Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / Feminist Movie Friday: Fried Green Tomatoes

Transcript

Feminist Movie Friday: Fried Green Tomatoes · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to stuff
0:07
Speaker 1: I never told you protection of iHeartRadio, and.
0:19
Speaker 2: Welcome back to another edition a feminist Movie Friday. And
0:22
Speaker 2: I think it is actually going to be released on
0:24
Speaker 2: Friday this time because I'm actually doing work this time.
0:27
Speaker 3: Annie, aren't you proud?
0:28
Speaker 1: I am very happy?
0:33
Speaker 2: But yes, so if you're listening as it's released, it'll
0:35
Speaker 2: be a Friday. If you waited to listen to on
0:37
Speaker 2: a Friday, Happy Friday. If not, it's just a feminist
0:41
Speaker 2: movie day.
0:42
Speaker 1: You're welcome any day, any day.
0:44
Speaker 3: It's a feminist movie day, as it should be.
0:45
Speaker 2: But we're back, and this time we're back with an
0:48
Speaker 2: oldie but a goodie.
0:50
Speaker 3: Uh. And it is.
0:51
Speaker 2: Something that we were talking about previously because it was
0:53
Speaker 2: one of those Annie, you've never watched this what conversations
0:57
Speaker 2: And we were talking about Friday Green Tomatoes or also
1:00
Speaker 2: called fried green Tomatoes at the whistle Stop Cafe. So
1:03
Speaker 2: other places are they do the full title And we're
1:06
Speaker 2: gonna go ahead and add some warnings to this one.
1:09
Speaker 2: This was released in nineteen ninety one and is based
1:13
Speaker 2: in Alabama slash Georgia in the nineteen thirties, so has
1:16
Speaker 2: a lot of offensive, outdated content. Outdated as in like
1:19
Speaker 2: it's not acceptable today, but was portrayed as it would
1:22
Speaker 2: have been in the nineteen thirties.
1:24
Speaker 3: So there's that.
1:25
Speaker 2: It depicts racism, white supremacy, murder, death, cannibalism, and abuse,
1:31
Speaker 2: So there's a lot. This is definitely one of those
1:34
Speaker 2: movies that like kind of borders on being Southern Gothic.
1:38
Speaker 2: It's definitely Southern Tales, I guess, and it's reminiscent to
1:44
Speaker 2: me of someone like Carson McCullers would have written. Actually,
1:48
Speaker 2: I read a fact that the Harper Lee fra who
1:52
Speaker 2: wrote To Kill Mocking Bart loved, loved, loved this book
1:55
Speaker 2: and really felt it was a great book. So I
1:57
Speaker 2: was like, Oh, if I was the author Fanny Flag,
2:01
Speaker 2: I would have taken that quote and framed it if
2:03
Speaker 2: harperly said that I wrote an amazing book.
2:06
Speaker 1: Yes.
2:06
Speaker 3: So about the movie.
2:08
Speaker 2: This was based on the nineteen eighty seven book by
2:10
Speaker 2: Fanny Flagg titled Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe,
2:15
Speaker 2: and she and Carol Sibiski wrote the screenplay for this movie.
2:19
Speaker 2: The movie was directed by John Avnett, who read the
2:23
Speaker 2: book in nineteen eighty seven, took it to producers, was like, oh,
2:26
Speaker 2: this needs to be a movie, and it was nominated
2:29
Speaker 2: for a couple of Academy Awards. It did not win,
2:32
Speaker 2: but it did win a glad Award, which is interesting. Yeah,
2:37
Speaker 2: because we're gonna talk about this, people already know. I know,
2:40
Speaker 2: y'all already know. For those of you who have seen
2:43
Speaker 2: Fried Green Tomatoes who like or love this movie or book,
2:48
Speaker 2: you already know why. But there's a lot of debate
2:51
Speaker 2: and we're going to jump into it. But first let's
2:53
Speaker 2: talk about the movie. So the characters include Kathy Bates
2:58
Speaker 2: as Evelyn Couch, Jessica Handy Rip she was a Real
3:02
Speaker 2: one for Real as Ninny thread Good, Mary Louise Parker
3:06
Speaker 2: as Ruth Jamison, Mary Masterson as Itchy thread Good or
3:10
Speaker 2: Imma Jean thread Good, Ciccily Tyson as Sipsy stan Shaw
3:15
Speaker 2: as Big George my childhood love, Chris o'donald as the
3:19
Speaker 2: short lived character of a Buddy thread Good. Yes, I
3:22
Speaker 2: mentioned him because I love him. I loved him from
3:25
Speaker 2: a circle of friends. Have you ever seen this movie? Annie?
3:28
Speaker 1: Oh no, but I'm so curious. I had a brief
3:31
Speaker 1: crush on him too. This is interesting.
3:33
Speaker 2: Love love love, so a circle of friends. I know
3:36
Speaker 2: we're not talking about. It is based on a book
3:38
Speaker 2: by Irish author May Benchi who I loved the book
3:43
Speaker 2: and I loved this movie. Minnie Driver became my favorite.
3:46
Speaker 2: I think she was my woman crush m M as
3:49
Speaker 2: a kid too, because she was so fantastic in this movie.
3:52
Speaker 2: They were that might be another movie. We have to visit,
3:55
Speaker 2: Annie because I loved it so much.
3:57
Speaker 3: Anyway.
3:58
Speaker 2: It is based in Ireland in nineteen fifties, essay, I think,
4:01
Speaker 2: But that's why I first saw Chris O'donnald was like, yes, please.
4:04
Speaker 1: That's much less embarrassing mine, which is Batman and Robin Forever.
4:11
Speaker 3: I'm trying to ignore those days.
4:18
Speaker 1: And I had a crush on it. It's very, very embarrassing,
4:23
Speaker 1: but I'll share it.
4:24
Speaker 2: Oh. I mean, that's an iconic movie because you had
4:28
Speaker 2: all the characters, all the actors and all the characters
4:31
Speaker 2: at least a Silverstone as Batgirl.
4:34
Speaker 3: The one and only time that was featured.
4:37
Speaker 1: The puns, the puns. I even knew. I loved puns
4:41
Speaker 1: so much. I think it was like touching. It was
4:44
Speaker 1: resonating with something in my brain.
4:46
Speaker 2: This was the George Clooney version, right, I just remember Robin.
4:48
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie I can't even remember who the
4:50
Speaker 2: Batman was because in my head it was but like, yeah,
4:53
Speaker 2: it's definitely one of those infamous like.
4:55
Speaker 1: Oh oh, okay, oh the puns.
5:02
Speaker 3: We're talking about. It was so good and bad at
5:06
Speaker 3: the same time.
5:08
Speaker 2: But yeah, so there you go. We're now just talking
5:11
Speaker 2: about Chris O'Donnell. I loved him. I loved him.
5:15
Speaker 1: This was him, So this is great.
5:17
Speaker 3: Did you did you not realize that was him?
5:19
Speaker 1: I watched it, Yeah, so a lot of I just
5:23
Speaker 1: watched it this morning, okay, and a lot of the
5:27
Speaker 1: actors are just so much younger than things I've seen them,
5:30
Speaker 1: and that's true that I was like, I know I've
5:32
Speaker 1: seen you before, yeah, but I don't know where.
5:36
Speaker 3: Yeah.
5:36
Speaker 2: So my partner watched it with me, and when when
5:40
Speaker 2: Mary Louise Parker came on, he's like, that's the woman
5:43
Speaker 2: from wis, Like, yeah, this is one of her, not
5:45
Speaker 2: first roles, but like one of the beginnings of a role.
5:48
Speaker 3: Uh.
5:48
Speaker 2: Mary Stuart Masterson were like the teen stars of the nineties.
5:54
Speaker 2: I was like, because he was like, is she in
5:55
Speaker 2: a lot of things? Mary Stuart Masterson. I was like, yeah,
5:57
Speaker 2: she was really big in the nineties. You just didn't
6:00
Speaker 2: know because you it's so much older than I'm still
6:05
Speaker 2: talking and it makes me sad anyway, and I'm reminiscing
6:09
Speaker 2: it's fine, but yes, So there's some of the characters.
6:11
Speaker 2: We're not mentioning all of them, but those are the
6:12
Speaker 2: main ones to remember, including remembering that Chris o'donnald Yes
6:16
Speaker 2: was indeed in there, and they all have really unfortunate accents,
6:20
Speaker 2: except for Jessica Tandy as well as uh Cicely Tyson,
6:26
Speaker 2: the only two. And the whole part to this to
6:32
Speaker 2: me was like every time we were watching that and
6:34
Speaker 2: that this love of trainings are like, whyhould they love
6:36
Speaker 2: training so much?
6:37
Speaker 3: It does not seem to be like.
6:42
Speaker 1: Go near her train.
6:44
Speaker 3: Inevitably someone's gonn get rid of number. But yeah, so
6:47
Speaker 3: let's jump into the flat.
