Muay Thai and Fried Green Tomatoes: Difference between pages

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{{Infobox Film

'''Muay Thai''' ([[Thai_alphabet|Thai]] มวยไทย, [[international Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] /muai₃₂ tʰai₃₂/), also known as Thai boxing or Thai kickboxing, is a [[martial arts|martial art]] originally from [[Thailand]].

| name = Fried Green Tomatoes

| image = Fried green tomatoes.jpg

| caption = Movie poster

| director = [[Jon Avnet]]

| producer = [[Jon Avnet]]

| writer = [[Fannie Flagg]]<br />[[Carol Sobieski]]

| narrator =

| starring = [[Kathy Bates]]<br />[[Mary Stuart Masterson]]<br />[[Mary-Louise Parker]]<br />[[Jessica Tandy]]

| music = [[Jo Jo Hailey]]<br />[[K-Ci Hailey]]<br />[[Thomas Newman]]

| cinematography = [[Geoffrey Simpson]]

| editing = [[Debra Neil-Fisher]]

| distributor = [[Universal Pictures]]

| released = [[December 27]] [[1991]]

| runtime = 136 min.

| country = {{USA}}

| language = [[English language|English]]

| budget =

| preceded_by =

| followed_by =

| website =

| amg_id = 1:18668

| imdb_id = 0101921

}}

'''''Fried Green Tomatoes''''' is a [[1991]] drama film based on the novel ''[[Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe]]'' by [[Fannie Flagg]]. It was released in the [[UK]] under the novel's full title.

The film was directed by [[Jon Avnet]] and written by [[Fannie Flagg]] and [[Carol Sobieski]]. It stars [[Kathy Bates]], [[Jessica Tandy]], [[Mary-Louise Parker]] and [[Mary Stuart Masterson]]. It received a [[MPAA film rating system|PG-13]] rating from the [[Motion Picture Association of America|MPAA]].

==Cast==

{| class="wikitable"

|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC"

! Actor !! Role

|-

| [[Kathy Bates]] || Evelyn Couch

|-

| [[Mary Stuart Masterson]] || Idgie Threadgoode

|-

| [[Mary-Louise Parker]] || Ruth Jamison

|-

| [[Jessica Tandy]] || Ninny Threadgoode

|-

| [[Cicely Tyson]] || Sipsey

|-

| [[Chris O'Donnell]] || Buddy Threadgoode

|-

| [[Stan Shaw]] || Big George

|-

| [[Gailard Sartain]] || Ed Couch

|-

| [[Timothy Scott]] || Smokey Lonesome (as Tim Scott)

|-

| [[Gary Basaraba]] || Grady Kilgore

|-

| [[Lois Smith]] || Mama Threadgoode

|-

| [[Jo Harvey Allen]] || Women's Awareness Teacher

|-

| [[Macon McCalman]] || Prosecutor

|-

| [[Richard Riehle]] || Reverend Scroggins

|-

| [[Raynor Scheine]] || Curtis Smoot

|-

| [[Grace Zabriskie]] || Eva Bates

|-

| [[Reid Binion]] || Young Julian

|}

== Plot summary ==

[[Image:Amateur Muay Thai.JPG|thumb|Ram Muay before Amateur Muay Thai match]]

Evelyn Couch ([[Kathy Bates]]) meets an elderly woman named Ninny Threadgoode ([[Jessica Tandy]]) in a nursing home waiting room. Ninny tells her the story of the now-abandoned town of Whistle Stop, [[Alabama]], and the people that lived there - specifically the tale of the relationship between Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, the two women that ran the Whistle Stop Cafe. As the story of Idgie and Ruth (and a missing person) develops, Evelyn Couch finds herself being empowered by the stories of the strong-willed Idgie and the fiercely loyal and independent Ruth. She also finds a true best friend in Ninny.

Traditional muay Thai has a long history in [[Thailand]] as a martial art used by the military. The [[Military of Thailand|military]] style of muay Thai is called ''[[Lerdrit]]'', while today's "sport muay Thai" slightly varies from the original art and uses kicks and punches in a ring and with gloves similar to those used in [[boxing]]. Muay Thai is also known as 'The Science of Eight Limbs' as the hands, feet, elbows and knees are all used extensively in this art.

