Skepticism definitely describes my mentality going into
watching Thelma and Louise. Not I
didn’t think it would be a good film but based on the cover it seemed like a
chick flick, as I stated in class during discussion this film is the about the
complete opposite of a chick flick. Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis are a
dynamic duo to say the least, excellent chemistry between the two of them and
show they can impact as much damage as any male could. There lives before
taking this trip show there pasts really were that troubling and something to
this magnitude was definitely going to escalate.
Thelma and Louise are similar but at the
same time have different pasts. An overwhelming, controlling, man-child who is
her husband shelters Thelma, she is clearly intimated by him based on their
phone conversations. Her husband, Daryl appears wealthy and it seems obvious
that Thelma could not see life without him. Not because she is love with him
but because she does not have the survival instincts to go on without him
because they have been together for so long. Many things have been bottled over
their disgrace of a marriage and she takes out her frustration in different
ways while on the run with Louise.
Louise
comes from a different standpoint. When she screams to Hal before murdering him
that when is women is crying she is not having a good time, you get the
instinct that it was possible she was raped in her lifetime. She has trust and
anger issues, her short fuse gives out quite a few times on many different people
through out the film. Despite how independent she does have a man in her life
comes to the rescue for her. He proposes to her but it shut down. Jimmy, her
boyfriend, understand the type of women Louise is an upon finding out she’s
leaving for good he has no choice but to accept it, knowing there is no way to
change her mind.
These
two women branch out of shells they are in once this trip gets on it’s way, specifically
when the murder it occurs. I felt like Thelma more then Louise even thought
Louise was the one who actually committed the murder. Louise experienced what
it was like to be with another man, commit a crime, and be an intimating force.
Something she had been going up against for the whole tenure of her marriage. Thelma and Louise come to the conclusion
at the Grand Canyon that they’re run had come to an end and drive the car over
the cliff.
This
film by no means is a chick flick, but definitely has over-bearing aspects of
feminism. This film definitely shows that a female can be a force not to be reckoned
with and Ridley Scott tries to reach the audiences full potential to realize
that.
The first thing I would like to point out is that Louise murdered Harlan, not Hal. Hal was the police investigator trying to help the two girls.
ReplyDeleteUpon reading your post, I like how you mentioned that Jimmy understood the type of woman Louise is. At first we do not see his acceptance of her personality, for instance when they are in the motel room, and he knocks the table and everything down in anger/from being annoyed. Shortly after we do see how the feelings get turned around though, from after the proposal on, how Louise is going to be an independent woman and move on with her life. Being turned down during a proposal is crushing for any man, but we see Jimmy handle it in a very proper way. If we were witnessing Darryl and Thelma in this situation, things would have gone a lot differently. I agree with you on Scott's choices in this film, to bring out each woman's personality more.
I'm curious—how exactly do you define the term "chick flick?" Because I define the term as a film that aims to entertain and engage an audience composed of a female majority. Based upon that definition, I think that Thelma & Louise is by all standards a "chick flick." As much as I despise that term, I interpreted Thelma & Louise as a film that surely entertained a mass majority of women upon its initial release. "Chick flicks" tend to exhibit stories with female protagonists who are written and designed to be easily relatable by the majority of women. Thelma & Louise departed from the traditional structure of most Hollywood blockbuster chick flicks, but that doesn't mean that it isn't one. A film can fall under the irritatingly stereotypical category of "chick flick" and still exhibit strong feminist values (take, for example, Legally Blonde, Clueless, Mean Girls, and She's The Man).
ReplyDeleteInitially, why do you interpret the feminism present in this film as "overbearing?" Why is that overbearing to you?
DeleteThe introduction paragraph was good. It jumps right into how you feel about the movie. I like how you described Thelma's marriage because even though the movie just shows the present stages of their relationship it is important to think of what has happened beforehand over the years which is something you discussed. It exacerbates the reasons why Thelma has chosen the new life of the road. The only mistake I saw was that Louise killed Harland, not Hal.
ReplyDelete