6:49
Speaker 2: We were introduced to Evelyn, who's going with her husband
6:52
Speaker 2: to a nursing home to see his aunt, who obviously
6:54
Speaker 2: does not like either one of them. But they stop
6:56
Speaker 2: in a small town called whistle Stop, which has actually
7:00
Speaker 2: been run down and abandoned at this point. Apparently it's
7:03
Speaker 2: based out of Juliette Georgia. I don't know where that
7:05
Speaker 2: is twenty minutes outside of Macon and interesting, and there
7:09
Speaker 2: she meets Ninny Threadgood, who starts just telling her all
7:13
Speaker 2: these amazing stories. It's really fun to be because you
7:15
Speaker 2: do have those moments where people just start talking and
7:17
Speaker 2: you're like, what, what's happening, what's happening and it ends
7:21
Speaker 2: up being amazing. And here we see that happening. And
7:25
Speaker 2: she talks about her life in her hometown, whistle Stop,
7:30
Speaker 2: which she's like, have you ever been there? She's like,
7:31
Speaker 2: actually I have, And a beautiful friendship begins as Nini
7:36
Speaker 2: starts her tales of Igy and Ruth. So let's talk
7:40
Speaker 2: about Igy and Ruth, because we have a flash back
7:41
Speaker 2: and forth throughout this movie.
7:43
Speaker 3: So it begins with, yes, the death of Buddy, who
7:46
Speaker 3: is the love and of everyone's life.
7:49
Speaker 2: It sounds like, to be honest, we see him coming
7:53
Speaker 2: in and obviously a big wedding is about to happen.
7:56
Speaker 2: They introduce Iggy as a as a child, and she
7:59
Speaker 2: is obvious a tomboy character with scrapes on her knees.
8:02
Speaker 2: Her younger brother teases her, making her attack him, runs
8:06
Speaker 2: out the door. Dear buddy has to be the one
8:09
Speaker 2: to calm her down, and you can tell this is
8:11
Speaker 2: her favorite person in the whole wide world as they
8:13
Speaker 2: cling to each other. He is a handsome man again,
8:17
Speaker 2: teasing and flirting with everyone.
8:18
Speaker 3: But there's only one love and.
8:20
Speaker 2: It's Ruth who we see together. And we can tell
8:23
Speaker 2: that Agy loves Ruth too, So this is the perfect threesomes.
8:26
Speaker 2: They're going as they're enjoying their day, and I've I'm
8:30
Speaker 2: thinking several things about this. As they're enjoying their day.
8:33
Speaker 2: Her hat, Ruth's hat flies off and he goes to
8:35
Speaker 2: retrieve it and he gets stuck in the train and
8:38
Speaker 2: as he's trying to jump away, Oh, he dies once again.
8:41
Speaker 1: Yep, his shoe gets Okay, okay, can I preface this.
8:45
Speaker 1: I want to say something here. I have never seen
8:48
Speaker 1: this movie. I had an idea of what it was,
8:52
Speaker 1: and it was like older women having fun being older women.
8:58
Speaker 1: I don't know why I thought that, but that's what
8:59
Speaker 1: I thought. It what it was, And I'm going into
9:03
Speaker 1: this movie. The first like fifteen minutes, this guy gets
9:09
Speaker 1: his shoe stuck in the train track and it's all
9:12
Speaker 1: building of tension, building of tension and I'm like, oh, Shirley, Shirley,
9:16
Speaker 1: He'll get away, and then it shows him kind of
9:18
Speaker 1: like get out of the shoe and jump away, and
9:21
Speaker 1: I thought, oh, I made it. No, I did No.
9:26
Speaker 1: I was like, what movie is this?
9:28
Speaker 2: Well, a Symple article comes out with being a dark comedy,
9:31
Speaker 2: so like it's consideral times.
9:34
Speaker 1: I was like, this is sort of.
9:35
Speaker 2: A horror movie, right, think of it as this was
9:38
Speaker 2: at least two years after still Magnolia's and so it
9:41
Speaker 2: kind of along those same lines, a lot of like
9:43
Speaker 2: heart wrenching moments but funny too. So this is this
9:47
Speaker 2: was the nineties formula that they had, and this is
9:51
Speaker 2: like the wholesome but not wholesome like cannibalism. I'm like,
9:54
Speaker 2: what the hell I know I will be and everybody
9:57
Speaker 2: was laughing.
9:57
Speaker 3: Apparently.
9:58
Speaker 1: I was like, well, okay, okay, my stomach course churning.
10:05
Speaker 2: I said something at one point to my partner again
10:09
Speaker 2: who was watching with me, and he's like, don't do
10:11
Speaker 2: that to me. I was like, don't do what he does,
10:12
Speaker 2: and he will be fine.
10:17
Speaker 3: Just kidding out, y'all.
10:20
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be on so many lists, but yeah, so
10:23
Speaker 2: does not take this well nobody does really, but really
10:27
Speaker 2: becomes more reclusive, saying and they say that the only
10:29
Speaker 2: person who can get close to her is Big George.
10:32
Speaker 2: And eventually she grows up and she has more rebellious
10:35
Speaker 2: hanging out the raw places, drinking and gambling, and there's
10:38
Speaker 2: some loose women, all these things, even yelling at the preacher,
10:42
Speaker 2: Oh my god. And so essentially Ruth comes back to
10:46
Speaker 2: try to help her her. The mama comes and calls
10:48
Speaker 2: Ruth to help her out. She's like, I can't do
10:50
Speaker 2: anything about it, but you can. And at this point
10:52
Speaker 2: a beautiful relationship starts and blossoms.
11:05
Speaker 3: Here.
11:06
Speaker 2: I like to emphasize as a kid, when I was
11:08
Speaker 2: watching this, because I was old enough to watch, it's
11:11
Speaker 2: like it was one of those PG movies because PG
11:13
Speaker 2: thirteen hadn't happened yet. I think it's nineteen ninety one,
11:16
Speaker 2: so you tell me. But like it came out and
11:19
Speaker 2: you get the rentals, and I watched it.
11:21
Speaker 3: I did not catch any of the sexual overtones. I'm
11:24
Speaker 3: just like, oh, they really love each other as in
11:27
Speaker 3: friends and sisters.
11:28
Speaker 2: Like, as I'm watching it this time around, I was like, oh,
11:33
Speaker 2: there's a lot of lingering looks here, which we'll talk
11:38
Speaker 2: about a little more. But they purposely did this, we'll
11:41
Speaker 2: talk about that as well. They just really dialed it
11:43
Speaker 2: down a lot or almost try to make it like
11:46
Speaker 2: if people are offended by it, they can ignore it.
11:47
Speaker 2: So they wanted to make sure it was successful, and
11:50
Speaker 2: it was. But here we see their their relationship blossom
11:53
Speaker 2: and there get closed. They you know, Igy shows off
11:57
Speaker 2: her kind side as she donates food from the train,
11:59
Speaker 2: which she loves, and they're on and they're okay to
12:01
Speaker 2: jump out of it. I'm like, again, okay, whatever, y'all
12:05
Speaker 2: really like this train thing. As they do all those
12:09
Speaker 2: things and get closer at one point on this adventure,
12:12
Speaker 2: because Ruth does not give up, she goes to a
12:15
Speaker 2: swarm of like a bee hive, charms the bees and
12:19
Speaker 2: gets a jar of honey, which, by the way, Stuart
12:23
Speaker 2: Masterson did that herself. She actually did that because the
12:26
Speaker 2: stunt person quit when she found out she had to
12:29
Speaker 2: do that scene fair So Mary Stuart Masterson was like, yeah,
12:34
Speaker 2: I got it, and she did it, and it's a
12:35
Speaker 2: beautiful scene in which earns her the title or the
12:38
Speaker 2: nickname the bee Charmer or the bee Trauma.
12:41
Speaker 3: As I kept saying.
12:43
Speaker 1: The southern accents.
12:45
Speaker 3: I get it.
12:46
Speaker 2: It's hard, but well, yeah, So all this happens and
12:49
Speaker 2: then Ruth says she's getting married.
12:52
Speaker 3: Kind of sad moment.
12:53
Speaker 2: Ruth leaves and it she just does her thing. And
12:58
Speaker 2: there's an implication here because it you refused goes through
13:00
Speaker 2: the wedding as well, but again not a lot of
13:03
Speaker 2: like lingering, heartbreak or anything, just like, oh why are
13:05
Speaker 2: you doing that?
13:06
Speaker 1: Okay? Gone.
13:07
Speaker 2: We see Ruth going into the house with her new husband,
13:10
Speaker 2: and Ruth's mom comes with him as well. Itji goes
13:13
Speaker 2: to check up on her and finds that Ruth is
13:16
Speaker 2: not in a good situation as she's being abused, but
13:19
Speaker 2: she Ruth said, don't worry about it, go away, go away,
13:22
Speaker 2: So she goes away until she gets a letter from
13:25
Speaker 2: Ruth saying that come and get her. Essentially, it was
13:27
Speaker 2: code for please come and get me. I will go
13:29
Speaker 2: where you go, essentially, which is a biblical verse. And
13:33
Speaker 2: part of that is because she found out she was pregnant. Also,
13:36
Speaker 2: her mother had died, so she was alone and did
13:38
Speaker 2: not want to raise this child with him. It was
13:40
Speaker 2: severely violent, so Itgi goes to get her and fam
13:44
Speaker 2: so big George comes and her her brother had come
13:46
Speaker 2: to rescue her, but a big violent incident happens. I
13:49
Speaker 2: was like, damn, they went all in on the scene.
