History Literature / FriedGreenTomatoesAtTheWhistleStopCafe

!!Provides Examples Of:

* EightiesHair: In the film version, the two young ladies who harass Evelyn in the parking lot sport this to a tee.
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the novel, Ninny describes herself as a very tall, plain, big-boned woman who is still rather large and robust even in old age. In the film she's played by fragile, bird-like Jessica Tandy, who was [[IWasQuiteALooker quite a looker when she was young]].
* AgitatedItemStomping: Buddy "Stump" Threadgoode stomps an erector set he got for Christmas flat. While this is treated like a temper tantrum, an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erector_Set Erector Set]]--which uses nuts and bolts--is quite a thoughtless gift to give a ''one-armed'' kid.
* AmbiguouslyGay: The movie decided to play Idgie and Ruth's relationship as a more subtle and heavily implied thing, rather than outright stating to the camera they were lovers. The book on the other hand was quite explicit. [[spoiler:In the sequel, the relationship is quietly confirmed when Idgie tells her brother Julian that she and Ruth were more than just best friends. Julian is not surprised.]]

* CompressedAdaptation: Quite a lot. The book covers nearly eighty years in the life of a small town and its residents, many of whom have greatly expanded roles and even whole arcs that are never hinted at in the film.
** The major omission on this front seems to be Big George's family. His children are greatly expanded upon in the book and we get to follow their adventures into adulthood; Evelyn even gets to meet some of his descendants. In the film, we see only his daughter Naughty Bird.[[note]]She's the little girl in the white smock who sits on the back steps while Big George barbecues.[[/note]]
** Evelyn and Ed's adult children are never mentioned. Neither is Evelyn's suicidal impulses or her grief at the death of her mother (which is a much bigger motivation in the book than her menopause).
** The book contains a final scene [[spoiler:in which we learn that Idgie, while elderly, is still very much alive and charming bees with her brother Julian.]]

* DeCompositeCharacter: Sheriff Smoote and [[spoiler:the judge]] are separate characters in the film, and neither of them indicates having any history with Frank Bennett.

* GoodShepherd: Reverend Scroggins. He doesn't quite get along with Idgie all the time, but is a good man and [[spoiler:provides her an alibi during her trial]]. He's also the only person in the movie to ever refer to Big George by his full name.
** The sequel reveals that his son Jessie, after some years of alcoholism, wound up following in his father's footsteps.

* ImagineSpot: In the novel, Evelyn becomes lost in her fantasies of being transported to Whistle Stop in its heyday, where she imagines herself as a beloved member of the community. She also has more violent fantasies of being Towanda, a feminist terrorist who brings about world peace by vanquishing evil men. In the film, she has a dream sequence of greeting her (unappreciative) husband at the door while wearing nothing but cling film.

* IronicEcho:
** There's a family joke told several times in the film about a flock of ducks landing in a small pond. The first time it's told by Buddy to Ruth right before he's killed. The last time it's told is by Idgie to Ruth on Ruth's deathbed. [[TearJerker Ruth wanted it to be the last thing she heard as she was dying.]]
** Two young women steal Evelyn's parking spot at the supermarket and then smartmouth Evelyn when she calls them out: "Face it, lady, we're younger and faster!" Evelyn, newly confident and assertive after hearing the story of Idgie and Ruth, then gets revenge by ramming their car repeatedly, and boasts to the girls, "Face it, girls, I'm older and I have more insurance."

* KickTheDog: Or rather, kick your pregnant wife down the stairs as she's leaving you. Frank does this in the film without a shred of remorse, earring him a YouMonster reaction from Idgie's brother Julian, who nearly assaults him. Really ninety percent of what Frank does could count as this, but that moment really stands out.

** He's a Klansman in the movie as well, as Idgie points out because she recognizes his shoes when he's in his robes, and when he says he "doesn't recognize" the Georgian Klansmen that show up in Whistle Stop. Apparently [[EvenEvilHasStandards Whistlestop Klansmen have different standards for how they treat black people than the Georgia ones]]. This would, however, have been subverted by a deleted scene which was later inserted into the Extended Cut. Idgie mentions offhandedly that she recognizes the "size fourteen clodhoppers" she believes Grady wears. In the deleted scene, soon after the Georgia Klan comes to town and tortures Big George, Grady reveals the truth-- he doesn't wear size 14 and "doesn't much care for parades, bed sheets, or otherwise."

