My friends and I have never read the book, but we are debating on something. It would appear in the movie that they are trying to make Jessica Tandy look like she was indeed Idgy Threadgood. But we are not sure, anyone know the real answer?
I always assumed they were. It seemed obvious. From this:
Fried Green Tomatoes, 1991. Dir. Jon Avnet. Cast: Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker, Cicely Tyson. Based on the novel by Fannie Flagg. Jessica Tandy plays Ninny Threadgoode, an old woman in nursing home, who is befriended by a timid, overweight, middle-aged woman named Evelyn. The latter returns to visit Mrs. Threadgoode after the old woman begins to tell her a story of events in the life of people from Whistle Stop, a small town in Georgia. The old woman’s story focuses on the friendship and love between Ruth and Idgy. Intergeneration: Evelyn, struggling to reawaken love in her marriage, and striving to increase her self-esteem in middle age, gains strength and self-confidence by listening to the story of Idgy. The old woman finds someone to whom she can tell the story of her own life (Mrs. Threadgoode and Idgy are the same person) as a way to pay homage to her love for Ruth and to pass on the values of past generations to a new generation. In doing so, Mrs. Threadgoode makes a new friend, who becomes so devoted to her that she invites Mrs. Threadgoode to live with her.
In the beginning of the movie Ninny says she married into the Threadgoode family- but it shows her as a little girl threadgoode doesn’t it?I don’t get it.
No, Jessica Tandy was Ninny (Virginia) Threadgoode, who married Idgie’s brother Cleo. They had a mentally retarded son, Albert, who lived to be about 30. She was NOT Idgie. The little girl in the beginning (who didn’t want to wear a dress) was Idgie, not Ninny. This is all clear in the movie, and even clearer in the book.
Well the little scene at the end made us think that maybe she was Idgie
Here’s a link to the last thread where we went over this.
Ok well while we are all here, why is the little boys name Buddy threadgoode junior? shouldn’t his last name be bennet? or even jameson?
Buddy after the original Buddy who died, and Threadgoode because Ruth felt that she was part of the Threadgoode family (and probably also after dead Buddy). Certainly not Bennett after the abusive jerk father. I don’t know why Ruth didn’t change her name from Bennett also – maybe she was being traditional there.