13:53
Speaker 1: I thought I thought she was gonna die. I was dead.
13:57
Speaker 2: And the fact that the men never do anything it
13:59
Speaker 2: was kind of interesting other than threatening them, because I'm like,
14:03
Speaker 2: why did like somebody go and at least punch them?
14:06
Speaker 3: But okay, that's fine.
14:08
Speaker 2: So but they get away and Ruth and Igy are
14:11
Speaker 2: happy starting their own cafe, Whistlestop Cafe with the infamous
14:16
Speaker 2: fried green tomatoes. I'm really hungry right now, I do
14:23
Speaker 2: and a shout out to my favorite restaurant not a sponsor,
14:27
Speaker 2: Heirloom Barbecue, who was run by a Korean woman and
14:30
Speaker 2: her white husband and has some of the best barbecue
14:33
Speaker 2: and the best fried green tomatoes. But it's only seasonal
14:36
Speaker 2: and you have to watch out on Instagram to see
14:39
Speaker 2: what they fry up.
14:40
Speaker 3: But I want some.
14:43
Speaker 2: Anyway anyway, Okay, back to of course, we come back
14:45
Speaker 2: in between these stories to see Evelyn's life. Evelyn, who
14:49
Speaker 2: we kept originated with, has been trying to navigate her
14:52
Speaker 2: unhappy life, trying to get her husband to pay attention
14:54
Speaker 2: to her her finding her confidence and figuring out how
14:57
Speaker 2: to navigate it. As like at one point there an
15:00
Speaker 2: article that talks about how feminism is coming into play,
15:02
Speaker 2: because we do see her going from both how to
15:04
Speaker 2: be sexually happy classes like how to satisfy your man,
15:07
Speaker 2: and we see the infamous saran rap scene. I say
15:12
Speaker 2: that's where it really began, because I know there's been jokes,
15:14
Speaker 2: but I want to say that's where it originated. Standing
15:16
Speaker 2: at the door waiting for your husband and only in
15:18
Speaker 2: saran raping heels.
15:19
Speaker 3: I think that's where it originated.
15:21
Speaker 1: My gosh, I wish I could captured my response to
15:25
Speaker 1: this whole movie. I didn't know any of this was
15:27
Speaker 1: gonna happen. I was like, whoa, I've never heard of that.
15:32
Speaker 1: I had a wild morning.
15:35
Speaker 3: They were like going through all the all the roller
15:37
Speaker 3: coasters here. I should have warned you. I thought you
15:40
Speaker 3: knew about it.
15:41
Speaker 1: No, I didn't know about this, man.
15:44
Speaker 3: I should have warned you that it is dark. Okay,
15:47
Speaker 3: my bad.
15:47
Speaker 2: On that one.
15:47
Speaker 3: I filled on hit this one.
15:49
Speaker 2: And then the other scene to that was like the
15:51
Speaker 2: feminist scene where they're able to look at their own vagina,
15:54
Speaker 2: and apparently Fanny flag was in that scene, like the
15:57
Speaker 2: author made a cameo and that's not her for time
16:01
Speaker 2: in a movie. So the facts you should know, facts
16:03
Speaker 2: you didn't know.
16:04
Speaker 3: There you go, there you go.
16:05
Speaker 2: But yeah, that in ofa scene which they're talking about
16:07
Speaker 2: looking at their own vaginas.
16:08
Speaker 3: I remember that scene going like.
16:10
Speaker 2: What very because like they all were removing their underwear
16:14
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh, oh as a group, Okay,
16:15
Speaker 2: that's that's the thing.
16:17
Speaker 3: But the whole idea of like feminism coming up.
16:19
Speaker 2: But she didn't feel like she could fit in that either,
16:21
Speaker 2: so she didn't know where she fit in anymore. And
16:24
Speaker 2: then but she's still visiting uh Nini throughout this time,
16:28
Speaker 2: and she's growing more confident hearing these inspiring, brave stories
16:32
Speaker 2: about ag and Ruth that she's really like, yeah, that's right.
16:35
Speaker 2: Even at one point again screaming Towanda as she got
16:39
Speaker 2: back at a couple of rude girls who had stole
16:41
Speaker 2: in her parking spot. You know, because the girls are
16:44
Speaker 2: like just face it, lady, or younger and pretty or
16:48
Speaker 2: younger and faster. So that's how because she they had
16:50
Speaker 2: stolen her parking spot that she'd patiently wait for, and yeah,
16:54
Speaker 2: that causes road rage people, so you know, and so
16:59
Speaker 2: her response was Towanda as she starts ramming it because
17:03
Speaker 2: the story is that Igy was screamed Towanda as she
17:06
Speaker 2: did something brave, and I'm still trying to figureut where
17:08
Speaker 2: t Towanda came from. So if someone knows, because that's
17:11
Speaker 2: not Iggy's name, who the hell is Towanda.
17:13
Speaker 1: I The vibe I got was it was sort of like,
17:17
Speaker 1: because it was frank, right, I asked her her name, yeah,
17:20
Speaker 1: and she clearly could pick up on this guy is
17:23
Speaker 1: a douchebag and was like, it's Towanda, and it was
17:28
Speaker 1: just sort of a I'm not going to give you
17:29
Speaker 1: my name.
17:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, maybe that's what it is. Because I was
17:33
Speaker 3: very confused.
17:34
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, it could still him, it
17:37
Speaker 1: could be anything, but that was what I picked up.
17:39
Speaker 1: I just like she was just giving clearly a fake.
17:41
Speaker 2: Name and did not care, which is quoted in different
17:44
Speaker 2: movies They'll scream Twanta. I believe Tyler Perry parodied that
17:48
Speaker 2: the six scene as well.
17:50
Speaker 1: Essentially, I had a thought about that within Spider Verse
17:55
Speaker 1: when Gwyn panics she gives the name Gwanda. So I
18:00
Speaker 1: don't know. I was just kind of like, oh, I
18:02
Speaker 1: wonder if that was an influence.
18:05
Speaker 2: It could have been, but yeah, so something like that.
18:07
Speaker 2: She runs into the car and then she lives with
18:09
Speaker 2: a face of girls, I'm older and have better insurance
18:12
Speaker 2: or more insurance, and then she walks away and I'm like,
18:15
Speaker 2: there you go. But yes, we see how her confidence
18:18
Speaker 2: coming back or coming round. So we go back to
18:22
Speaker 2: Ruth and Igy, Yes, and the return of bad husband Frank,
18:27
Speaker 2: who of course is in the KKK.
18:30
Speaker 1: You know.
18:30
Speaker 2: Immediately he comes back to pretty much find them. He
18:34
Speaker 2: tortures Big George later on tries to kidnap the baby,
18:38
Speaker 2: but Jark got smacked in the head and died and
18:42
Speaker 2: then served up as barbecue.
18:44
Speaker 1: To the like guy trying to figure out who did it.
18:48
Speaker 2: Veryantly, right, Yeah, so the GBA guy comes through to
18:52
Speaker 2: solve the murder, but enjoying that barbecue.
18:56
Speaker 3: Surege does like that barbecue. All the people did.
18:59
Speaker 2: And after some years of the car that he had
19:02
Speaker 2: driven Frank had driven is discovered because there's too much
19:05
Speaker 2: training and flooded out, and then they officially arrest Edgy
19:09
Speaker 2: as well as Big George for the murder of Frank,
19:13
Speaker 2: and a trial occurs but the reverend, who she's been
19:17
Speaker 2: teasing the entire time, gets on the stand, lies about
19:20
Speaker 2: where she was and giving her an alibi and getting
19:22
Speaker 2: out of trouble, and she and George are cleared. Turns
19:27
Speaker 2: out he had uh used moby Dick instead of the
19:31
Speaker 2: Bible to swear on, and that he had he had
19:34
Speaker 2: made a deal with Ruth that ich you would come
19:36
Speaker 2: to church.
19:37
Speaker 3: So there's that.
19:39
Speaker 2: We discovered later that it was actually it was actually
19:41
Speaker 2: Sipsy played by Cicily Tyson, who had accidentally killed Ed
19:45
Speaker 2: trying to defend everyone and get back the baby, and
19:49
Speaker 2: it was Igy's idea to make him into barbecue, which
19:53
Speaker 2: everybody again apparely loved because everyone's like, that sure does
19:56
Speaker 2: smell good.
19:58
Speaker 1: I this made me think about a lot of stuff, Samantha.
20:02
Speaker 1: I was like, how many revenge plots involved feeding the
20:06
Speaker 1: person to other people? But also like big Jories seemed
20:13
Speaker 1: to know how to.
20:15
Speaker 3: Short She was like, we need to boil the hog.
20:19
Speaker 1: Boil the hog, which I totally get, like the Southern
20:24
Speaker 1: Gothic like, don't ask him any questions, but I don't ask,
20:27
Speaker 1: but it was.
20:28
Speaker 2: Just happens and it gets handled.
20:30
Speaker 3: Okay, that's what happens.
