Representation in Thelma and Louise essays

Representation in Thelma and Louise essays In 1991 Ridley Scott successfully created Thelma and Louise and turned many stereotypes built around women upside down, much to the feminists delight and showed how women are victims of this patriarchal society we live in. Thelma and Louise are forced to be criminals because of men; the male society is the reason why a harmless girls weekend away was turned into a suicide. As the tale unfolds we see how their personalities react with the situation and how they change dramatically. When they are finally free from men they enjoy themselves for once, although maybe their idea of fun was more than harmless. Straight away we know that this film is a Road movie and road movies are usually men so the convention has already been changed. Thelma and Louise are escaping from the law travelling through the middle of nowhere just like the men usually did in these types of films. We see a scan shot of the mountains focusing on the road which reinforces what type of film we are watching although it is involving woman not men. During the beginning of the film the women seem very stereotypical. Louise is working as a waitress and Thelma is the little housewife at home in the kitchen. Her husband is very arrogant towards her and treats her like his slave rather than his wife, the woman he is suppose to love and respect. We see Thelma already beginning to rebel against her stereotype when she decides not to tell Daryl, her husband that she is going away and she packs a gun. A gun is usually seen as a male phallic symbol which women very rarely come in contact with. Despite both these points she still sticks to her stereotype, maybe out of habit by cleaning the house before she leaves. Also she does not like handling the gun she holds it in-between two fingers as if it is something dirty and infected. This effectively helps the transition away from her stereotype to be more realistic. Scott is trying to re...