As I was watching Thelma & Louise I thought I had seen this movie before and it
struck me that I actually only saw the ending when they drive off the cliff.
Since I knew that, it slightly ruined part of the movie for me. I still enjoyed
it but knowing how something ends takes the fun out of the journey. Regardless,
there were aspects of the movie that did surprise me.
I think that Thelma & Louise is one of the greatest women’s movies ever made.
It shows strong women playing the role that we would normally see men play.
What I thought was great was the bond that these two women had with each other.
They stuck together through all the turmoil, their friendship deepened as the
movie went on and they even died together which is reminiscent of the ending of
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
What I really took note of in the movie
was all of the male characters. They did a great job of portraying the stereotypical
male, i.e., the controlling husband, the cute boy next door, the bad boy and
the creep you meet at the bar. The women’s characters were made stronger by the
male character extremes and aids in giving a little justification as to why
they did what they did.
The parallel shot, as Thelma and Louise
were packing for their trip shows the great differences between them. The mise
en scene in Thelma’s house showed me that she is trying to be a good housewife
but whatever she does doesn’t seem to be good enough. She packed everything but
the kitchen sink in the trunk of Louise’s car.
In contrast, the mise en scene in Louise’s home showed that she was up tight
and a neat freak. As she was packing she was not rushed or frantic. Louise was
certain what she needed to pack. Nothing
more, nothing less.
Thelma is like the child who never got to
do anything and Louise is like her mother, making sure she has a good time but
still looking out for her. When Thelma gets raped Louise is there to protect to
her. I feel that in most female relationships there is always that friend who
is the motherly type. But as the film moves on Thelma becomes more independent
and starts to take charge of her life. For instance when she robbed the store, no
one told her what to do. She knew they
needed the money and nothing was going to stand in her way from getting
it. She even had more control over the
gun unlike how she handled it when she was packing at the beginning of the
movie. As she got control of herself, Louise started to relax a little more
some and lightened up by not mothering her so much.
Also, what these two women wore on the start
of their trip in contrast to what they wore at the end showed their
transformation. When they started their road trip they were both wearing white which
I believe signifies their boring lives and it also acted as a blank canvas - anything
can happen on this trip. As the trip goes on they start to get dirty, wear crummy
clothes and Louise’s hair is down and flowing. By the end of the movie they are
both almost unrecognizable from their characters at the beginning which I
thought was great. These women don’t have to be confined to their lives. They
can be just like men and do the same things.
The camera shots in this movie were wonderful.
In the beginning when the shot of the mountains changes from black to white was
a foreshadowing of how their lives were going to change. They went from boring to being outlaws. Another great shot was when they were in
their car and facing the open road. It shows that they have a long journey
ahead of them but they will do it together.
No comments:
Post a Comment