20:35
Speaker 2: And in between all this, Evelyn continues to grow in
20:37
Speaker 2: her confidence, even stands up to ed her husband, who
20:40
Speaker 2: was like really condescending and you want to smack.
20:42
Speaker 3: Him, but kind of the nineties version of a husband
20:45
Speaker 3: of the typical husband. So it wasn't too far off.
20:48
Speaker 3: I've seen this. I've seen this.
20:50
Speaker 2: And she's still visiting Ninny, who tells her the rest
20:54
Speaker 2: of the story. Ruth and Igy have been living a
20:57
Speaker 2: good life as soon Ruth was diagnosed with cancer and
21:00
Speaker 2: she dies very tragic of course.
21:02
Speaker 1: Yep.
21:03
Speaker 2: Oh, and I've seen people talk about about the saddest
21:06
Speaker 2: death scene.
21:08
Speaker 1: Again, I was like, wait, what, I got to go
21:13
Speaker 1: record something.
21:16
Speaker 2: Sorry, sorry, And that's kind of how the story ends. Apparently,
21:21
Speaker 2: like the town essentially shut down. She said that they
21:23
Speaker 2: made the statement that, you know, they really felt that
21:25
Speaker 2: the whist Stop Cafe was the heart of the town,
21:28
Speaker 2: and when it shut down, the little area of town
21:31
Speaker 2: shut down as well. And here we find that as
21:36
Speaker 2: Evelyn and Nannie come to the conclusion of the story,
21:38
Speaker 2: Nannie has left the nursing home after going through a
21:41
Speaker 2: lot of like did she die? I know, everybody loses
21:44
Speaker 2: it for a minute, but she doesn't. She ends up
21:47
Speaker 2: leaving because the person she was with had passed away,
21:50
Speaker 2: so she didn't need to be there. She went to
21:52
Speaker 2: her home and found that her home was demolished because
21:55
Speaker 2: it had been condemned, but no one had told her
21:59
Speaker 2: or she was waiting for it. But Evelyn goes and
22:01
Speaker 2: explains everything and then invites her to live with her
22:03
Speaker 2: and Ed, and we see the ending scene with ruth
22:08
Speaker 2: gravestone that has a jar of honey and a note
22:09
Speaker 2: from the beach armor. Again that inside joke, and then
22:12
Speaker 2: then we see Nannie and Evelyn look at each other like, oh,
22:16
Speaker 2: she's here, She's still alive. And then there's still insinuation
22:19
Speaker 2: that maybe Nannie was it gy again. We're gonna come
22:23
Speaker 2: back to this because that's a hot topic debate and
22:27
Speaker 2: I have thoughts. So, yeah, that's the movie. I'm sorry
22:31
Speaker 2: that I didn't tell you that it was a tragic comedy.
22:33
Speaker 1: That's okay, it was. It was a fun ride.
22:37
Speaker 3: I was like, wait, a good track comedy.
22:40
Speaker 1: Good train. We didn't even talk about this. There's a
22:43
Speaker 1: scene where you think Ruth's son, Yes, has died by
22:47
Speaker 1: train and he did lose an arm. But I'm sitting
22:51
Speaker 1: here like this train is gonna go, which it eventually does,
22:57
Speaker 1: but it's implied that the train leaves was also part
23:01
Speaker 1: of why it closed.
23:02
Speaker 2: Yes, which is actually something that really does happen. I know,
23:05
Speaker 2: like when the train stops going through areas to bring
23:08
Speaker 2: supplies or like it takes a lot of jobs away.
23:10
Speaker 2: It takes a lot of supplies away. It happened actually
23:12
Speaker 2: in my hometown. I don't know if I ever told
23:16
Speaker 2: you that my grandfather had invested in an area and
23:20
Speaker 2: bottle land and all these things in Lumber and a
23:22
Speaker 2: lumber area because there was train tracks and there were
23:25
Speaker 2: supposed to be a train that went through and then
23:26
Speaker 2: last minute it didn't and so he lost that business
23:32
Speaker 2: and everything failed because of that. But there's this train
23:34
Speaker 2: track that has never been used that goes through my hometown.
23:38
Speaker 1: Wow, I mean yeah, that's it was very sad at
23:42
Speaker 1: the end when Ninny was, you know, sitting on our
23:46
Speaker 1: suitcase and staring at this thing and this whole town
23:48
Speaker 1: is completely empty.
23:49
Speaker 2: Yeah.
23:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that it's true that does happen. There are
23:55
Speaker 1: real towns you can visit like that that are just
23:57
Speaker 1: completely abandoned, that were built around certain things that aren't there. Anymore,
24:02
Speaker 1: don't run anymore. Yeah.
24:05
Speaker 2: So there is a Whistletown Cafe in Kennesau, Georgia, right
24:10
Speaker 2: across from one of the most racist places that you
24:13
Speaker 2: can go to, ran by a man who is a racist,
24:16
Speaker 2: and he proudly claims to be because he has all
24:18
Speaker 2: his confaberate flags with a no certain people who can
24:22
Speaker 2: enter his store. Oh a sign that says it.
24:28
Speaker 3: Yeah. If people know Kennesau, they know what I'm talking about.
24:32
Speaker 2: Uh Andy, He's been on the news media times.
24:36
Speaker 3: But yeah, but that exists.
24:38
Speaker 2: I know in Macon, I think there's a whistle Stop
24:42
Speaker 2: cafe as well, or Valdosta. It may be Valdosta because
24:46
Speaker 2: Valdosta has mentioned several times in the in the movie.
24:49
Speaker 2: And then the original Alabama place I think has a
24:52
Speaker 2: cafe like it that was based on that. This yeah,
24:58
Speaker 2: this cafe was based on So there you go. If
25:01
Speaker 2: you want to risk going to the South like that, look,
25:04
Speaker 2: go for it. I don't know anything about the businesses,
25:07
Speaker 2: so I can't that, but it's always.
25:11
Speaker 1: In my world.
25:22
Speaker 2: We're gonna talk about the themes a little bit. The
25:24
Speaker 2: first thing is family, because we start out with Buddy
25:28
Speaker 2: and in your chosen family, I think we were talking
25:30
Speaker 2: a lot, a little bit more about like friends and
25:32
Speaker 2: lovers essentially, But yeah, we see how AGI's connected her family,
25:37
Speaker 2: her mama. She doesn't get enough shout Outg's mama really
25:40
Speaker 2: was there for her, and in the book, her mama
25:42
Speaker 2: and her family are very supportive of IG's lifestyle, which
25:45
Speaker 2: we're going to get into in a minute, which is
25:48
Speaker 2: unusual and a lot of people said that it's not believable,
25:53
Speaker 2: especially if from the location and timing of when the
25:56
Speaker 2: book was based on. But yeah, I felt like that
25:59
Speaker 2: was really sweet. The Buddy Junior, the connection between Itgy
26:03
Speaker 2: and Buddy junr who she raised after Ruth dies. You know,
26:07
Speaker 2: you can see that same connection that Ruth had with
26:10
Speaker 2: Igy as she was growing up.
26:12
Speaker 1: That changed a little bit, though, I yues mm hmm,
26:15
Speaker 1: I think so U.
26:21
Speaker 2: And then that whole small town community phil that has
26:24
Speaker 2: each other's back, obviously the Reverend coming through saving them
26:28
Speaker 2: in the end, even though no one knew the truth.
26:31
Speaker 3: Except Sipsy Big George.
26:35
Speaker 2: We didn't really talk about Smokey, who was the alcoholic
26:39
Speaker 2: who they took care of a lot, and he had
26:41
Speaker 2: a crush and was in love with Ruth. Apparently so
26:44
Speaker 2: I was trying to defend well he would have he
26:46
Speaker 2: was a good guy anyway, but like was defending her.
26:50
Speaker 3: Those four of them were the.
26:51
Speaker 2: Only ones who knew what happened, and they never even
26:53
Speaker 2: told Ruth, and everybody suspected that it was Igy because
26:57
Speaker 2: she has a temper.
26:58
Speaker 1: And she had threatened to kill him in front of people.
27:04
Speaker 1: Oh yeah right. So the framing was also interesting because
27:09
Speaker 1: the way, like when you lay it out, oh okay,
27:13
Speaker 1: we know who did it, and when you're watching it,
27:14
Speaker 1: you don't find that till out till the end, so
27:16
Speaker 1: you're kind of like, oh, who could it be? But yeah, there.
27:20
Speaker 1: I think there's a really sweet beat too, between Buddy
27:26
Speaker 1: having all of these stories that he would tell, uh,
27:30
Speaker 1: he would tell Ruth, and he would tell Iggy, and
27:33
Speaker 1: then Igy later telling those two Buddy Junior, and then
27:39
Speaker 1: that being Ruth's like last request is please just tell
27:43
Speaker 1: me the story. I know it's a lie, but just
27:44
Speaker 1: tell me the story.
27:46
Speaker 3: Yeah.
27:46
Speaker 1: So that was a really I mean painful but like
27:49
Speaker 1: a good through line of you know, his influences, his influence,
27:54
Speaker 1: and that's what it started with, was like, we can't
27:56
Speaker 1: tell her story without talking about how important.
