually to cast May as a sort of "big-sister" to Tom Holland's Peter Parker.

But that begs the question: Just what is a 53-year-old woman "supposed" to look like, anyway?

Twitter personality Calvin Stowell blew some minds when he shared this tweet, pointing out that Tomei is older in "Spider-Man: Homecoming" than Rue McClanahan was at the start of "Golden Girls."

I know, right? Pick your jaw up off the floor.

When "Golden Girls" premiered in 1985, McClanahan was 51 years old. And while she was the youngest of the four main cast members by more than a decade, the show's premise could best be described as the adventures of a group of older women. (To be fair, when Tomei filmed "Spider-Man: Homecoming," she was also 51, but still, it's a really interesting comparison.)

Some misinterpreted the point Stowell was trying to make, seeing it as an attack on McClanahan's appearance. But that's certainly not what he meant.

"It was more of a dig at Hollywood for casting someone 51 to be a geriatric retiree than competing their looks against each other," he writes in a Twitter direct message. "I love them both."

Actresses in Hollywood aren't given the chance to really get old. They're either young or they're old, with no in-between.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Tomei touched on this, saying, "Well, I only got to be old very recently. The industry has decided I’m an aunt-type now. I’m like, is this the way it gets broken to me?"

Hollywood seems set on pushing women from the role of hot, young leading ladies straight to senior citizen status. And even then, women over 50 are often forced into a binary choice between hot or dowdy. It's all a byproduct of both the industry and society's sexism.

Tomei attends the "Spider-Man: Homecoming" world premiere. Photo by Valerie Macon/AFP/Getty Images.

But there is room in between. There is room for women in their 50s in movies to be portrayed like Tomei, McClanahan, and everyone in between. And there are a lot of great, diverse actresses in their 50s still making waves, such as Andie MacDowell, Angela Bassett, Catherine Keener, Jane Lynch, Julianne Moore, Diane Lane, and many more.

Sure, the casting of a progressively younger May in each film raised a few eyebrows, but in the end, Tomei's casting was actually a pretty great fit, reframing Aunt May as Peter Parker's actual aunt rather than his great aunt.

Until it's no longer "the industry" making these sorts of distinctions, there will always be an issue. But for now, this seems like a step in the right direction.