* PintsizedPowerhouse:
** Sipsey, who's small and wizened in stature but who has been wielding ten-pound cast-iron frying pans with both hands since childhood. [[spoiler:Frank Bennett underestimates her, to his peril.]]
** In the film, Idgie is played by Mary Stuart Masterson, who at 5'4" is significantly shorter than many of the full-grown men she stands up to. (Averted in the novel, where Idgie's described as tall and lanky.)

* RelatedInTheAdaptation:
** An odd but minor example: In the novel, the woman Ed and Evelyn visit in the nursing home is Ed's unnamed mother. In the film, they go to visit Ed's aunt Vesta Adcock. This is an interesting (if random) switcheroo, since in the novel, Vesta Adcock is a long-time resident of Whistle Stop whom Mrs. Threadgoode has known for many years, while in the film, they're only fellow nursing home residents and there's no evidence that they knew each other previously.
** Inverted with Ruth and Buddy Threadgoode: In the film, they're love interests. In the novel, Ruth is cousin to the Threadgoode children and Buddy was dead well before she ever came to Whistle Stop; there's no indication that she ever met him.

* SparedByTheAdaptation:
** [[spoiler:Ninny dies toward the end of the novel, but survives to the end of the film.]]
** Smokey Lonesome is also alive when last seen in the film, while in the novel a chapter focuses on his death of natural causes, several years after the trial. (The director's cut of the film mentions Smokey's off-screen death.)

* WhamLine: Mrs. Threadgoode says a line early on that makes Evelyn really pay attention to what she's been blathering on about.
--> '''Mrs. Threadgoode:''' "She was a character all right, but how anybody ever could have thought that she killed that man is beyond me."

--> '''Evelyn:''' ''(overjoyed)'' Alive?! Idgie's alive?!

''Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café'' is a 1987 novel by Creator/FannieFlagg. It was adapted into the film ''Film/FriedGreenTomatoes'', which was released in 1991.

''Fried Green Tomatoes'' tells the story of two enduring friendships. The first, set in [[TheEighties the modern day]], is between Evelyn Couch, a dissatisfied, middle-age, menopausal housewife too frightened of death to commit suicide, and Ninny Threadgoode, a boisterous and talkative octogenarian who bolsters Evelyn's spirits with her storytelling. The story she tells is of another pair of women: incorrigible {{Tomboy}} and raconteur Idgie Threadgoode and sweet, stubborn SouthernBelle Ruth Jamison, who together ran a café in [[TheGreatDepression Depression-era]] [[TheDeepSouth Alabama]].

** He's a Klansman in the movie as well, as Idgie points out because she recognizes his shoes when he's in his robes, and when he says he "doesn't recognize" the Georgian Klansmen that show up in Whistle Stop. Apparently [[EvenEvilHasStandards Whistlestop Klansmen have different standards for how they treat black people than the Georgia ones]]. This would, however, have been subverted by a deleted scene. Idgie mentions offhandedly that she recognizes the "size fourteen clodhoppers" she believes Grady wears. In the deleted scene, Grady reveals the truth--his feet (and thus his shoes) are actually quite small, and thus he couldn't have been who Idgie saw in those robes.

** To most younger readers, who are brought up in a world where racial slurs are intolerable, the easy way that the characters in the book use the word "nigger" is very strange and highly offensive. Absolutely justified, though, as that was how people talked to black people in the early parts of the 20th century; even with people like Grady, who likes Big George and his family, but talks down to him when trying to look big in front of out-of-town police officers, or the Threadgoodes who consider Sipsey and Big George part of their family.

* NeverGotToSayGoodbye: In the novel, Idgie and Stump were out collecting leaves and pinecones for Ruth's sick-room when she died.

* KevorkaMan: Artis Peavey is not particularly attractive, and he's usually down-and-out, spends his money on gambling and flashy clothes, and relies on women to support him. Fortunately for him, the ladies love him and will fight each other to be the one to take care of him.

