Jane Fonda

[Deleted]

Never understood her appeal.

[stephanie]

innocentone said:

Never understood her appeal.

slightly o/t: I never understood her appeal as an actress.

As someone who witnessed the lies that pre-empted the senseless attack on Viet Nam and stacks of body bags during the Viet Nam era I have much respect for Jane the activist who stood up and told it like it really was over there. Just as I have respect for those who are standing up for the truth in this country about the deceit that got us into Iraq, which IMHO is the equivalent of our government then/now and Iraq being the equivalent of Viet Nam reincarnated.

[dancedancexenu]

abbynormal said:

fangirl said:

Just named as a spokesperson for L'Oreal

Remind me never to buy another L'Oreal product again.

The hate, it burns.

L'Oreal also tests on animals, just to fuel your hatred.

Again, I think Jane Fonda is well-meaning but dim-witted and quick to pick up on the tide of what is both cool and counter-culture. She likes to tell us what we as a society have done wrong and remind us that she didn't do what the rest of us did.

[Deleted]

dancedancexenu said:

abbynormal said:

Remind me never to buy another L'Oreal product again.

The hate, it burns.

L'Oreal also tests on animals, just to fuel your hatred.

Again, I think Jane Fonda is well-meaning but dim-witted and quick to pick up on the tide of what is both cool and counter-culture. She likes to tell us what we as a society have done wrong and remind us that she didn't do what the rest of us did.

Thanks for the news about L'Oreal testing on animals. Last time I checked the PETA list (years ago), they were NOT testing. Now I have to find new makeup.

topic: I agree that Jane tends to tell us all how to live. But usually I don't have a problem with it. She speaks from experience at least and doesn't make stuff up. Nor does she conduct her own self-help therapy (a la Oprah) on the masses to fix herself. She did overdo it with the exercising in the 80s but she admits it now. I can't see her telling less than truth at this point in her life. She seems to really have her act together these days.

[Deleted]

I could respect Jane Fonda on the Vietnam issue had she only been an anti-war activist. It's the visit to the POW camp as a guest of the Viet Cong and sitting behind the barrel of an anti-aircraft gun that turned her into something else.

I think Snopes has a pretty good summary of what happened.

[hal9000]

zivvie said:

I never thought Jane was in the same league, acting-wise, as her contemporaries. Her acting always seemed to be extremely mannered and external to me. /didactic acting talk

I haven't seen many of her films, but she left me cold in, of all things, Barbarella and that awful Neil Simon thing with Robert Redford. I do intend to see Klute, however.

I do love her in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, though. She perfectly complimented the Susannah York craziness and the Red Buttons false bravado as the cold embodiment of the era. The scene in which she goes to bed with Gig Young for favour/as revenge captures in all honesty what is bleak and perfunctory about that kind of agreement.

[Deleted]

I think her seven Oscar nominations and two wins speak for themselves.
She was great in Klute, Julia, They Shoot Horses, Don't They, and Coming Home. Julia is one of my favorites, but I'm also fond of Stanley and Iris and Barefoot in the Park. I'd love to see her work again with Robert Redford or Donald Sutherland
After seeing her in Monster in Law, I hope I can look half that good at 68.

[Deleted]

I agree that she looks fantastic for her age, but I cannot reconcile what made her travel to Vietnam and spout such inane sentiments. I just don't understand her motivation.

[Deleted]

Well, now that I'm older I can't understand why I did some things I regret in my past. Thankfully, the people I know have forgiven me. Better yet, I'm not famous so I didn't have to explain myself to more than my immediate circle.
I think there should be a statute of limitations on stupid mistakes so we don't have to carry their burden forever. I protested against the Vietnam war when I was in college but I didn't have the opportunity to make a spectacle of myself the way she did because of her celebrity. I shook my head at Jane when it was all happening, but that was a long time ago.
I always enjoyed her films, and really, that's what was important to me.

[katyzz]

Wasn't she in her thirties when this happened though? Kind of past the age to use the "young and stupid" excuse.

Personally, what she did has never kept me from enjoying plenty of her movies, but I can understand why those who were closer to that situation still hold it against her.