Jane Fonda sounds the alarm in SAG Awards Life Achievement speech: ‘We are in our documentary moment’
It's probably no accident that the Screen Actors Guild chose a feminist heroine like Jane Fonda as the 60th recipient of its Life Achievement Award. Who better than an outspoken 87-year-old activist and cultural icon to meet the divisive moment with a rousing SAG Awards speech? As SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in announcing the honor, "Jane Fonda is a trailblazer and an extraordinary talent — a dynamic force who has shaped the landscape of entertainment, advocacy, and culture with unwavering passion. We honor Jane not only for her artistic brilliance but for the profound legacy of activism and empowerment she has created."
Fonda didn't disappoint on Sunday. Following a spirited introduction by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Fonda used her platform as a defiant, emotional call to arms and an opportunity to remind her audience of fellow actors that it's time to stand up amid a fraught political climate.
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"A whole lot of people are going to be really hurt by what is happening, what is coming our way," Fonda intoned. "And even if they're of a different political persuasion, we need to call upon our empathy and not judge but listen from our hearts and welcome them into our tent because we are going to need a big tent to resist successfully what's coming at us.
"Make no mistake," she added. "Empathy is not weak or woke. And by the way, 'woke' just means you give a damn about other people."
During her seven-and-a-half-minute acceptance that was interrupted at a few points by audio problems — including one that inspired her to ad lib "I can conjure up voices" — Fonda alluded repeatedly to the attacks on government workers, women, trans Americans, and people of color, even as she declined to name the president by name.
"Have any of you watched a documentary of one of the great social movements like apartheid or our civil rights movement or Stonewall," she began, "and asked yourself if you would have been brave enough to walk the bridge. Would you have been able to take the hoses and the batons and the dogs? We don't have to wonder anymore because we are in our documentary moment. This is it. And it's not a rehearsal. We must not for a moment kid ourselves about what's happening. This is big-time serious, folks. So let's be brave. This is a good time for a Norma Rae or Karen Silkwood or Tom Joad."
Building to a rousing conclusion that drew rapturous applause, Fonda continued, "We must not isolate. We must stay in community. We must help the vulnerable. We must find ways to project an inspiring vision of the future — one that is beckoning, welcoming, that help people believe that on the other side of the conflagration, there will still be love, there will be beauty, and there will be an ocean of truth for us to swim in. Let's make it so."
Beyond her artistic achievements, Fonda has long been a controversial vocal advocate for social causes going back to the 1960s, championing the Vietnam antiwar movement, gender equality, civil rights, and environmental/climate change causes. In 1972 she was photographed on a North Vietnamese enemy anti-aircraft gun, enraging a large segment of America and earning the derisive nickname Hanoi Jane. She cofounded with Barbra Streisand the Hollywood Women’s Political Committee in 1984 and the Women's Media Center in 2005. In 2022, she launched the Jane Fonda Climate PAC to combat the climate crisis, which she cites as her life’s work. She celebrated her 85th birthday by raising $1 million for her nonprofit, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power & Potential, which provides resources to adolescents to improve their overall health and wellbeing.
Until recently, Fonda had seemed to have outlasted the animosity engendered by her past political activism. She has clearly been enjoying her time as a national treasure, one who earned a pair of Best Actress Oscars (for Klute in 1972 and Coming Home in 1979) and an Emmy (for The Dollmaker in 1985), among dozens of other accolades. She has starred in light romantic comedies like Barefoot in the Park and heavy dramas like They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, The China Syndrome, and On Golden Pond with her movie star father Henry Fonda. More recently, she starred for seven seasons on Netflix's Grace and Frankie alongside Lily Tomlin.
But Fonda seemed to understand on Sunday that she was again putting herself into the line of fire of the current administration. "I'm sure many of you guys played bullies and misogynists and you can pretty much know, you actors, that their father bullied them, and men felt weak and called them losers and pussies. And while you may hate the behavior of your character, you have to understand and empathize with the traumatized person you're playing. I'm thinking of Sebastian Stan in The Apprentice."
She's accustomed to being a target. As she told Variety in a recent interview, "Here's the truth: I've been hated. I know what it means to feel endangered. People have walked up to me with beautiful smiles on their face and gotten almost nose-to-nose and said, 'I'd like to cut your f--king throat.' I've had death threats and all of that. So to be popular is amazing."
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