27:58
Speaker 2: He was right, and it's very Southern, this whole like
28:02
Speaker 2: Southern culture of passing down tall tales essentially, and that
28:08
Speaker 2: happens throughout well we're being a good storyteller. That there's
28:10
Speaker 2: something to be in a good storyteller in the South.
28:13
Speaker 2: I grew up with that, knowing that there are certain
28:15
Speaker 2: people you knew would entertain you with whatever story. I
28:19
Speaker 2: have so many family members who can do this that
28:22
Speaker 2: they want you to repeat that story repeatedly throughout the
28:26
Speaker 2: years because it's so funny because of the way you
28:28
Speaker 2: talk about it. And then Jessica Tandy's character Nini does that.
28:31
Speaker 2: So it's like a whole through line in general about
28:34
Speaker 2: the legacy of storytelling and like opening up people's eyes
28:38
Speaker 2: and like feeling involved and or changing moods or you know,
28:42
Speaker 2: like really influencing individuals. So yeah, for sure, that's a
28:46
Speaker 2: huge part of that, and it is a huge part
28:48
Speaker 2: of like Southern culture. And I'm sure it's bigger than
28:52
Speaker 2: that when we look into it, because we know that's
28:53
Speaker 2: how legacies are are taught. That's a native like indigenous
28:58
Speaker 2: people to do this, the Native first people, they have
29:00
Speaker 2: done this in order to keep their their traditions alive,
29:04
Speaker 2: so we know that's the thing for for all.
29:06
Speaker 3: Specific cultures like that. But the way that this happened
29:09
Speaker 3: with the Tall Tales.
29:10
Speaker 2: We see that as well as an influence in this movie.
29:14
Speaker 2: And then yeah, we'll come to the love friendship because again,
29:16
Speaker 2: like I said, I was like, uh, yoh oh. So
29:19
Speaker 2: obviously we have to talk about Ruth and Igy again.
29:23
Speaker 2: In the book they are openly in a relationship. Actually
29:26
Speaker 2: they are out together.
29:28
Speaker 3: Everybody knew it.
29:30
Speaker 2: Again in fact, I g is out as a lesbian
29:32
Speaker 2: since she was young. The family and community had supported
29:35
Speaker 2: her and was accepting her, even to the point when
29:38
Speaker 2: Ruth came involved. Uh and and they were I guess
29:43
Speaker 2: initially getting together.
29:44
Speaker 3: Her father.
29:45
Speaker 2: Igi's father was like, do you understand what is the
29:47
Speaker 2: responsibility of taking care of a child as if she
29:50
Speaker 2: was she was. In the article I read it said
29:53
Speaker 2: man to man talk face sexist but like trying to
29:56
Speaker 2: like uh. In besides, is that her role their relationship
30:02
Speaker 2: role of what she would be. The way she dresses
30:05
Speaker 2: in the movie was very indicative of her being more
30:09
Speaker 2: masculine than not. But in the book it is outright
30:13
Speaker 2: said that she is a lesbian. Again, in the movie
30:16
Speaker 2: they took that all out and we don't see that
30:19
Speaker 2: because to the point that you don't even know if
30:21
Speaker 2: they're actually sharing houses and who's sharing houses with whom
30:23
Speaker 2: because at one point, I know, like Igi was living
30:26
Speaker 2: with Sipsy so and then they were talking about when
30:29
Speaker 2: Ruth got six, she moved to a different house.
30:30
Speaker 3: I was like, so what house? Wait, what where'd she go?
30:33
Speaker 1: Where's she at?
30:34
Speaker 2: And then you also have Itgy having relationships with men,
30:37
Speaker 2: the implication that she was having a relationships and men,
30:40
Speaker 2: and in the book, Ig is having relationships with women,
30:44
Speaker 2: and I think not prostitute, but like the woman in town,
30:48
Speaker 2: I don't know, the loose woman, I don't know.
30:52
Speaker 3: Oh no, I don't know.
30:54
Speaker 2: And this is what the like as I was reading
30:56
Speaker 2: the differences what they said totally, but they said that
30:59
Speaker 2: she wasn't exactly a prostitute though, but something something to
31:03
Speaker 2: that implication I see.
31:05
Speaker 3: I don't know in.
31:06
Speaker 2: The book, and those who read the book can probably
31:08
Speaker 2: clarify for us, because I have not read this book.
31:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well, I think this is an interesting perspective
31:20
Speaker 1: because I haven't read the book either, but I never
31:24
Speaker 1: seen the movie, but we did one of the reasons
31:27
Speaker 1: this came up was we did that episode on movies
31:29
Speaker 1: or entertainment that made you question, like if you're queer,
31:33
Speaker 1: and at the top we gave examples a lot of
31:35
Speaker 1: people listed, and one of them was Fried Green Tomatoes
31:39
Speaker 1: and I read an essay about it, and when I
31:45
Speaker 1: was watching it, so I guess I was coming in
31:47
Speaker 1: prime thinking, oh, they are because the essay was very
31:52
Speaker 1: much it brought up the book and it was very like,
31:55
Speaker 1: you know, see this is why and all this, and
31:58
Speaker 1: so I was watching it like you're giving me all
32:00
Speaker 1: the this is it's kind of sad. But I was like,
32:03
Speaker 1: I don't even see those modern movies. Look at how
32:06
Speaker 1: they are.
32:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, they really like they really played it up.
32:10
Speaker 2: The river scene as well was one of I'm like, okay,
32:15
Speaker 2: now I see it, Like.
32:18
Speaker 3: When they were in the water together and they come
32:20
Speaker 3: out and they're like underclothes and it's they're they're not naked,
32:23
Speaker 3: they're fully dressed.
32:24
Speaker 2: It's just what it's like. But the way they're so
32:26
Speaker 2: they're like, oh there. It is the lingering look after
32:31
Speaker 2: she does the bee charming, the questions, the teasing that
32:36
Speaker 2: Itchy does with really it's like but again, the movie
32:41
Speaker 2: makers and producers made it safe enough that there was
32:44
Speaker 2: plausible deniability, which is sad, which is why I questioned
32:48
Speaker 2: the Glad Award. I get it, the queer people would
32:51
Speaker 2: definitely love this movie, but I wish it had been
32:53
Speaker 2: the one of those like they were outright saying it
32:55
Speaker 2: like it is now I think, but back then it wasn't.
32:59
Speaker 2: They were high, and they still got a Glad Award
33:01
Speaker 2: of like that hypocritical not from Glad but from the
33:05
Speaker 2: producers and the direction.
33:07
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely like having your cake and eating
33:12
Speaker 1: too right situation. And it's also sad given what we've
33:18
Speaker 1: talked about before, where it's unfortunate that we can't Like
33:24
Speaker 1: there's a scene early on where I'm like, okay, Ruth
33:26
Speaker 1: is into buddy, yeah, but then she takes Itgy's hand
33:30
Speaker 1: and I'm like, okay, right, but it should be. It's
33:33
Speaker 1: just it's sad we don't get enough depictions of platonic friendships,
33:39
Speaker 1: relationships of all all types that you know, it could
33:45
Speaker 1: have been, especially because they were trying to hide it,
33:48
Speaker 1: it could have been they were just good friends. And
33:50
Speaker 1: you know, right, that's fine, that's a great story. I'm
33:53
Speaker 1: all about female friendships exactly, but it does. It's kind
33:57
Speaker 1: of sad because I was like, oh no, I finally
33:59
Speaker 1: get to see this thing. But also I'm just it
34:04
Speaker 1: feels like erasing one thing for another thing. I don't
34:06
Speaker 1: know if I expecin right.
34:07
Speaker 2: Right right, there was this level like you want this
34:10
Speaker 2: to be both of those things, Like I grew up
34:12
Speaker 2: thinking it was about female friendship really gathering for each other,
34:16
Speaker 2: like the song.
34:18
Speaker 3: Are Almost Gotta Die.
34:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, I'm pretty sure it's based on like
34:24
Speaker 2: the Fried Green Tomatoes friendship, but it's a friendship that's
34:26
Speaker 2: a friendship like that that you would do whatever you
34:29
Speaker 2: have to for your friend. But like, yeah, it's like
34:33
Speaker 2: could we not have both where this is this? But
34:37
Speaker 2: because you do want that queer love story that is
34:40
Speaker 2: so sweet and so endearing, but then you also want
34:43
Speaker 2: that friendship where you don't need that as well. And
34:45
Speaker 2: I know that's something that you deal with with your
34:49
Speaker 2: sexuality in general, specifically Annie, because like both of those
34:52
Speaker 2: things can exist in that level. But I found it
34:55
Speaker 2: funny because I did think about the courtroom scene where
34:59
Speaker 2: she's expresses because in my mind, I was like, why
35:01
Speaker 2: doesn't she just say he was abusive, but in that
35:04
Speaker 2: timeframe that wasn't seen as abusive. It was just keeping
35:07
Speaker 2: a woman in line kind of conversation. So and she says,
35:11
Speaker 2: she says I love her. That was that moment of like,
35:14
Speaker 2: but then she says she's my best friend, and then
35:16
Speaker 2: you're like, wait, okay. So it was that back and
35:18
Speaker 2: forth that tug right there too. They're like they want
35:20
Speaker 2: to put that in just in case.
