Monday, October 16, 2017

More Olga Action Cam, and Jane Fonda


Here's Olga's second outing with her Action Cam -- this time to Hampstead Heath, where she chased her tennis ball, went for a swim and hunted squirrels. Woo hoo!

Making and editing that video was only part of yesterday's busy day. Last night Dave and I went to see "An Evening with Jane Fonda" at the Savoy Theatre. TV host Graham Norton and Jane (who turns 80 on December 21, following my mother by about six months) sat together on the stage and chatted for a while, and then took questions from the audience -- and it was a terrific evening.

As I've written before (back when I saw her on Broadway in 2009) I've been an admirer of Jane Fonda since the '70s. I read her memoirs when they came out about ten years ago, and some of what she talked about last night she'd also discussed in the book. (She told several Katharine Hepburn stories, for example, mimicking Hepburn's distinctive quavery voice.)

She said several times that she believes she is in a continual process of "giving birth to herself," discovering her truths and readdressing what went before. "My life is my art," she said at one point, and I like that idea -- that by living you are creating, and constantly changing and evolving as well.

Of course she discussed the movies she'd made -- "Klute" and "On Golden Pond" and "Coming Home," about which she intimately described the filming of the famous sex scene. But she really came alive when she talked about politics -- about how part of the blame for Trump falls squarely on the neo-liberalism of the Democratic party, which has abandoned the working classes. Hillary Clinton didn't even visit several of the traditionally democratic working class states that she ultimately lost, Fonda pointed out. She said she liked Clinton and supported her, but blamed that turn away from the party's roots for its losses (and the gains of Trump and the Tea Party, which stepped into the gap).

Many working class people, she said, have lost crucial elements of their own identities -- the union jobs, the sense of belonging that those organizational ties brought, the feeling of being part of something greater than themselves. That's why the NRA has become so powerful, she said -- it has offered those people a place in a greater vision, a greater whole.

She also took a question from a woman who is Vietnamese, and who -- it turned out -- met Fonda and was photographed with her as a child during Fonda's anti-war visit to Hanoi in the early 1970s. (That visit still causes a lot of grumbling and eye-rolling among conservatives, including Dave's dad, but Fonda remains proud of it. Her mistake, she said, was being photographed atop an anti-aircraft gun, which wasn't loaded or being used at the time, but sent a false message that she was essentially gunning for her own countrymen.) Fonda and the woman had a bit of a moment remembering the circumstances of their meeting, and Fonda told the woman to visit her backstage after the show.

It was a fascinating evening! And during all this, Olga stayed home and slept off her adventures on the Heath, no doubt dreaming of squirrels.

14 comments:

jenny_o said...

I believe Jane Fonda's analysis is right. It's similar what I was trying to express in my comments here on your blog right after Trump was elected. Leaders on the democratic side need to figure out why people in the country were sufficiently disgruntled with them that they would give a victory to Trump, if they wish to turn the situation around. And to do that, they have to truly listen and truly try to understand. When people have lost their livelihoods and (as she points out) their identity, they have little to lose by turning to someone who offers a different route back to what they've lost. Her analysis is, of course, much deeper and more refined than mine was.

I can hardly believe she is 80! She has seemed ageless through the years.

Now I'm off to watch an Olga-view of the world :)

jenny_o said...

Aaaaand . . . loved it! It gives a really good sense (for those of us who don't live with a dog) of how they live through their senses, hearing smelling feeling ALL THE THINGS. I was about to ask if the cam ever gets caught in low-lying bushes or tree limbs but I think that's what happened right there at the end, isn't it?

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Jane Fonda? What a woman! At eighty she looks so, so desirable and of course one admires her lifelong left-leaning outlook. It must have been a fascinating evening. Did you ask a question? Perhaps about what to do with plastic takeaway containers.

As for the Olga Fonda footage - brilliant! It's as if her ears are two little characters in their own right and I love it when Olga has a good old shake. I must admit I didn't spot any squirrels. Maybe they were just in her imagination.

Elle Clancy said...

That sounds wonderful; would love to have attended. I am an admirer of hers; she speaks her mind and owns everything she does. And she is spot-on re: the Democratic party. We simply must get our act together.

Fun memory: remember those videos she did years and years ago, with the leg warmers? I have a vivid memory of my mom and I watching one, while sitting on the couch and drinking Tab. Sitting, being the operative word here. (And do they even make Tab anymore??)

Ms. Moon said...

Something about Jane Fonda has always irritated me. Not her politics and probably not even her acting. Perhaps it was all of those exercise videos. So much energy spent on making women feel inadequate if they didn't look like her in leg warmers and leotards. Instead of being part of the solution for women's equality, I felt like she was part of the problem.
But that's just me.
Olga, on the other hand, is a perfect example of the joy of life and I love her for that.

37paddington said...

Apart from the exercise videos—and Jane Fonda later admitted she herself couldn't maintain the weight and form she was advocating to others, that the videos were essentially faked—I've always kind of liked Jane Fonda. I think it might have had something to do with her politics. Sounds like a fascinating evening.

ellen abbott said...

kinda psychedelic when she shakes the water off and runs fast.

Anonymous said...

I love that you went to see Jane Fonda. Hard to imagine that she's going to be 80 years old. Where does the time go? Maybe Olga knows. Her exuberant nature will uncover it all!

Catalyst said...

Loved the Olga video, especially when her ears perked up, listening for squirrels, I assume.

And Jane Fonda looks better than ever, I think. 'Course, since I'm only three years younger than her . . .

Vivian said...

I feel as if I've worked of a few hundred calories just watching Olga run. THOSE EARS. Just like Yorkshire said, they are characters in their own right. The music was the perfectly jaunty.

Yes, the Democrats won't win big until they start riding the right people to hate because it seems like that's what gets voters' attention. And point of fact, the Democrats did not "lose". They won the popular vote, so their message was good enough, but the Republicans out-smarted them with the electoral map-making.

Unknown said...

My life is made all the happier by the Olga videos. Time well spent on your part.

Sharon said...

Another fantastic Olga video. I loved it. It's fun seeing the world from a dogs point of view.
I would loved to have experienced that Jane Fonda interview. Have you seen her Netflix series called "Grace and Frankie"? It is hilarious. I wonder if she mentioned that at all. I can't get over how good she looks.

Marty said...

LOVE the Olga cam. She travels through her day with more purpose than most people I know. Brilliant.
And how lucky to see Jane Fonda. Too bad her politics are what people will likely remember about her, rather than her acting.

Lesley UK said...

What larks! I was exhausted just watching it. Love to Olga