We’re still living with the old paradigm of age as an arch. That’s the old metaphor: You’re born, you peak at midlife and decline into decrepitude.

Fonda critiques a deeply ingrained cultural story about aging: life as a single arc that rises to a midlife apex and then inevitably falls into decline. By naming it a “metaphor” and a “paradigm,” she suggests it is not a biological law but a narrative framework that shapes expectations, policy, and self-conception. The quote implies that people internalize this model and may treat later life as a period of loss rather than development. Her language (“still living with”) also hints at the persistence of ageism—how outdated assumptions continue to govern how society values older adults and how individuals imagine their own futures.