35:22
Speaker 3: That people assume, and.
35:24
Speaker 2: But it can be both, right, it can be that's that,
35:27
Speaker 2: but that's that's the play. That's again that that straddling
35:30
Speaker 2: the fence that they do.
35:32
Speaker 1: I feel like there's a difference here between that of like, oh,
35:35
Speaker 1: I don't want to outright say it because I'll lose
35:37
Speaker 1: money as a studio and it being you know, we
35:42
Speaker 1: have histories of like you know, Boston marriages or ways
35:45
Speaker 1: women would get married or live with each other because
35:49
Speaker 1: the time didn't allow it. But also sometimes a lot
35:54
Speaker 1: of times I would hope the person you love is
35:57
Speaker 1: your best friend, right, right, So it's it's it's complicated,
36:01
Speaker 1: like there's a lot to unpack with that, right.
36:05
Speaker 2: And again, this is ninety one. It was starting to
36:08
Speaker 2: become more open, but still very fresh, so so many things. Well,
36:15
Speaker 2: remember eighties had a lot of scare with HIV, which
36:18
Speaker 2: is a lot of fear mongering and a lot of
36:21
Speaker 2: going after the gay community. They purposely were demonizing gay
36:25
Speaker 2: communities with this. So it's this level like Okay, I
36:29
Speaker 2: see what you're doing. But at the same time, why
36:31
Speaker 2: did you take the glad Award?
36:33
Speaker 3: Like everything right?
36:36
Speaker 2: You know, like okay, okay, because the book was explicit,
36:39
Speaker 2: so you altered it if you If you altered it,
36:42
Speaker 2: you had.
36:42
Speaker 3: A reason too, right.
36:45
Speaker 2: But again, that's one of those things I go back
36:47
Speaker 2: and forth on as again, and I would not have
36:49
Speaker 2: been allowed to see that movie had they been a
36:52
Speaker 2: gay relationship, I will say that, And that's part of
36:55
Speaker 2: the reason.
36:56
Speaker 3: I'm sure why they did this.
36:57
Speaker 1: Yeah it is, but it was to me watching it
37:01
Speaker 1: from my standpoint and being like, wow, they.
37:06
Speaker 2: Are they love each other just kids already.
37:12
Speaker 1: They have a whole scene or they're like throwing food
37:15
Speaker 1: at each other face erotic.
37:20
Speaker 2: Those two scenes I'm telling you, and the other friendship
37:23
Speaker 2: because I can't go away from the fact that Nannie
37:26
Speaker 2: and Evelyn as they grow in their friendship is beautiful.
37:29
Speaker 2: Nani's hitting her so much as she's talking about confidence
37:33
Speaker 2: because I just say hit.
37:34
Speaker 3: At one point, she's like, I think she might have
37:35
Speaker 3: killed her husband. I think she's together. The story a
37:37
Speaker 3: little too hard.
37:39
Speaker 2: Someone check on her, please, Yeah, but it was I
37:45
Speaker 2: love the friendship Jessica Tandy. She was already thought of
37:49
Speaker 2: for this movie, that she was already going to be cast,
37:51
Speaker 2: and apparently she loved this role and everything about it.
37:54
Speaker 2: Maybe the first time I seen her Kathy Bass was
37:57
Speaker 2: in Misery. So Misery was nineteen ninety and then this
38:00
Speaker 2: was soon after, So those Kathy Bass era Yeah, obviously,
38:04
Speaker 2: and I love to see it. But yeah, apparently ninety
38:07
Speaker 2: was her was Misery and she did phenomenal, So this
38:10
Speaker 2: is a complete flip for her. Going from that to
38:12
Speaker 2: this and pulling both of this off is genius.
38:15
Speaker 3: I loved it. I love Kathy Baits.
38:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, she did fantastic. I love that. It felt like
38:23
Speaker 1: a very feminist awakening for her, where she's hearing these
38:26
Speaker 1: stories and she's like questioning, why can't I even look
38:29
Speaker 1: at my own vagina? Why am I going to going
38:31
Speaker 1: to these like marriage classes when he could give like
38:35
Speaker 1: twos about it, like my husband And having all these
38:39
Speaker 1: questions and hearing these stories from Nini and getting inspired
38:45
Speaker 1: and kind of recognizing her own anger and what she wants.
38:51
Speaker 1: And I feel like there's a pretty powerful metaphor of
38:56
Speaker 1: There's one part where she Kathy Bates's character Evelyn, tear
39:00
Speaker 1: down a wall, doesn't ask her husband, just tears it down.
39:04
Speaker 1: It's like I want this light, I want this, I
39:05
Speaker 1: want this, and then she decides, no, I want you
39:08
Speaker 1: need to come back in and she rebuilds it. So
39:11
Speaker 1: it feels like she's tearing something down and she's becoming
39:14
Speaker 1: more confident and more aware of what she wants. And
39:17
Speaker 1: I also love her husband. Ed is like doing the
39:20
Speaker 1: frantic oh god, she might leave. Have some flowers. That
39:25
Speaker 1: is what I do.
39:26
Speaker 3: I'm so sorry I didn't.
39:28
Speaker 1: Notice right right, which I find fascinating. I think that's
39:34
Speaker 1: an interesting part of how marriage in this patriarchal system
39:41
Speaker 1: can control women, as this idea like oh, he'll leave me.
39:45
Speaker 1: But then she's like, maybe I'll leave you, and he's
39:48
Speaker 1: suddenly panicking because she does do all this stuff for him.
39:51
Speaker 1: She like hook brits him, the food, she gets him
39:53
Speaker 1: the beer, She doesn't bother him, she lets him. I
39:57
Speaker 1: don't say, let's him, but he talks down to her,
39:59
Speaker 1: and she does and say anything about it, right, So
40:02
Speaker 1: it was kind of funny and kind of frustrating, and
40:05
Speaker 1: I was still sort of hoping that they break up
40:07
Speaker 1: at the end, but I'd like, you.
40:09
Speaker 3: Just wanted to be the two of them in the house.
40:14
Speaker 2: Absolutely, But you know what, as you talk about that,
40:17
Speaker 2: there is like feminism is definitely in this in this
40:20
Speaker 2: movie because we see the growth of Ruth as well,
40:22
Speaker 2: the subservient, quiet woman who doesn't want to you know,
40:25
Speaker 2: who comes in to try to tame Aji, but the
40:27
Speaker 2: opposite ends up happening, essentially, and it kind of brings
40:30
Speaker 2: out her other side, you know her. For a birthday,
40:33
Speaker 2: they took her to the Bad Spot. I don't know
40:36
Speaker 2: what else call it, because it's not a bar, it's
40:38
Speaker 2: just a yeah, get together place where she plays poker
40:42
Speaker 2: for the first time, she drinks for the first time,
40:44
Speaker 2: she gets into the water, and they have that moment,
40:47
Speaker 2: you know, and Ruth saying, this is the best birthday
40:51
Speaker 2: I've ever had, and like growing into it, and then
40:54
Speaker 2: like finding her footing and then being able to leave
40:57
Speaker 2: her very abusive husband and being able to stay up
41:00
Speaker 2: against him and being able to do her own business,
41:03
Speaker 2: you know, running her own business and doing well with
41:05
Speaker 2: her friend and not needing a man necessarily to take
41:09
Speaker 2: care and raise the child, like all of these things
41:12
Speaker 2: like this growth for both of them, Ruth and Evelyn
41:16
Speaker 2: in parallel stories and then becoming women in their own
41:19
Speaker 2: right and doing what the hell they want.
41:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it was it was interesting too, the because
41:27
Speaker 1: unfortunately you still don't see that many roles for older women.
41:31
Speaker 1: So it was interesting to hear like Evelyn and nine
41:36
Speaker 1: talk together and then sort of see this, like especially
41:40
Speaker 1: when Evelyn like rams her car into this other car
41:43
Speaker 1: six times and have that conversation about age. Are like
41:48
Speaker 1: these younger women who are you know, maybe quote don't
41:53
Speaker 1: get it. It was just I don't know that I've
41:57
Speaker 1: seen too much of that of the like learning from
42:01
Speaker 1: the older generation. And maybe those two women who got
42:07
Speaker 1: their car wrecked in a couple of couple of years,
42:10
Speaker 1: they'll be like, wait, they'll be there.
42:12
Speaker 3: Also, they'll never try to steal someone's spot.
42:15
Speaker 1: No, I don't think they got the wrong one. Row.
42:23
Speaker 1: I also love that Evelyn's last name is Couch. She
42:26
Speaker 1: was always getting sad on because she keeps having these
42:29
Speaker 1: confrontations where she's like Why are you being so mean
42:31
Speaker 1: to me? I don't understand this right?
42:35
Speaker 2: And that was it it and then she just runs away,
42:39
Speaker 2: not this time, not to Wanda.
42:41
Speaker 3: No, that's gonna bother me.
