20) “I never get mad, Mrs. Threadgoode” – Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Directed by Jon Avnet, Fried Green Tomatoes is the film adaptation of the novel Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistlestop Café by Fannie Flagg. The adaptation is written by Flagg and Carol Sobieski and features the interlinking tales of four women. Ninny (Jessica Tandy) is an elderly woman who befriends unhappy and frustrated housewife, Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates) in a nursing home. As they get to know one another, Ninny recounts her memories of her former hometown Whistlestop, and the dramatic tale of two women that lived there – Idgie and Ruth. The story of the bond between these two women, and her own growing bond with Ninny, inspires Evelyn to become more assertive in her daily life – culminating in a glorious explosion of repressed feminist rage in a shopping mall parking lot. She then describes her new-found determination to Ninny.
“I never get mad, Mrs. Threadgoode. Never. The way I was raised it was bad manners. Well I got mad and it felt terrific. I felt like I could beat the shit out of all those punks. Excuse my language; just beat them to a pulp. Beat them until they begged for mercy. Towanda, the Avenger! And after I wipe out all the punks of this world I’ll take on the wife beaters, like Frank Bennett, and machine gun their genitals. Towanda on the rampage! I’ll put tiny little bombs in Penthouse and Playboy, so they’ll explode when you open them. And I’ll ban all fashion models who weigh less than 130 pounds. I’ll give half the military budget to people over 65 and declare wrinkles sexually desirable. Towanda: Righter of Wrongs, Queen Beyond Compare!”
In this triumphantly proposed manifesto, Evelyn sets her sights firmly on those cultural and political machines she feels has contributed to the lifelong oppression of her feminine power – and throws in an attack on ageism for good measure. The beauty of it is, it was none of these things that finally triggered her temper to snap. It was two young, slim, perfectly groomed women who swooped into the parking space she had been waiting for. Her rage was caused by those members of her own gender who, having apparently subscribed whole-heartedly to the culturally dictated ideal of womanhood, exhibit an overwhelming sense of entitlement. Her rage is against the fact that only a narrow, publicly male-approved version of femininity is celebrated in society, and anything that doesn’t fit that narrative is rejected, and regarded as shameful. It is a simple speech, steeped in truth, and delivered with joy by the wonderful Kathy Bates.