Fried Green Revelations

Hitting the wires today: "Mary-Louise Parker begged the director of Fried Green Tomatoesnot to censor the film's lesbian plotline, believing it to be a crucial part of the story. Parker starred in the 1991 movie with Mary Stuart Masterson playing her best friend, but in the original story -- from Fannie Flagg's 1987 novel -- their characters were lovers. Movie bosses were determined to downplay the relationship and portray the couple as just close pals -- despite Parker's desperate pleas to filmmaker Jon Avnet."

Of course, astute viewers of the movie (and anyone who read the book beforehand) can detect slight traces of the original story; you may remember Susie Bright recalling her unpleasant reaction to it in The Celluloid Closet.

At the time of the film's release, many were disappointed over the "glossing over" of the lesbian subject matter of the book, although Avnet has revealed that that "a scene between the two women engaging in a food fight was intended to be seen as symbolic love-making". Yeah, because we all know plenty of lesbians who throw food at each other to display their passion ...

Nevertheless, it won the GLAAD Media Award that year, and Flagg was Oscar nominated for adapting her book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe,to the screen.