When Does the Film "Fried Green Tomatoes" (1991) Take Place?
"Fried Green Tomatoes" (released to British audiences as "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe") is a historical fiction film written by Fannie Flagg with Carol Sobieski and Jon Avnet [adapting "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" (1987) by Fannie Flagg] that released December 27th, 1991. So when is "Fried Green Tomatoes" set?
It takes place in the years:
We know this because Ninny Threadgoode tells Evelyn Couch, "I 'member the day we was all gettin' ready for Leona's wedding. The war had just ended. The great one, you know." just at the start of her reminiscences. "The Great War" was the usual way everyone referred to World War I in the interwar years. So it must be soon after World War I but before World War II. So it's after late 1918 AD and before late 1939 AD.
1920 AD - ~1939 AD
We know this because Ninny Threadgoode tells Evelyn Couch, "I 'member the day we was all gettin' ready for Leona's wedding. The war had just ended. The great one, you know." just at the start of her reminiscences. "The Great War" was the usual way everyone referred to World War I in the interwar years. So it must be soon after World War I but before World War II. So it's after late 1918 AD and before late 1939 AD.
More specifically, the gravestone is visible for a character who dies very early on and it reads "1902 ♰ 1920" so it's 1920 AD at the beginning.
Another gravestone is seen at the end for a character who dies about three-quarters through the movie and that one reads "1903 ~ 1939" so the narrative extends to 1939 AD, at least.
Additionally, there's a frame story in which Ninny relates the main action of the story to Evelyn. Evelyn jokes at one point, "I'll slip tiny bombs into Penthouse and Playboys so they explode when you open them." So, other than taking place after the introduction of "Penthouse" magazine in March of 1965 AD, roughly in the 1980s AD (about a generation after the main action), it is unplaceable.
