Lots of people, particularly from back in my generation, went through a rebellious stage in their youth. It was a sign of the times. Some took a bit longer to grow out of it than others, though. In the case of Jane Fonda, the process has taken her almost to the age of 80 with no sign of letting up. After her rather embarrassing performance at the Emmys this year, demonstrating how she’s still part of the #RESIST movement, one might think she’d give it a break for a bit. Sadly, that was not the case.
The Barbarella star sat down for an interview with the BBC recently and was pitched one of the softball questions which every liberal attraction is given these days. Are you proud of America? Anyone who hasn’t already guessed the answer should probably take up a new hobby because politics clearly isn’t your thing. (Fox News)
Jane Fonda made it clear she is not proud of America.
During a recent interview with the BBC, Fonda was asked, “Are you proud of America today?”
The actress was very quick to reply with a hard “no.”
“But, I’m proud of the resistance,” she elaborated. “I’m proud of the people who are turning out in unprecedented numbers and continue and continue over and over and over again to protest what Trump is doing. I’m very proud of them, that core.”
It’s nice that she’s proud of something I suppose. Everyone needs a peg to hang their hat on.
The BBC reporter went on to another of the old standards which Fonda can never avoid. What about that trip to Vietnam where she picked up the eternal Hanoi Jane moniker? Any regrets?
Not really. Her only regret is going to the “ceremony” at the anti-aircraft gun that gave the “appearance” that she was siding with the enemy. This is a story arc which has been evolving over the decades. In 1988 during an interview with Barbara Walters she actually apologized and said it was “unforgivable” but ten years later she was on CBS and said that she had nothing to be sorry for. Then in 2000, she was apologizing again. But now, well… memory can be a tricky thing after a certain point, so the story seems to have combined her two approaches to the point where she’s simply sorry that you all don’t understand that it was all one big misunderstanding. Or something.
Either way, it keeps her in good graces with her fans… whoever those happen to be these days. I do have to wonder what her father would think were he still with us today. Henry Fonda passed away more than 35 years ago, but he always struck me as a fine man with a healthy amount of respect for and gratitude to the nation which had given him so much. He had a rocky relationship with his adult daughter when he was alive by most accounts, but the whole Hanoi Jane thing probably hit him pretty hard.
In any event, here’s Fonda in the trailer for what was arguably her finest cinematic work. Shockingly, the trailer is borderline safe for work, though perhaps still dangerous for your sanity.
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