42:54
Speaker 2: So another theme on this is of course racism, As
42:57
Speaker 2: with the most movies of that time and even recil
43:01
Speaker 2: though they do try to make a correct spin of
43:04
Speaker 2: addressing issues like racism and the disparities, they still get
43:10
Speaker 2: stuck with the stereotypical narratives in portraying the issues. Here's
43:15
Speaker 2: a good quote from ranker dot com. One pronounced shortcoming
43:19
Speaker 2: of Fried Green Tomatoes is how it portrays the lives
43:21
Speaker 2: of the African Americans in whistle Stop. The movie doesn't
43:24
Speaker 2: hold back in displaying Jim Crow Arab discrimination as well
43:28
Speaker 2: as the subservient roles African Americans were forced to accept.
43:31
Speaker 2: It does a better job than other films at the
43:33
Speaker 2: time of showcasing how systemic and tolerance destroys communities and
43:37
Speaker 2: ruins lives. The movie, however, makes the mistake of presenting
43:41
Speaker 2: characters like Big George and Sipsey played by stan Shaw
43:44
Speaker 2: and Cicily Tyson as stereotyped hired help with endless dedication
43:49
Speaker 2: to their employers. These characters are like depth or personal agency.
43:53
Speaker 2: While they are welcomed with open arms in Igy and
43:56
Speaker 2: chosen family, their stories only matter in relation to the
43:59
Speaker 2: white people around them. And again, this is that white
44:03
Speaker 2: savior thing that we see constantly. I know, I want
44:07
Speaker 2: to say the help I've never seen that, but that
44:10
Speaker 2: is the large criticism is like why do you have
44:13
Speaker 2: to center black people's trauma around a white person saving
44:17
Speaker 2: them essentially? And don't get me wrong again, as this
44:21
Speaker 2: quote says about the fact that they do a good job,
44:23
Speaker 2: they don't just do. They don't hold back and displaying
44:26
Speaker 2: the Jim Crow era discrimination and the roles that they
44:28
Speaker 2: have to accept during that time, especially in the South
44:32
Speaker 2: at that point in time, and like the influx of
44:35
Speaker 2: KKK members and the violence that was happening against the
44:40
Speaker 2: black community at the point, and honestly still but but
44:44
Speaker 2: they're still like as the portrayal, they really do lean
44:48
Speaker 2: hard in to be like, oh, but you know, these
44:51
Speaker 2: white people will save them because they're protecting them, and
44:54
Speaker 2: that's that's why they're okay. And also they're they're mild
44:58
Speaker 2: and cold. I will say, like the SIPs character, there's
45:00
Speaker 2: two big stereotypes in there. The Big George. The name
45:03
Speaker 2: Big George in itself is like an indication in Sipsy's
45:06
Speaker 2: character is an indication of like, yeah, this is almost
45:09
Speaker 2: like gone with.
45:10
Speaker 3: A wind level.
45:12
Speaker 2: Of betrayal but okay of the black community. But like
45:17
Speaker 2: Sipsy says at one point, she's like, I'm not your mama,
45:20
Speaker 2: don't don't come in here like that, Like she does,
45:22
Speaker 2: like stand firm and making sure she separates herself from them,
45:28
Speaker 2: like the white people she works with or works for
45:30
Speaker 2: at that point in time. And of course she handles
45:33
Speaker 2: her own because she's the one that took out Frank.
45:35
Speaker 2: But still her narrative is so quiet, you know, like
45:38
Speaker 2: it's still just very quiet, and she just meekly walks
45:41
Speaker 2: away and maybe that's again purposeful.
45:43
Speaker 3: And also, yeah, is Cicely Tyson. There's so much more
45:47
Speaker 3: she could do with.
45:47
Speaker 2: That character that she isn't a phenomenal actor and it
45:50
Speaker 2: felt like like a throwaway even though maybe.
45:53
Speaker 3: That's the way the production was.
45:55
Speaker 2: I don't know, but like, how dare you not use
45:58
Speaker 2: Cicely Tyson more? Because she is phenomenal? What is wrong
46:02
Speaker 2: with you?
46:04
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, I mean once again, I did not know
46:07
Speaker 1: this was gonna happen to me this morning when I
46:09
Speaker 1: was watching this, Oh my god. What. I think it's
46:17
Speaker 1: interesting that because this really started to hold conversation in
46:21
Speaker 1: my head about we've struggled with this too.
46:26
Speaker 2: Uh.
46:26
Speaker 1: You know, when you portray something of the time, how
46:30
Speaker 1: to do that carefully, delicately, accurately, properly. And I do
46:37
Speaker 1: think a lot of that has to do with who's
46:39
Speaker 1: writing it, who's in it, who's centered in it, because
46:45
Speaker 1: it's something we can't and shouldn't ignore, but it also
46:48
Speaker 1: isn't something that should be romanticized by white people. So
46:56
Speaker 1: I think that's important in this whole conversation, and it
47:01
Speaker 1: it was it felt clumsy, Like I feel like a
47:05
Speaker 1: lot of things they did do better than a lot
47:08
Speaker 1: of stuff I've seen or even recent stuff, but it
47:10
Speaker 1: still felt kind of clumsy. And I'm going to assume
47:13
Speaker 1: that's because of who was involved.
47:15
Speaker 2: The main people that I see credited are not black
47:18
Speaker 2: or part of the black community, So I would say,
47:21
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know who they talked to.
47:22
Speaker 3: Maybe they did.
47:23
Speaker 2: I think when it comes to like those specific characters
47:25
Speaker 2: you have that you've seen, Big George and even that
47:28
Speaker 2: name like throughout the years and you know exactly what
47:32
Speaker 2: kind of character you're getting into and what they've become
47:35
Speaker 2: most of the caricature of black men in those times,
47:39
Speaker 2: and they do it purposefully. Of that gentle giant doesn't
47:43
Speaker 2: talk a lot, and so there's a lot of implications
47:46
Speaker 2: to that as well as the Sipsy character of being that,
47:50
Speaker 2: you know, the motherly, nanny ish type. But you know,
47:54
Speaker 2: you know, we're talking about in that level and taking
47:57
Speaker 2: care of or being the one that uh has to
48:01
Speaker 2: get the tough love to the white character because she's
48:04
Speaker 2: not she's too spoiled. But again, this like level of
48:07
Speaker 2: like this is where the stereotypes of when we see
48:10
Speaker 2: of black women and black men kind of come from.
48:13
Speaker 2: In that level, like you're trying to target people and
48:17
Speaker 2: minimize who they are as people and taking away the
48:20
Speaker 2: depth of the story that is there. Once again, we
48:23
Speaker 2: don't even know anything about where did where did Big
48:26
Speaker 2: George come from? We just know that he and uh
48:29
Speaker 2: Itchy are close, But why who is he?
48:32
Speaker 1: What?
48:32
Speaker 3: Just what?
48:33
Speaker 2: And then who is Sipsy? A part of this is
48:36
Speaker 2: what like what? So it's just kind of all those
48:38
Speaker 2: things that they purposely did this thing to make them
48:41
Speaker 2: a side character, not even of human, almost just further
48:45
Speaker 2: the plot. And that is again really problematic. And even
48:49
Speaker 2: though again this movie does better job than some, especially
48:52
Speaker 2: during that time, it stills like oh oh yeah uh.
48:59
Speaker 2: And then at any point, I'm gonna say this, if
49:02
Speaker 2: you're using derogatory terms and scenes of like a KKK
49:06
Speaker 2: scene with the black community at the time, and you
49:10
Speaker 2: don't have black people present to like monitor as well
49:14
Speaker 2: as dictate what's happening, I don't think it should happen.
49:17
Speaker 2: Maybe that's too harsh of a I don't know, I
49:19
Speaker 2: just don't think it should happen like that seems it
49:23
Speaker 2: feels real bad.
49:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it also like made me because this was
49:28
Speaker 1: a long time ago. But occasionally I would get complaints
49:33
Speaker 1: before you Smantha, I would get complaints like you, how
49:36
Speaker 1: about trigger warnings?
49:37
Speaker 2: And I.
49:40
Speaker 1: You know, I went into this movie and not knowing
49:42
Speaker 1: any of this was gonna happen, and I was quite
49:45
Speaker 1: shocked at the language that was used, and I was
49:52
Speaker 1: just like, yeah, that should be a warn't that there
49:54
Speaker 1: should be at the front, like hey, And I then
50:00
Speaker 1: I was like, I guess movies really don't do well
50:03
Speaker 1: at doing that or a lot of other stuff, but
50:06
Speaker 1: like I rented it digitally and I got no warning.
50:11
Speaker 1: I was just but it is. It's true, like I
50:16
Speaker 1: think that that should be something that only people from
50:25
Speaker 1: the black community. Yeah, they should be there. They should
50:28
Speaker 1: make sure like okay, this is being handled correctly, but
50:33
Speaker 1: also there should be just a warning at the front. Okay, yeah,
50:38
Speaker 1: it's gonna be there.
50:38
Speaker 2: I there's needs to you ale revamping because of course
50:41
Speaker 2: we can't ignore that history. That's too ignorant and we
50:44
Speaker 2: don't want to downplay that. But again, this is that
50:47
Speaker 2: level of like, Okay, let's have a conversation about who
50:51
Speaker 2: should be able to dictate what's being said or done
50:55
Speaker 2: here and why it's important. And if you don't have
50:57
Speaker 2: black people on that as part of that voice behind
51:03
Speaker 2: the scenes, then you need to you should not have
51:06
Speaker 2: permission to use it like that's in the story and.
