A Review of Fried Green Tomatoes

Fried Green Tomatoes is a movie adapted from the Fanny Flagg book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café. The movie is about four women, their relationships and the little efforts that are necessary to improve big things. This paper reviews the ethical standing of its characters and how those ethical standings can evolve or change for a person.

The movie begins in a Southern nursing home; a feisty resident and old local fixture named Ninny Threadgoode befriends Evelyn Couch a depressed housewife and stirs her to action with an inspirational tale. She tells the story of a magnificent friendship between two young women living in Alabama in the 1930s, Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jameson, who forge a powerful bond after witnessing the terrible tragedy of Idgie’s brother’s death together. The two women open a cafe together in their small Southern town of Whistle Stop and manage to survive the hardships of life, despite racism, prejudice and the pressures of trying to live their lives as individuals in a strict and close-minded Southern society. Their friendship lasts through many ups and downs over the years, helping one of

Egoism seems to be the mode of ethics for Idgie in the beginning of the movie. After her brother’s death, Idgie spends her adolescent years living in the woods, cutting herself off from her family, obtaining her socialization by drinking and gambling with the town’s men. Her lifestyle, as it works for her is condemned by the citizens of Whistle Stop. Idgie is an outspoken and puzzling person who is only puzzling because she chooses to live her life to best serve her own needs. She seems to get great pleasure out of taunting the town preacher, wearing men’s clothing, and befriending the black community in an era and region where there are definite racial boundaries. A line from the film sums up the majority of the white communities attitude toward black communities in the era, Sispey: “Oh it don't make no kind of sense. Big ol' ox like Grady won't sit next to a colored child. But he eats eggs- shoot right outta chicken's ass!” (Anvent 1991) Idgie also has her own system for giving to others, which adds her puzzling nature. One night she talks Ruth into jumping a train car full of food, as the train passes by a camp area full of indigent families Idgie throws the food to them. This stealing from the rich to give to the poor is a definite utilitarian act because it is obtaining a good objective, feeding the poor, by means that would be illegal, stealing. Idgie has no concern for legal implications of her actions; her only concern is to bring food to starving people.

the women through an abusive marriage, and sustaining both of them through the gossip and jealousy of those small-minded people who try to control their lives. These four main characters actions can be classified as utilitarian, although not all of them start out that way in the movie.

Some topics in this essay:
Stop Idgie, Ninny Idgie, Stop Café, Whistle Stop, Café Ninny’s, Ninny-Evelyn Ruth-Idgie, Frank Bennett, Idgie George, Concealing Franks, Ruth Idgie, whistle stop, fried green tomatoes, fried green, green tomatoes, idgie george, nursing home, black community, whistle stop café, stop café, utilitarian approach, lives main characters, ms otis, acts women,