I'm sitting here and my wife is watching Steel Magnolias from 1989 and I can't help but feel like I'm missing something. I've heard this is a classic movie but I'm afraid I'm missing something regarding its humor. Like, I don't know if I'm supposed to be laughing with, or AT, the main characters.
For those that aren't familiar, Steel Magnolias is set in 1989 small town Louisiana around a group of women and their trials and tribulations. It has a pretty stellar cast, Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLain, Daryl Hannah, Julia Roberts, Tom Skerritt, and Dylan McDermott. My wife thinks I'm overthinking the movie, but I can't tell if these are all horrible people. If their problems are serious? Is their gossiping supposed to be charming; because it isn't. Julia Robert's character has Type 1 Diabetes and all of the characters around her treat her as though she's has stage 4 cancer. Now, I can understand that in 1989 Type 1 Diabetes was more serious than it is today, but I can't help but think that the writer of the movie didn't really understand diabetes because of how they treat it.
But most of my confusion is centered around the humor, or what I perceive as humor. I can't tell if the movie is trying to take a humorous look at southern culture and the gossipy woman troupe, or if the humor is supposed to be derived purely from these gossipy woman within their southern culture. Basically, I can't tell if this movie is self aware and trying to be ironic, or if it was never self aware and that the humor lands flat in the face of over the top southerns running around shooting guns in the air and the "gossipy bitches" at the salon. To further round this all off, this movie is deeply rooted in the late 80s early 90s aesthetic- big hair, bright colors, shoulder pads, etc. The movie seems to take the style of the era seriously, and that I can understand, but then it tries to be humorous about how other people are dressed. For example, at a wedding two of the main characters are gossiping about how other guests are dressed and making fun of them, but to me EVERYONE is dressed poorly. As a viewer I'm left confused by what is suppose to be funny, is that lady's dress bad but this other dress is good because it has big shoulder pads? Everything looks tacky, and the dresses that aren't the women gossip about and ridicule as "humor"- but by 2020 standards everything seems backwards.
I'm sorry if I'm just rambling, but could someone else share their opinions of this movie because I feel like I'm watching it wrong. Has it just aged poorly, or am I expecting the wrong things from it?
For those that aren't familiar, Steel Magnolias is set in 1989 small town Louisiana around a group of women and their trials and tribulations. It has a pretty stellar cast, Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLain, Daryl Hannah, Julia Roberts, Tom Skerritt, and Dylan McDermott. My wife thinks I'm overthinking the movie, but I can't tell if these are all horrible people. If their problems are serious? Is their gossiping supposed to be charming; because it isn't. Julia Robert's character has Type 1 Diabetes and all of the characters around her treat her as though she's has stage 4 cancer. Now, I can understand that in 1989 Type 1 Diabetes was more serious than it is today, but I can't help but think that the writer of the movie didn't really understand diabetes because of how they treat it.
But most of my confusion is centered around the humor, or what I perceive as humor. I can't tell if the movie is trying to take a humorous look at southern culture and the gossipy woman troupe, or if the humor is supposed to be derived purely from these gossipy woman within their southern culture. Basically, I can't tell if this movie is self aware and trying to be ironic, or if it was never self aware and that the humor lands flat in the face of over the top southerns running around shooting guns in the air and the "gossipy bitches" at the salon. To further round this all off, this movie is deeply rooted in the late 80s early 90s aesthetic- big hair, bright colors, shoulder pads, etc. The movie seems to take the style of the era seriously, and that I can understand, but then it tries to be humorous about how other people are dressed. For example, at a wedding two of the main characters are gossiping about how other guests are dressed and making fun of them, but to me EVERYONE is dressed poorly. As a viewer I'm left confused by what is suppose to be funny, is that lady's dress bad but this other dress is good because it has big shoulder pads? Everything looks tacky, and the dresses that aren't the women gossip about and ridicule as "humor"- but by 2020 standards everything seems backwards.
I'm sorry if I'm just rambling, but could someone else share their opinions of this movie because I feel like I'm watching it wrong. Has it just aged poorly, or am I expecting the wrong things from it?