'''Expanded information'''

==Techniques==

The action takes place in Alabama. The heroine, Evelyn Couch, is a housewife. Evelyn is unhappy with her life and her marriage and her husband Ed appears to not be interested in her any more. Their son Cal is grown and is "busy with his own life." She has a lot of problems including thinking very lowy of herself. She and Ed are visiting his aunt in a nursing home and there in a waiting room she meets an old but very nice woman - Ninny Threadgoode.

The basic offensive techniques in muay Thai use hands, elbows, kicks and knees to punch and kick the opponent. To bind the opponent for both offensive and defensive purposes, small amounts of stand-up grappling are used: the clinch. The clinch is applied by holding the opponent either around the neck or around the body. In Western Boxing, the two fighters are separated when they clinch. Defensively, the concept of "wall of defense" is used, in which shoulders, arms and legs are used to hinder the attacker from successfully executing his techniques. Because of the power involved with Muay Thai techniques, fighters do not often block strikes like in other [[martial arts]]. Fighters prefer to evade attacks by stepping out of range or moving toward their opponent in order to jam techniques such as kicks.

Ninny tells her stories about the life of two women she used to know. The heroines of her story are Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison. Together they ran the Whistle Stop Cafe in Ninny's small Alabama home town. The film is named “Fried Green Tomatoes” because it is a feature dish at the cafe. From Ninny’s recollections Evelyn knows that Ruth loved Idgie’s brother who was killed in a railway accident. Then follows the story of the relationship between Ruth and Idgie.

Though the high kicks at the head look spectacular during a competition, insiders of the sport claim that the elbows and the knees are the most damaging, sometimes deadly, to the fighters.

Ruth and Idgie’s story is about their life after Buddy's death. Idgie helps Ruth to become free from her abusive husband. These two strong women work together to raise Ruth's son. He loses an arm in a railway accident. It is a very touching story of friendship and love, as well as courage and self-sacrifice.

Two muay Thai techniques became popular in other [[martial arts]]: The Thai low kick and the Thai roundhouse kick. The low kick uses a circular movement of the entire body to kick the opponent's leg with the upper part of the shin. When not correctly defended against, this technique often leads to the end of the fight, as the opponent can not stand anymore after a few low-kicks. The Thai roundhouse kick is also unique and was adapted for its efficiency. The kick is carried out with a straight leg and the entire body rotating from the hip, which is "locked" right before the leg makes contact to the opponent. Other martial arts, such as Shotokan [[Karate]] tend to prefer "snappy" kicks, which are faster but less powerful. Furthermore, Thai boxers kick with the shin instead of the foot.

The recollections of Ninny greatly influences Evelyn. First she is inspired by the strength and strong-will of these two independent women, and Evelyn’s life changes for the better. Second, she finds a true best friend in Ninny. Evelyn invites Ninny to live with her after Ninny's house in Whistle Stop is destroyed.

Almost all techniques in muay Thai use the entire body movement, rotating the hip with each kick, punch and block. This results in most techniques being slower but more powerful than techniques from boxing or karate. The rotation of the hips in Muay Thai techniqes is very distinctive and is what sets Muay Thai apart from other styles.

The ending leads you to believe that Ninny is in fact Idgie herself, but her statements during the film do not support this.

During a competition, the participants perform a lengthy ritual and ceremony before the fight ([[wai khru ram muay]]). The ritual is both for religious reasons and as a stretching warmup.

==Differences between the film and novel==

==Conditioning==

The film version does not present the lesbian romance between the two central characters, making it appear, to viewers who had not read the book, that Idgie and Ruth were merely best friends. The [[DVD]] edition of the film has an audio commentary with the director acknowledging this and pointing out that a scene between the two women engaging in a food fight was intended to be seen as symbolic love-making.

The character [[Artis O. Peavey]], who was a favorite of many in the novel, did not merit an appearance. Additionally, in the novel every important character has his or her own backstory, but many of these were eliminated in the film version.

The conditioning regimen in muay Thai is legendary for its intensity and rigour. Its focus is on hardening the eight anatomical weapons in the muay Thai arsenal to an incredible degree, so much so that getting hit with a shin kick from a muay Thai fighter is often likened to being hit by a baseball bat.

In the novel, Evelyn tries, unsuccessfully, to lose weight on her own several times and, eventually, resorts to going to a weight loss spa. In the film, Evelyn is able to control her dietary habits and maintain a regular exercise regimen on her own.

A quite common, mistakenly held belief is that muay Thai training includes special exercises for hardening shins and other body parts. In reality, muay Thai training does not include any special hardening exercises in addition to heavy bag training.

