Letters to the Editor
-
Go back and watch the beginning of the show
where Colbert talks about his man musk and asks if his breath is fresh. He may not have known exactly what was going to happen but he started the joke, she just continued it.
And to all of you who are saying it's inappropriate because of age -- I predict your older years are going to be pretty dull. Tons of older men are with younger women -- far, far younger. How unbelievably sexist and agist to find offense when the tables are turned. It's really sad and immature (regardless of your age) that you are so repulsed by older women. You might want to examine the reasons this troubles you, I think you may have some underlying issues that should be addressed.
Good on Jane for being a feminist who knows that real women are allowed to be sexual, real women are allowed to be fabulous even when they're past 40 and real women have a sense of humor.
-
Jane
The problem is that Jane Fonda is so stilted and manipulative in her acting (notice the dry, cracking voice) that anything like sexuality will take on the quality of manipulation and falseness (prostitution is another word for that). Even with all good humor, her overacting is uncomfortable.
-
Jane Fonda was striking back -- hard -- against the au courant public perception that she's a humorless scold --
There is pretty much a whole generation of movie goers who have likely been turned OFF-OFF-OFF by her repeated public scolding of Lindsay Lohan ... regardless of how well deserved or how odd welcome some sort of comeuppance for Lohan may be ... contradictory much?
Fonda's always had problems with being perceived as "too serious" and has now, daringly, launched a new career in "light domestic comedies" ... skipping over (so far) Mrs. Robinson-like roles, and heading straight for Shirley McClaine independent woman, avoiding (so far) Olympus Dukakis territory ... nor "competing" with relative young'uns like Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn (entering into mother of young adult children / grandmother of precious tykes territory) who in turn are "older" than Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan who are likely to turn up in roles with teenaged children any day now ...
Too bad that Chevy Chase and franchise has already remade most of the domestic comedy classics ... There are simply not a lot of roles out there ... I give Fonda a lot of credit for bravery for attempting to ressurect the genre and I hope she succeeds.
For an under-30 young adult today, Barbarella and Golden Pondand The Morning After are probably all the Jane Fonda they've seen. Klute and Coming Home appear on TV very rarely... I haven't seen Julia for ages and I doubt it would hold much appeal for young'uns. I'm not sure gems like The Dollmaker are ever shown.
As I think she would agree, she's a smart cookie ... and she can in fact USE humor, even if by nature she appears quite serious. I found her contribution to the recent Marlon Brando documentary unnessarily grim and unenlightening.
What we saw on Colbert was the NEW JANE FONDA ... get used to it.
-
Very cringe-inducing
It was so difficult to watch. He could not have been in on it. You can fake that level of terror flashing in his eyes while he struggled with remaining "cool."
When he mentioned his wife, was the worst part. I then surmised the ONLY way that her behavior would be 'okay' was if she had cleared her antics with his wife before hand. That would have been fun and funny if Colbert's wife was in on it. Otherwise, it was the act of a bully in a passive-aggressive-sexual-innuendo sort of way and not a bit funny, even considering the obnoxious BillO persona Colbert portrays.
Laurie
-
Crumbs. typo
Sorry. My just posted remark should say: you CAN'T fake (of course)
Laurie
-
that was awesome
Fonda was cute. Colbert handled it well...it was yet another hilarious moment for his show. I am sure his wife got over it very quickly!
It's a one-time deal. Something tells me some male celebrity Colbert guest like George Clooney or Danny DeVito will mockingly try the same thing at some point, which won't be nearly as funny.
-
Overanalysing
Colbert hasn't been above eating a banana on camera implying homosexual fellatio for a laugh {http://www.fanpop.com/spots/the-daily-show/videos/3483)
So I doubt he or his wife could have possibly had anything but a laugh about Fonda's appearance. It was funny and it was fun to see Colbert have to work for his jokes. I think eventually that Congresswoman from the DC district is likely to give him a similar comeuppance of sorts.
In short, it was great TV. Imagine if it hadn't happened. How boring would that be?
-
gosh, I remember being made "uncomfortable" thirty years ago by Lena Horne and her boy-toys ...
being "uncomfortable" isn't actually a bad thing ... usually it just means that some internal boundary has been "threatened"
Since we often are unaware of these internalized boundaries, much as we are so often unaware of our prejudices and other -isms -- both positive and negative -- being challenged is, as Martha would say -- a GOOD THING ...
Not too many of us well-over-50-types would take the risk Fonda took ... she looks MAH-VE-LOUS DAHLING .... and, as someone used to say (was is Mae West?)
if you've got it, flaunt it ...
-
Fonda on Colbert
Joan: I am in my late 70's and my wife is just turning 70. We never miss The Daily Show and are occasional watchers of the Colbert Report. In recent months we have tired of Stephen's schtik. But when I learned that Fonda was his guest we decided to watch. I have to tell you that we both laughed very hard during the whole thing. My take was that Fonda cooked it up (we debated whether Colbert was in on it or not) as a counterpoint to Stephen's insistence that he would be all business in this interview and would be nailing her about her war protesting years. What Fonda did was to totally disarm him with her sexy come on and I thought the result was hilarious. Hence, I was greatly intrigued by your reaction. I think your response and the way you analyse it make a good deal of sense, directed at Fonda. But given the lunacy of Colbert's persona on his show, as context, Fonda's performance was a bravura comeuppance for Stephen. Now the real question is, did she surprise him or did they plot it out together in the green room? I am leaning toward it being a surprise. David Cook