Fried Green Tomatoes
Fried Green Tomatoes
Rebecca Collins
Dr. Cunningham
ENG 225
July 16, 2012
Fried Green Tomatoes
I chose to critique the film Fried Green Tomatoes. I wanted to show that this film is about two friendships between four women that prove that when you find that person that is your best friend, you find the best in yourself. This film was released in 1991. It was based on the book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fanny Flagg. Ms. Flagg was also the one who wrote the screenplay as well. The movie is filmed in the present, which would have been 1990-ish, where we meet Evelyn Couch who is visiting a nursing home with her husband, Ed. She meets a lonely old woman Cleo Threadgoode, whom everyone calls Ninny, and they begin talking. Ninny shares a story with Evelyn about Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, taking place in the 1920’s and the 1930’s. We see dual storylines here. The first in the present with Evelyn and Ninny and then the story of Idgie and Ruth in the past, both of them being told chronologically but at different periods of time. In the first, or establishing shot, we hear a train whistle and the camera pans over a ghost town and eventually stopping at a run-down building that says The Whistle Stop Café. Watching this movie, I found myself laughing, then crying and then laughing and feeling happy. I found myself relating to the characters, most of them in one way or another which was a good feeling. I saw the insecurity in Evelyn, the way that she is so passive and shy. She is very naïve. She is trying to get her husband to pay attention to something other than sports on television. He comes home from work, picks up his dinner that has been set on the table, grabs a beer and then he sits in his chair and ignores her. The stubbornness of Idgie, she is one that does what she wants, when she wants and won’t follow the rules, even if they are in her best interest. The quiet strength of Ruth, she can be the
Rebecca Collins
Dr. Cunningham
ENG 225
July 16, 2012
Fried Green Tomatoes
I chose to critique the film Fried Green Tomatoes. I wanted to show that this film is about two friendships between four women that prove that when you find that person that is your best friend, you find the best in yourself. This film was released in 1991. It was based on the book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fanny Flagg. Ms. Flagg was also the one who wrote the screenplay as well. The movie is filmed in the present, which would have been 1990-ish, where we meet Evelyn Couch who is visiting a nursing home with her husband, Ed. She meets a lonely old woman Cleo Threadgoode, whom everyone calls Ninny, and they begin talking. Ninny shares a story with Evelyn about Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, taking place in the 1920’s and the 1930’s. We see dual storylines here. The first in the present with Evelyn and Ninny and then the story of Idgie and Ruth in the past, both of them being told chronologically but at different periods of time. In the first, or establishing shot, we hear a train whistle and the camera pans over a ghost town and eventually stopping at a run-down building that says The Whistle Stop Café. Watching this movie, I found myself laughing, then crying and then laughing and feeling happy. I found myself relating to the characters, most of them in one way or another which was a good feeling. I saw the insecurity in Evelyn, the way that she is so passive and shy. She is very naïve. She is trying to get her husband to pay attention to something other than sports on television. He comes home from work, picks up his dinner that has been set on the table, grabs a beer and then he sits in his chair and ignores her. The stubbornness of Idgie, she is one that does what she wants, when she wants and won’t follow the rules, even if they are in her best interest. The quiet strength of Ruth, she can be the
References: Goodykoontz, B. (2011) Film: From Watching to Seeing, Retrieved on July 1, 2012 from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG225.11.2/sections/sec5.3 Internet Movie Database, (1991) Cast and crew of film, Fried Green Tomatoes, Retrieved on June 30, 2012 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101921/