51:09
Speaker 1: It sucks because that's like such a traumatizing thing. That's
51:12
Speaker 1: one of the most.
51:13
Speaker 2: Yeah to work that in, but right, but you don't
51:16
Speaker 2: want them to do that labor. But at the same time,
51:18
Speaker 2: there's so much too this it's like, Okay, how do
51:22
Speaker 2: we go about this, because yeah, we already know what
51:25
Speaker 2: happens when white people take a hold of it or
51:28
Speaker 2: non black people.
51:29
Speaker 1: Right, We've had that conversation before about the pain of
51:32
Speaker 1: doing and being a historian our researcher when that's your
51:37
Speaker 1: expertise or that's what you're doing, and so it is,
51:42
Speaker 1: it is really painful. So I think that should also
51:44
Speaker 1: be recognized too.
51:46
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, like there's so much to this that's like, oh,
51:50
Speaker 2: by the way, I was wrong, was PG thirteen because
51:53
Speaker 2: that had started at nineteen eighty four.
51:56
Speaker 3: That was later, that was in the nineties.
51:57
Speaker 1: It was after Poltergeist.
51:59
Speaker 2: Yep, oh, that's right. We had that conversation, was PG.
52:03
Speaker 2: Thirteen at the very least. But still, like some of
52:05
Speaker 2: those things, you're like, who.
52:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm only laughing as a kid. I did not
52:14
Speaker 1: know what was gonna happen to be this morning.
52:16
Speaker 3: That's what this one's I guess we're even and this
52:18
Speaker 3: one's on me. I'm sorry, Yeah, I was sorry.
52:21
Speaker 1: It wasn't as traumatic as my my mistake, so it's okay.
52:27
Speaker 2: Still, yeah, in my head, I know you hadn't seen it,
52:32
Speaker 2: but I assumed you knew of it.
52:34
Speaker 1: Like of the things I thought it was older women
52:38
Speaker 1: living in a house together, eating fried green tomatoes. Oh,
52:44
Speaker 1: when we're in love, that's what I.
52:47
Speaker 3: Call well, you know.
52:50
Speaker 2: And then the final I guess the final theme is
52:54
Speaker 2: death and endings because we would talking about that, well,
52:57
Speaker 2: when things change and what happens and what looks like
53:01
Speaker 2: in dealing with that, because yes, we have a lot of.
53:04
Speaker 3: Death throughout this movie.
53:06
Speaker 2: At the very least, at least Nanni is still alive.
53:08
Speaker 2: And even though we're talking about themes, there's been a
53:11
Speaker 2: debate and most of the things that I've seen online
53:15
Speaker 2: assume that the movie Nini, who was played by Jessica Tandy,
53:20
Speaker 2: is actually Igy. So in the Wikipedia page they have
53:25
Speaker 2: Jessica Tandy playing Nini slash Igy thread Good. In me IMDb,
53:32
Speaker 2: it does not credit her such, so I don't think
53:36
Speaker 2: so people talk about whether or not she was Itgy
53:38
Speaker 2: in the end telling the story as a third person
53:41
Speaker 2: and then being Nanni. But in the book she's actually
53:43
Speaker 2: not Igy. She is Igi's sister in law because she
53:47
Speaker 2: married Igi's brother that we met, so that's this is
53:51
Speaker 2: how she knows the story. So, but there's a whole
53:53
Speaker 2: debate about it, and people are like, no, she'sa a
53:55
Speaker 2: g They changed it in the in the movie, I
53:56
Speaker 2: was like, I don't think so.
54:01
Speaker 1: I So I told you I thought that was going
54:04
Speaker 1: to be the conclusion. I don't think so either. And
54:07
Speaker 1: I started to rewatch it because, as you know, once
54:10
Speaker 1: I rent something, I watched it like a million times.
54:16
Speaker 1: And I feel like this scene in the beginning where
54:19
Speaker 1: I mean, you probably know better than me, but where
54:21
Speaker 1: Iggy's coming down the stairs and in her dress and
54:24
Speaker 1: gets in a fight, wasn't that Ninny who's like, she's
54:29
Speaker 1: going to ruin my wedding?
54:30
Speaker 2: No, so, Ninni is the sister in law to Igy,
54:35
Speaker 2: the the brother that's teasing her, she marries him.
54:39
Speaker 1: I guess I had no idea who was getting married.
54:41
Speaker 3: That's the oldest sister that we never hear about. Again,
54:45
Speaker 3: it never comes into place.
54:46
Speaker 1: Well, and I can't help you at all, but I assume, yeah,
54:50
Speaker 1: I I thought it was going that way. For a minute,
54:53
Speaker 1: I thought it was gonna be one of or Iggy. Yeah,
54:56
Speaker 1: but I don't, nah, I don't think so.
55:00
Speaker 2: So profess you and I vote though, But like all
55:02
Speaker 2: of the things that I've read, they go back because
55:05
Speaker 2: like I just read through it, I was like, okay, cool,
55:07
Speaker 2: because I at the ending, I was like, that's not
55:08
Speaker 2: itchy because like the look between Evelyn and Nini and
55:13
Speaker 2: when they discover that there's a jar of honey, oh knowing,
55:17
Speaker 2: and that's the end. And then almost like when Evelyn goes.
55:20
Speaker 3: Like, maybe we'll run into her as before we leave.
55:24
Speaker 2: I think everybody insinuated that that was an insinuation that
55:27
Speaker 2: she was running into her right then or trying to
55:29
Speaker 2: play koy, but I was like, I don't think so.
55:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it also kind of felt like for me
55:40
Speaker 1: that the it was more of a she is a
55:45
Speaker 1: a freaking wild spirit, I guess, like almost almost a
55:51
Speaker 1: force instead of a person, like not that she isn't,
55:55
Speaker 1: but almost like it's that taste of feminism you get
55:58
Speaker 1: through her, so it's like something that will live forever,
56:01
Speaker 1: right all right. I kind of got the vibe it
56:03
Speaker 1: was more like, oh, she's around, which she is I believe, yeah,
56:07
Speaker 1: but also on top of that, like the look would
56:10
Speaker 1: be more you know, and she's living within us, like
56:14
Speaker 1: and is still going and.
56:15
Speaker 3: Oh you got real deep on that one.
56:17
Speaker 1: I get real deep.
56:19
Speaker 2: That was That's that's not where I went, but okay, yeah, nice,
56:22
Speaker 2: I liked it.
56:23
Speaker 3: Oh good, I love this.
56:26
Speaker 1: I do this all the time. My friends will be like,
56:28
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure it's just.
56:31
Speaker 3: All right. She's become mythical at this point. But oh yeah,
56:36
Speaker 3: fund it, itchy and you.
56:37
Speaker 1: Oh yes, yes that we need that on a pillow.
56:44
Speaker 3: He was too close to itchy.
56:46
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's, you know, the itch of feminism. There
56:51
Speaker 1: you go.
56:53
Speaker 3: Sure I don't like that. Let's not do that.
56:56
Speaker 1: Okay, we'll workshop it, Okay, Yes, honestly, like, there's so
57:04
Speaker 1: many things we could talk about. I love that they
57:07
Speaker 1: included Mary Kay. That really made me laugh. It made
57:11
Speaker 1: me have something.
57:12
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, that's too much for my blood, my parents' blood.
57:17
Speaker 1: Oh people. But also just a lot of like, yeah
57:23
Speaker 1: nineties thoughts around women and.
57:28
Speaker 2: Yeah culture, Yeah, I didn't left the dining culture the
57:32
Speaker 2: whole level for sure. Yeah.
57:34
Speaker 1: And I love her friend who I never learned her name,
57:37
Speaker 1: but I love her friend who's like, well, just whisper
57:40
Speaker 1: something in her ear and it'll be like divorce. So
57:46
Speaker 1: was fun. I mean, I didn't know what I was
57:48
Speaker 1: getting into, but I apologies, I did enjoy it. But yes,
57:52
Speaker 1: this several listeners have recommended this one, so thank you.
57:56
Speaker 1: We do take your recommendations into account, So if you
58:00
Speaker 1: have any ideas for the next movies move you have
58:03
Speaker 1: already sent them. We have a list. I promise we
58:05
Speaker 1: are collating them, but if you have any ideas, you
58:10
Speaker 1: can send them to us at Stephanie mom Stuff at
58:12
Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us on Twitter at
58:14
Speaker 1: mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok at Steffon
58:16
Speaker 1: Never Told You. We have a tea public store and
58:19
Speaker 1: we have a book. You can pre order it Stuff.
58:21
Speaker 1: You should read books dot com. Thanks as always to
58:23
Speaker 1: our super producer Christina, our executive producer Maya, and our
58:26
Speaker 1: contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you for listening.
58:29
Speaker 1: Stefan Never Told You is production of iHeartRadio. For more
58:32
Speaker 1: podcast from my heart Radio, you can check out the
58:33
Speaker 1: heart Radio app. Have a podcast or where you listen
58:35
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows