Southern Bells & Steel Magnolias

I never used to know what was meant by the phrase Steel Magnolias I just thought it was one of those movies, which rocks, and you watch every so often just because it’s time. I was having a discussion the other day with a dear friend and I was talking about how hard different things were for me at the time and being stressed out but I was ok. The response I got was “Steel Magnolia.”

Whenever I think of that movie the scene I think of first is the classic Sally Field high drama scene. One which she has in most, if not all, of her movies as well as some of her more recent TV appearances (ie ER). I’m pretty sure that the only time this particular brand of acting was not present would have been in the Flying Nun.

"We'll sell t-shirts sayin' 'I slapped Ouiser Boudreaux'"

Steel Magnolias was one of the first movies I bought on DVD my freshman year at college. As any true southern woman should own a copy for the aforementioned reason of the periodic “it’s time” watching. ;) Over my years at school I would occasionally whip out this film every so often, but to be honest I never really watched the whole thing all the way through. Most times when I was feeling particularly down about something I would go straight to the scene just after the funeral. I could probably recite it verbatim, but I’ll spare you the details, besides it’s much more powerfully done by Miss Sally Field. The segment that I really love from this scene is the where Sally Field says, “I just want to hit somebody until they feel as bad as I do.” And the ensuing punch line from Olympia Dukakis. “…You missed the chance of a lifetime M’Lynn. Half a Chiquapin parish’d give their eye teeth to take a whack a Ouiser.”

When I think of the term “Southern Bell” I picture some type of cross between Scarlet O’Hara, and the perfect 1950’s hostess, well mannered and the ideal picture of calm and collected. What they don’t tell you is that calm and collected on the surface is frequently a mess under the surface.

I went to see the Simpsons movie…yeah I know…but, the one line that stuck with me was when Lisa was getting upset about something, Marge said to her, “You’re a woman, you can hold onto it forever…” Something in that humorous statement tends to be true at least it did for me when she said it. Not that I hold grudges but just that I internalize everything and let it out later when I am alone and not in front of everyone.

It reminds me of French Kiss where Meg Ryan is walking with Kevin Klein and she is talking about how expressing your emotions is healthy. Maybe I should experiment and have emotional outbursts in public? Definitely not at work as that would be considered unprofessional, but wow if I did could you imagine how many more people would think that I hated them? ;D