In the novel, Ninny passes away while Evelyn is visiting a weight loss spa. However, in the film, Ninny leaves the nursing home and ends up going to live with Evelyn and Ed in their home.

==History==

The novel's version of Evelyn is somewhat darker than her film portrayal. In the novel, Evelyn is extremely depressed over her weight and how her life has turned to the point of considering suicide. While her unhappiness with her marriage and weight are stated in the film, the degree of seriousness is much lighter than in the novel.

Muay Thai heavily influenced the development of [[kickboxing]], which was later created in Japan, Europe and North America.

The passage of time in the novel and the film is portrayed differently. In the novel, the events of the story are stretched and explored just after the ending of [[World War I]] up to the late 1980's. In the film, most of the story takes place between 1919 and the late 1930's.

In the last decade, muay Thai has enjoyed a boost in popularity in the whole world as it turned out to be very effective in popular no holds barred events, such as the UFC ([[Ultimate Fighting Championship]]) competitions. It is widely recognized that a combination of a grappling art, such as [[Judo]] or [[Brazilian Jiu Jitsu]], with muay Thai is very effective in such fights.

In the novel, Idgie and Big George are placed on trial for the murder of Frank Bennett years after Ruth has passed away. In the film, the trial takes place less than a year before Ruth's death in which she testifies on Idgie's behalf.

There exists a Malaysian derivative of muay Thai known as ''[[tomoi]]'' that is practised primarily in northern [[Malaysia]], in the states that share a border with Thailand. The ethnic [[Malay people|Malays]] in southern Thailand also refer to muay Thai as ''tomoi''.

==Box office==

Recently the film ''[[Ong-Bak]]'' helped to popularize muay Thai.

The film grossed a total of $82,418,501 in the United States alone, and took in $37,000,000 outside the U.S., bringing the total to $119,418,501 worldwide [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=friedgreentomatoes.htm].

==Awards==

The video game characters [[Sagat]] ([[Street Fighter]]), [[Joe Higashi]] ([[Fatal Fury]]), and King ([[Art of Fighting]]) are muay thai fighters.

[[Image:Dvd fried green tomatoes.jpg|thumb|130px|right|DVD cover]]

The movie was nominated for [[Academy Awards]] for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Actress in a Supporting Role]] (Jessica Tandy) and for [[Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay|Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium]] (Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski).

==SeeThe AlsoCafé==

The "Whistle Stop Café" is loosely based on a real-life restaurant, the Irondale Café in [[Irondale, Alabama]]. The restaurant is still very much in operation, and is something of a local tourist attraction, thanks to the novel and movie. It is famous for its [[Fried green tomatoes (food)|fried green tomatoes]], and is located adjacent to the main line of the [[Norfolk Southern Railroad]] (formerly [[Southern Railway (US)|Southern Railway]]) and very near one of the line's large [[classification yard]]s.

Irondale is a suburb of [[Birmingham, Alabama]], Flagg's birthplace. After the film became a hit, the set used as the Whistle Stop Café, on ___location in [[Juliette, Georgia]], was converted into a real restaurant, and is still a tourist attraction.

*[[Bando]]

*[[ESDO]]

*[[Khmer Boxing]]

*[[Kickboxing]]

*[[Lerdrit]]

*[[Muay Boran]]

*[[Pradal Serey]]

*[[Savate]]

*[[List of kickboxers]]

*[[K-1]]

*[[Thailand]]

A second Whistle Stop Café ___location can now be found on Houston Rd in [[Macon, Georgia]].

==External links==

A third Whistle Stop Cafe can can be found in downtown Kennesaw in Georgia.

* [http://www.muaythaionline.net/ Muaythai Online] - worlds top muaythai portal.

* [http://www.faqs.org/faqs/martial-arts/faq/part3/ Martial Art FAQ entry on muay Thai] details the history and current aspects of the sport

* [http://www.caledonianmuaythai.co.uk/ Caledonian Muay Thai - Scottish muay Thai site]

* [http://www.houseofmuaythai.com/ House of Muay Thai - Canadian Muay Thai Organization]

==External link==

[[Category:Martial arts]]

*{{imdb title|id=0101921|title=Fried Green Tomatoes}}

[[Category:Thai sport]]

*[http://fgobsession.ravenwolfprods.com Fried Green Obsession]

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