Idgie and Ruth on their picnic date
I don't know how Fried Green Tomatoes passed me up because I have a stepmother who loves to watch all the sisterhood ra ra ra movies. Beaches, Now and Then, The Joy Luck Club, these were classic standards in my household so I don't know why I just got a chance to see this charming movie last night. I read design*sponge daily and they have a section called "Living In" where they take a movie and they find products that feel like that movie. So Fried Green Tomatoes was on there this week and it piqued my interest.
The story follows the lives of two women, Idgie and Ruth. Idgie is a scrappy tomboy and Ruth is this beautiful antique looking woman who marries an abusive wife beater. The two share a very close friendship and they end up living together and raising Ruth's son after Idgie takes Ruth away from her husband Frank. They open a cafe together in a small town and share a life as "friends". Eventually Ruth dies of cancer at a young age and Idgie is left to raise their son (why do women in these movies always die? Is it just for the water works?)
So what's Kathy Bates got to do with it? The story is set in modern times (very early 90s) when Kathy Bates meets this old lady at a nursing home. The old lady starts to talk to Kathy and she tells her the story of Idgie and Ruth, who she knew as a girl. Kathy Bates is in a typical middle-aged marriage. She has no marketable skills as a house wife, she's let herself go, and her idiot husband just wants to watch baseball all the live long day. She's experiencing an existential and marital crisis but through the stories of Idgie and Ruth, she starts to see value in herself and takes positive steps in improving her life. She begins exercising, takes an interest in her personal appearance, and starts to call her husband out on his dumb shit. Kathy gets her groove back.
Idgie is the real rebel in the movie and she defines her own feminine identity. She wears men's clothes all of the time, she woos Ruth blatantly, and she lives by her own rules. No one seems to dislike her either. She's very likable and the town's folks support her and Ruth's partnership. Even if they were just supposed to be friends, I imagine people would talk about two unwed women living together and raising a child. Especially when they are so flirty and affectionate in public. Their food fight at the cafe was like a flashing red sign that read "foreplay". I know they wanted to water down the lesbian aspects of the story for commercial audiences but you must be incredibly naive if you don't see the obvious romantic relationship between those two. It is a rehash of the butch/femme pairing and they seemed genuinely in love,which helps make for a great story. Maybe one day they'll make the movie again but without shying away from the relationship.
What caught me off guard about this story is how dark it was. Not dark in the sense that the mood is brooding. It's actually quite the opposite and that's what I found disturbing. A man is murdered, butchered and served up as BBQ, and it's glossed over as a funny happenstance. "The secret is in the sauce!" is what they say about it. There are KKK members whipping a black man and everyone is like, hey, I know who you are under those sheets and you can't fool me! With a smirk, a smile, a little twinkle. It was very odd and these very real problems were glossed over and given no voice. I guess they didn't want to drag down a feel good tale of "friendship" with something like southern racism. I guess they thought female audiences couldn't handle serious subjects, even though the supposed moral of the movie is how awesome being female is and that you are strong and independent.
I know that sounds like I didn't like the movie but I just had to bring it up because it was really off. It's like they didn't want us to worry our pretty little heads thinking about the domestic abuse, racism, and the murder cover up. Well then don't bring it up!
Overall, I will say that it was a good story that was nicely acted. It had a pleasant nostalgic feeling that made you wish you could live in those times and run a cute little cafe too. It had plenty of comedy, girl power, and feminist themes that you could mull over. I don't know if men would like it but it's definitely a must-see for people who like those sisterhood movies (which I do).
No comments:
Post a Comment