Dear Jodie - F is for Fried Green Tomatoes

Dear Jodie,

I love Fried Green Tomatoes.  So did my grandmother, though when she realized what finally happened to Frank Bennett, high-tailed it to the bathroom.

For me, it was a movie about relationships in two different time periods. The “modern day” relationships (and since this movie came out in 1991 … well) make the flashback sequences so fascinating for me, particularly how Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates) draws strength from those stories to help her own life.

How cool is that?

The relationship between her and Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy) is so real it could have been a middle-aged niece meeting a lost aunt for the first time and loving the experience.

The relationships from the older sequences were just as compelling, especially those between Idgie and the rest of her world, her brother Buddy, Grady, Big George, Sipsy, and, especially Ruth.

The movie was criticized at the time for not emphasizing the lesbian relationship between Idgie and Ruth. I had read the book so I got it, but in the movie like the book, only the love mattered to me. Mary Stuart Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker made it work so beautifully.

The older sequences are a small taste of the rural South before the 1960s. I recently watched Fried Green Tomatoes back to back with The Help.  Fascinating.

Funny the similarities and contrast between this movie and the next one we’re going to take on.  More on that later.

I'm cheating here, Jodie. I'm ready to post and I just read your take, particularly how listening to Kathy Bates changed your life and made you feel understood for the first time in your own journey.  How you keep her words in mind each day.

That is so wonderful!

Jessica Tandy had just begun her battle with ovarian cancer when she shot Fried Green Tomatoes. I wonder if she discussed it at all with Kathy Bates.

I give Fried Green Tomatoes a solid 8 out of 10.

Check out Jodie's inspiring take here!