Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café introduced me to Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy. As a teenager in the 80's, I'd met Mary Stewart Masterson years earlier.
As you know, I was extremely close to my Nan, so stories of relationships with older people always tug at my heart strings. This was no exception.
I also love the flashback, story telling method used so well in this movie.
I haven't read the book Fried Green Tomatoes, but I was surprised to read that in the book, the characters of Idgie and Ruth are lesbians. This isn't so in the movie which was made in 1991.
I wonder what would happen if the movie was made in 2014? Would they have followed the original story more closely, given society's attitude toward homosexuality has hopefully changed so much since 1991?
The relationship I'd like to discuss in this review is a bit different in that it's not a relationship from the movie, but more the relationship I have with one of the actresses - Kathy Bates.
Okay, to be fair, it probably can't be called a relationship with Kathy doesn't even know it exists. Let me explain. In 2012, while visiting New York, I was lucky enough to be invited to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's Survivorship celebration. The Key Note Speaker was Kathy Bates, discussing her experience with ovarian cancer.
Listening to her talk that evening changed my life. For the first time in my cancer journey I felt understood. The way she described her experiences with her body and with love after her treatment were so akin to my own experiences that I felt as though I had written her speech.
Her message was clear and has stayed with me every day since. It has changed the way I view myself as a woman, as a person and it has also opened my mind to my future.
Fried Green Tomatoes is one of my all time faves. I give it 8.5/10.
How about you?
Jodie
Read Rocky's review here!