* CainAndAbel: Arguably deconstructed with Big George's twin boys Jasper and Artis. Jasper is born light-complected like his mother, while Artis is dark like his father. Throughout his life, Jasper is encouraged to mingle with only lighter-complected black people and to be deferential to white people. Jasper grows up hard-working, successful, and highly respectable, while Artis comes to resent his brother's advantage, leading him down a path of fast living, gambling, and crime. As children, Artis's resentment drives him to attack his brother with a penknife, while as adults, Jasper loves his brother but finds himself avoiding Artis due to Artis's unsavory lifestyle. The book none-too-subtly hints that the difference in the brothers' lives are due to the disparity in the way they were raised and the way their complexions are perceived by white society.

* StrawFeminist: Various purposefully comical stereotypes show up in Evelyn's time, and after getting caught up in the story, Evelyn herself becomes an aggressive female-empowerment activist for a while before calming down.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Due to some ambiguous pronouns, Evelyn is devastated and furious when a nurse seems to callously tell her that Mrs. Threadgoode has died. She's also a little bit ''too'' happy when the nurse clarifies that it was Mrs. Threadgoode's ''roommate'' who died.

* ScaryBlackMan: Big George invokes this when he and Idgie help Ruth leave Frank. All he has to do to scare Frank out of interfering is stand there, be big, and core an apple.

* PsychoKnifeNut: At age 10, Artis stabs his brother Jasper and can't stop when he finds out how good it feels (thankfully it's only a pen knife and Jasper survives). Many years later, [[spoiler:when his brother Willie Boy is murdered, Artis [[{{Revenge}} tracks down the killer]] and cuts his heart out]].

* ButtMonkey: Julian Threadgoode is the Butt Monkey of the Threadgoode family. Even the baby of the family, Idgie, takes advantage of his gullible nature and lack of smarts while they're growing up. [[spoiler: In spite of this, Julian and Idgie end up as companions in their old age.]]

* JustLikeRobinHood: Railroad Bill is a local outlaw who breaks into government railroad cars to steal supplies, which he throws off the train to down-and-out people suffering during the Depression. While there's quite a price on Railroad Bill's head, no one is too eager to see him caught, as his stealing saves lives. [[spoiler: Later on, adult Stump reveals that Railroad Bill was really Idgie in AshFace working in secret with the town sheriff.]]

** In the film, Idgie is played by Mary Stuart Masterson, who at 5'4" is significantly shorter than many of the full-grown men she stands up to. (Subverted in the novel, where Idgie's described as tall and lanky.)

* RelatedInTheAdaptation: An odd but minor example: In the novel, the woman Ed and Evelyn visit in the nursing home is Ed's unnamed mother. In the film, they go to visit Ed's aunt Vesta Adcock. This is an interesting (if random) switcheroo, since in the novel, Vesta Adcock is a long-time resident of Whistle Stop whom Mrs. Threadgoode has known for many years, while in the film, they're only fellow nursing home residents and there's no evidence that they knew each other previously.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: The prosecutor thinks that Idgie and Big George killed Frank Bennett [[spoiler:but Judge Smoote dismisses the case anyways. Unbeknownst to him, the real killer is Big George's mother Sipsey.]]

* KissingCousins: Ruth and Idgie in the novel (though they're related by marriage, not by blood, and it's never established to what degree they're cousins).

* HideYourLesbians: Between Idgie and Ruth. See also AmbiguouslyGay. Averted in the novel, where they are explicitly a couple.

* CainAndAbel: Arguably deconstructed with Big George's twin boys Jasper and Artis. Jasper is born light-complected like his mother, while Artis is dark like his father. Throughout his life, Jasper is encouraged to mingle with only lighter-complected black people and to be deferential to white people. Jasper grows up hard-working, successful, and highly respectable, while Artis comes to resent his brother's advantage, leading him down a path of fast living, gambling, and crime. The book none-too-subtly hints that the difference in the brothers' lives are due to the disparity in the way they were raised and the way their complexions are perceived by white society.

* PassFail: Examined. One of the novel's subplots involves Big George's granddaughter Clarissa, who is light-complected enough to shop in white department stores. Unaware that his niece is trying to pass, her dark-complected elderly uncle Artis hugs her in public (in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1950s) while she refuses to acknowledge that they're related. Artis is violently ejected from the store, while Clarissa burns with shame over what she's done to him, but is unable to intervene, knowing she'll be even ''more'' violently ejected if the white employees realize they've been deceived.