The Contrasting Brilliance of Steel Magnolias

aka the essay that has the handwriting of a serial killer

We recently covered Steel Magnolias over at The Popcast patreon. I hadn’t watched Steel Magnolias in a HOT minute, one, because I don’t rewatch a lot of movies and, two, if I am going to rewatch something, Steel Magnolias isn’t USUALLY one of the immediate candidates for consideration for no specific reason that I can think of at this current moment.

Hmmmmmm, as an emotionally repressed person, what could it possibly be? Perhaps the subject of the next season of Serial…

REGARDLESS, having rewatched it though, I found myself in awe at one specific thing.

Obviously, you can fall in love with the casting, the Southern-ness of the story, or the emphasis on camaraderie.

I would even be fine (and mostly agree) with a citation of the character names as the best part of the movie. A SAMPLING BELOW:

1. M’Lynn Eatenton

2. Ouiser Boudreaux

3. Truvy Jones

4. Clariee Belcher

5. Drum Eatenton

6. Annelle Dupuy Desoto

7. Spud Jones

8. Jackson Latcherie

9. Bunkie Dupuy

10. Janice Van Meter

11. A vet named ‘Whitey Black’

12. Belle Marmillion

13. Fern Thornton

14. Bark Boone

These aren’t just names; they are a list of suspects in a game of Clue that God poured gravy all over. A roster of names like this in a movie is an extravagance none of us deserve much like an open bar event or Trent Crimm’s character arc throughout Ted Lasso.

HOWEVER, it wasn’t the casting, the Southern-ness, the focus on camaraderie, or the colorful names in the cast that I was most impressed by. Instead, it was something much more subtle: