MovieChat Forums > Fried Green Tomatoes (1992) Discussion > Where's the proof that Ninny and Idgie a...

Where's the proof that Ninny and Idgie aren't the same person?

posted 12 years ago by FrannyFine
45 replies | jump to latest

I haven't read the book so I am only talking about the movie. There's rather a large debate about Ninny and Idgie being the same person or not. Can anyone really prove that they were two different people? If they were different then why did Ninny smile like that at the end? She started to act weird before Evlyn asked if Idgie was still alive. Who's to say that Ninny didn't confess to her true identity because she wanted Evlyn to figure it out on her own? There's no proof that Ninny wasn't Idgie. She may have wanted to tell the story from a third person point of view rather than use her own identity. And we never saw Ninny during the flashback scenes. Ninny was never around with Idgie and Ruth yet she knew every detail of their life together. That would not be possible if she was a different person. Another factor is that Ninny married and had a child at around the same age as Evelyn was at the time (in her 40's). Ruth died at 37 and that's where the story ended. Idgie was still single when Ruth died which means Idgie must have married around 40. And back in those days not many women married at such a late age. So is it just a coincidence that both Ninny and Idgie weren't married yet at 40?

[–] trixie-k-88 12 years ago

Because she's just not. She is Ninny, not Idgie. Also, she wears a dress. Think Idgie would ever wear a dress at any age? And Idgie was very gay, and never would have had a child with a man.

[–] perorewen 12 years ago

And even though Idgie told some tall tales in her lives, would she really say she married her own brother? And if she was a Threadgood by birth, she wouldn't have been called MRS. Threadgood, she would have been called MISS Threadgood by the people working at the home.

*******
They blew up Congress!

My blog(Norwegian):
http://jennukka.wordpress.com

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] lexyladyjax 12 years ago

Ninny clearly says she had a crush on Buddy. If she had she been Idgie, would she have had a crush on her own brother?

[–] ComtessaLaRue 12 years ago

She did have a crush on her brother.... a harmless, normal, childhood crush. Idgie loved Buddy more than life, itself, but his heart belonged to Ruth Jamison.

[–] norman-dostal 8 years ago

Yes that's common between little girls and older brothers

[–] By_George 12 years ago

I always thought that Ninny is Idgie, but I'm watching the movie now and I'm at the end where Ninny says to Evelyn "Did I ever tell you that Mrs Otis was Sipsey's baby sister?" Evelyn says no, then Ninny says "Mrs Otis was with Sipsey and me the night Sipsey died. Sipsey told me a story that night I've never told a living soul, Evelyn. A story about what really happened the night Frank Bennett disappeared." After this we see who killed Frank.

Idgey was in the house with Sipsey, Big George and Smokey after Frank was killed & she helped with the cover up, so it wouldn't make sense that Ninny is Idgey because Sipsey wouldn't have to tell the story to Idgey. The part where Ninny smiles at Evelyn after she sees the honey is confusing to me. That's the reason I always thought Ninny and Idgey were the same.

[–] anni_boo 12 years ago

this thread kinda blew me away i saw this when i was young and i always thought they were the same person, she was just disguising it. maybe she did the honey herself for some sort of symbolism or something.

[–] norman-dostal 8 years ago

She just meant the identity of Frank's killer

[–] ewfleming-616-650888 12 years ago

1. Read the book. 2. Read the FAQs on this page it's much shorter. All the proof you should need.

[–] norman-dostal 8 years ago

The book is not the movie. No need to read it

[–] mnewlands 11 years ago

I agree I think Idgie is Ninny and Ninny is Idgie. Ninny mentions she married late about 43 her age I think was 82-85 so it tends to fit at the end of the day its left open to intrepretation but I tend to feel they were the same person a lovely film one of my favourites would love to try fried green tomatoes they look wonderful

"If you gentlemen dont mind I'd rather not spend the rest of this Winter tied to this beep chair"!

[–] ohsoso 11 years ago

As said a hundred times before, Ninny married Idgies brother. Ninny has no motive to say she is anyone other than who she says she is. Ninny, right up to the last is taking about her husband and the time they spent in their home. At the end of the film, my take is that Iddgie was alive somewhere still charming bees and still devoted to Ruths memory. It adds nothing to the story for there to be such an unnecessary twist. It's not a matter of proof, it's a matter of logic.

[–] norman-dostal 8 years ago

Actually it's really dumb not to get the twist. You think some other 80 year old just happens to drop off honey at Ruth's grave the same day Tandy shows up in a completely dead town? No

[–] Kingteb 8 years ago

good point, lol

[–] isotop235 9 years ago

BTW it is a couch he is tied to

Fiery the angels fell, deep thunder rolled around their shores, burning with the fires of Orc

[–] s_twcramer 11 years ago

It's a completely insignificant fact either way. The story is what is important. Why the director chose to give this intentionally ambiguous ending...I have no idea. In the book, they are 100% not the same person. It really doesn't matter either way. It could be in the film version that Ninny was using Idgie to tell her own story, so Evelyn wouldn't know until the end that it was actually HER story. Either way, if she IS Idgie, she lied about marrying Idgie's brother and did not change her name when she got married or...she's not really Idgie. Maybe she was both people. Maybe she made up half of it. There will never be an answer.

[–] ohsoso 11 years ago

I agree twcramer. It's a story and you can take whatever you want to choose.

But isnt it great that we are all still discussing this?

Nevertheless, I would reccomend anyone who has not yet read the novel to give it a go. I re read it every now and then and still enjoy as much as the first time. Having read the book before the film I am unable to separate the two.

Ninny has her own identity. Dont rob her of it. Just because we do not obviously see the character earlier in the film does not mean they do not exisit in dramatic reality.

Ninny is Ninny. I will not be moved.

[–] edwardhopper 11 years ago

In the book, Idgie and Ninny are two different people. That's not to say they didn't change it for the movie, but it is clear in the novel.

Right now I'm watching an extended version, and it's awesome to see some more scenes with these great characters! :)

[–] dawnantonis 11 years ago

I agree with you... I have not read the book, although I am thinking about it as my summer read.... BUT - I have always thought that Ninny and Idgie are the same person. The ending certainly implies this. That knowing look and nod of the head... I can't imagine how else that ending would be interpreted.

Now having said that, the speculation would next be about why.... Why would she tell the story in 3rd person, why would she pretend to be someone else.... and I have always simply thought it was a story telling technique... Many times we see a story told about someone else when it is really about the person telling the story. Perhaps she was genteel enough to not seem like she was bragging about her own life, yet realizing she was a strong and brave woman. The story needed to be told, and this may have been her way to get it out.

Either way, it's brilliant. I love movies that focus on the relationships between women, their strength and bonds.... In a positive way, not in a "Mean Girls" way, lol... :-)

"We're gonna need a bigger boat"....