Now, I’m not saying I started something, but since my book release last June, there’s been a definite uptick in entertainment featuring over 40 protagonists.

You’re welcome.

It was not so long ago that we considered adults -especially and unfairly, women- in their 40s and 50s as old, retired, GOLDEN. (Did you know that the cast of Sex and the City is now older than The Golden Girls were when their show premiered? Let that sink in.)

But now, in movies, film, and on streaming (give me a call, Netflix, let’s talk), I’m thrilled to see Gen X actors helming projects depicting them as desirable, successful, aspirational. Check out the latest movies of Nicole Kidman, Brooke Shields, Anne Hathaway, Michelle Yeoh and Carla Gugino to name just a few. Romy and Michele are getting a sequel this year. At 57, Viola Davis is the latest woman to join the EGOT club.

And then there’s music: Madonna’s Celebration tour stirred up controversy in the latter half of 2023 and early 2024, while Cyndi Lauper is launching her worldwide farewell tour in October (112 days until I see her in Nashville, but who’s counting). Other Gen Xers on the road include Janet Jackson, PJ Harvey, Melissa Ethridge, Alanis Morrisette and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

Book club favorites such as Taylor Reid Jenkins and Rebecca Serle have made careers by writing books examining the power of nostalgia and what comes after the “happily ever after.”  (And while their protagonists aren’t all over 40, many of them are, or grappling with the challenges of comebacks and redefining themselves on their own terms.) And speaking of books, check out 80’s-icons-turned-authors Susannah Hoffs and Justine Bateman.

And we certainly can’t ignore the men of Gen X, who are having their own resurgence. In June, Andrew McCarthy released his must-see documentary BRATS about the power of words and the far-reaching effects of nostalgia. And July welcomes some of this summer’s hottest new releases, including Find Me Falling, starring 56-year-old Harry Connick Jr as a rock star searching for the woman that got away, as well as the final season of Cobra Kai, and the (I hope) reconciliation of enemies-turned-odd-couple-bromancers Johnny Lawrence and Daniel Laruso.

Is this resurgence because Gen Xers are old enough that we are now the ones funding and directing entertainment? Is Hollywood being held captive by our collective pop culture experiences? (and by that rationale, is this why, when we were in our teens, our movies were all based around 50s nostalgia?)

Or is it because, in true Gen X fashion, our generation refuses to sit down and be quiet, no matter how “forgotten” we are?

I believe it’s because we still have things to say. They may have tried to brainwash us to think of ourselves in the simplest terms, the most convenient definitions. But we grew up on a diet of Madonna, Cyndi, Stevie, Whitney, and Tina. Of Molly, Demi, Oprah, and Sigourney. We won’t retire or fade away until we decide it’s time. We’ll keep demanding to relevant, respected, seen.

Don’t you forget about Gen X. We still have work to do.