by Sam Juliano
“….Idgy used to do all kinds of crazy harebrained things just to get a laugh. She put poker chips in the collection basket at the Baptist Church once. She was a character all right, but how anybody could have ever thought that she killed that man is beyond me…” -Fanny Flagg
The rap against the film version of Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by a sizable minority has always been that it significantly toned down the lesbian romance of its two central characters. In view of the fact that Flagg’s novel is only marginally more implicit, the argument seems to lose most of its credibility. Still, the 1991 movie, sporting the streamlined title of Fried Green Tomatoes, has often been brought up as evidence for those who rightly accused Hollywood of cowering away from provocative sexual themes. For a bastion always seen as ultra-liberal this has always been more than a curious example of bias, if not outright homophobia. Jon Avnet’s film version to be sure, does straddle the line between benign platonic affection and a more lustier and controlling kind of regard. It probably had the most suggestive lesbian context of any mainstream film released in the early 90’s or until the sway of sexual acceptance took stronger root in the cultural consciousness. The story of Idgie and Ruth yields numerous instances make it abundantly clear that these women love each other far more than is normal for most friends. There a few scenes and instances in the plot that persuasively connect the two romantically without the need to inject the presentation with blatant erotic encounters. If Flagg’s critically-lauded Pulitzer prize-nominated novel gave a more compelling picture of a gay romance, it ultimately had more to do with the ability of a literary work to flesh out the details of some narrative strands and relationships that could never make the final cut in a relatively shorter screen adaptation. The bottom line is this: I read Flagg’s novel back in the day, and have seen the film a number of times over the years, and have come away with the perception that neither presents an overtly lesbian context nor a physical portrait of two lovers overcome by lust. Both book and film are benign in this sense, but there is still never a doubt that a gay romance is the center of this wistful, charming and nostalgic work which is drenched in feeling and period flavor, and guided by the inexorable bond of friendship. Still, I can at least partially buy the argument that Avnet played it safe to ensure the wider audience this work so richly deserves by stressing the aspect of platonic devotion, even if the undercurrents are way too potent to dismiss. (more…)
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