As we all know very well by now, the SAG-AFTRA union officially entered a strike on July 13, after the AMPTP failed to negotiate fair terms as per their contract renewal. The decision to strike had been looming for a while, ever since the Writers’ Guild of America started its own strike on May 2, and SAG-AFTRA’s president Fran Drescher confirmed in a fiery press conference that the AMPTP refused to meet the union’s demands or even, by the sound of it, negotiate in anything akin to good faith.
Drescher’s speech announcing the strike immediately made the rounds all throughout the Internet, with people praising her power and passion and her unwavering support of her fellow actors as she went after studio executives. “The eyes of the world and, particularly, the eyes of labor are upon us,” she said forcefully. “What happens to us is important. What’s happening to us is happening across all fields of labor. When employers make Wall Street and greed their priority and they forget about the essential contributors who make the machine run, we have a problem”.
Such a beautiful, reportedly off-the-cuff speech was bound to have massive shockwaves on social media, both serious and also more lighthearted—and that, of course, includes memes. After all, one of the very important lessons that Drescher’s iconic character Fran Fine in The Nanny taught us was that you should never cross a picket line. So it’s no surprise that we have a mini-renaissance of The Nanny memes on our hands.
Let’s start out strong with a throwback to the very episode—aptly called “The Strike”—in which Fran Fine declares that never crossing a picket line was one of the three unbreakable rules her mother taught us. The other two, for completion’s sake, were to never make contact with a public toilet and to never wear musk oil to a zoo—which is still pretty solid advice.
That episode also does give a pretty good descriptor for the current situation.
“The Strike” is already pretty relevant, but let’s make it even more so.
The cycles of history really are a fascinating thing.
And yet another reminder that Fran Fine has always been pro-union (and you should be too).
How could we forget this iconic fit?
And some more about Fran Fine’s style because let’s face it, it was everything.
Drescher mentioned Versailles in her speech, something that feels incredibly fitting considering it happened in July.
And while we’re on the topic of cycles of history, let’s not forget this.
Let’s talk about leaders of rebellion against machines.
(featured image: CBS)
