#fun40

[lastnightatthemet]

[operasrsly]

The Met’s #Fun40 [x]  idea and what annoys me about it Can we just talk about the ageism in the whole concept? I’d like to hear your opinion. I mean it’s not as if there weren’t enough occasions already that point it out to especially women over 40 that they’re second class material and definitely no one’s first choice. 

Of course the young audiences are wooed by opera houses, like by every enterprise; it just makes sense. Yet there needs to be a way to do this without excluding half of the population, which isn’t only an asshole-move, but is also economically not clever. Moreover, marketing, especially in the last few years sort of invented the “40+ an female” category in the first place, after which you are of no whichever so faint interest any more as a target group. (Exception: since I turned forty, I keep getting suggestions for stair lifts and retirement homes – I kid you not.) I’m disappointed that opera houses and concert venues are jumping the badwagon, making people like me feel unwanted in total. In seriousness, I am reluctant to go where I’m told over and over again that I’m not the first choice. My feeble sense of pride is getting in the way there.  The image though tops it off for me. What is this, a hookup-party with a guaranteed surplus of women? 

How old is the guy on the right exactly? Well maybe he’s 25 and it’s a bad angle, and all. And of course he has to be slightly but distinctly in the foreground, three out of five are facing him, to ensure it’s all about him. Because, of course, everything is about the precious males; that’s what the picture says if used out of context, like as a featured image for this article. The resulting heteronormativity, the general concept and everything pisses me off too much for my own good. 

And I haven’t even started about the obvious racism apparent by choosing this picture in particular. This is not how New York looks like, on average. Yet by them choosing the image, I have to conclude that this is how the Met likes its audience. (Of course, I am not having a problem with any of the people in the picture who just happened to be there and had a great time.)  Oh well, cheers.