An original Netflix comedy, Grace and Frankie has a little bit of something for everyone. The series is about, well, Grace and Frankie, two women in their 70s who find out their husband’s are gay and in love with one another after over forty years of marriage. What’s great about the series is the variety of characters, the fresh older generation perspective and the way it so perfectly aims to smash societal stereotypes and prejudices. Ranging from a variety of topics like homosexual relationships, growing old, female sexuality in young and older generations, Grace and Frankie is definitely a must watch! Here are the top 5 reasons why everyone should watch this iconic show…
Smashing stereotypes about growing old.
Growing old has become this big thing that we all dread even though it is inevitable. But maybe this isn’t really the way we should think about aging. Japanese cultures ask older members of society their age because it is culturally important to provide them honorary treatment. In these oriental cultures, growing old is viewed as an honor that deserves the utmost respect. It makes sense, as older people have lived and are full of wisdom and we should treat them as the valuable members of society that they are. Still, in our occidental cultures, growing old is seen through a negative lense, and asking someone’s age is even seen as rude. What we don’t realize is that getting older is natural part of life that we should embrace and members of the older community are, for the most part just as able, if not more (because of experience) to do everything a young person can do. In this revolutionary comedy series, we see Grace, Frankie, Robert and Sol and all their other friends having perfectly normal functional lives. Robert and Sol continue to be divorce lawyers and when they retire, they pursue a hobby in theater. Grace and Frankie start a new business together and start dating again after their divorce. I think this portrayal of older life is liberating as it shows this stage of life as an opportunity for further growth and development. This is the time when the characters have all the time to be able to do what they love with the wisdom of all their years of experience. There is no need to hide our age. This just gets better from here!
Female Sexuality
No one wants to hear about how their grandmother has sex. Hate to break it to you, but she does. It’s a natural part of life, and some psychology theories even describe the way the drive for sex increases in women as they get older. The stereotype surrounding older women and sex it’s just plain ridiculous. The way the series tackles this problem is ingenious because the business that Grace and Frankie set out to pursue is creating and patenting a design for a vibrator that caters to the older women’s needs. Plot twist: all their friends (other older women) love the product. Before they embark on developing this product, Frankie had already tried selling her natural recipe for lube. To top it all off, both women also lead sexually active dating lives. And it’s all good, it’s healthy, it helps us women from a younger generation gain a little example that we may not have had from our own grandmothers and mothers and realize that our sexuality and what she chose to do with is our choice. And whatever that may be it’s okay.
LGBT+ community and older people
Robert and Sol are Grace and Frankie’s respective ex husbands and the series starts with them coming out of the closet. The fact that these two characters are in their 70s just brings a whole new perspective on this issue and breaks the generation gap that is usually associated with the LGTB+ community. We are used to having the LGTB+ movement associated with the younger generations, as though we came up with it. But the truth is, this is not specific to any generation.
Living life the way you choose
Mallory is a stay at home mother of 4 children and Briana is a kickass CEO and business owner and they are both incredible in their respective jobs. There is nothing wrong with Mallory’s decision to have lots of children and there is nothing wrong with Briana wanting to stay single and continue to succeed in her career. Neither one nor the other is wrong in the way they chose to live their lives. In the same way, Coyote and Nwabudike are basically the same age but at very different stages of their lives. Coyote is trying to make his relationship work, still looking for a job, basically finding himself while living in a tiny house. Nwabudike, on the other hand, has a stable job as a lawyer in his father’s firm, is having a baby with his girlfriend, and getting ready to get married. It teaches us that it is okay to settle down and build a family if that’s what we are ready to do and how it’s also okay to take longer to find ourselves and to explore what we want to do with our lives.