FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
By: Mandie Kohlenberg

Fried Green Tomatoes is a film that embraces on true friendships. In the beginning of this film, Evelyn, pictured in the left front, was a housewife and was unhappy with her weight and her marriage. Evelyn would make dinner for her husband, set it on the table, and when he would come home he would take the food into the living room and just watch T.V. Evelyn and her husband went to visit his aunt in a nursing home, where Evelyn met an elderly woman named Ninny, pictured in the right front. Throughout the movie, Ninny tells of the story of two friends, Ruth, pictured in the left back, and Idgy, pictured in the right back. This story tells of how Idgy helped Ruth get out of an abusive relationship and helped raise her son. Ruth and Idgy opened up “The Whistle Stop Café,” where they made ‘fried green tomatoes’. It tells of Idgy and Ruth treating people of color the same and how Idgy and a colored man named Big George went on trial for the murder of Ruth’s husband, Frank Bennett. During the time Ninny is telling this story, Evelyn feels empowered by the story and how strong willed Idgy was. This convinces Evelyn to change. She loses weight and tries to work on her marriage.
There are moments at the beginning of this film that show Evelyn as a quiet woman. One time a man pulls into a parking place she was about to take and she just keeps driving looking for another one, never saying a word. Close to the end, you can see how much has changed when two women take her parking spot and she smashes into their car with hers, many times. In this film, it is easy to see that Evelyn has found her true best friend, Ninny, which really is Idgy you eventually find out. In the end, Evelyn invites Ninny to move in with her and her husband.
This film deals with the issues of gender because it shows a woman getting beaten and she stood up for herself by leaving him. Also how Idgy was so independent and showed throughout the film how a woman can do anything a man do. This film gives a positive representation of females. I believe the women in this film are represented as strong, passionate, and respected, for the most part. I do not think this is a feminist film. It has a variety of stories, from women, friendships, and people of different color.
I enjoyed this film very much. It shows so much about friendship and love. It shows how people of color were treated in the past and how some people still treated them fairly and were friends with them, no matter what people said. This film is about the past and present experiences and comes with laughter, tears, triumph, and tragedy.
I feel this film can relate to my own personal experience for two reasons. First, because of racism. I feel how Idgy and Ruth felt. Everyone should be treated equal, no matter what their race or gender. And also because of the friendship my best friend and I share. We feel each other’s pain and happiness, share times of laughter and tears together. We would do anything for each other that is humanly possible. I feel the true friendship love between Idgy and Ruth can be compared to that of ours.
There is a novel called “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café” by Fannie Flagg, written in 1987. The movie is based off this novel, but resources say each is a little different.
A website I found that tells about the novel is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/fried_green_tomatoes_at_the_whistle_stop_cafe.
Other good websites about the film are http://www.imab.com/title/tt0101921 and http://www.reelviews.net/movies/f/fried_green.html
-Mandie Kohlenberg