Contradicting the MAN

Jack Gustafson


Outside of the way that television and Hollywood has spoofed, and will spoof, the end of Thelma and Louise, we must understand that the film itself is still relevant, even outside of the “gender wars”. Not much has changed since the early Nineties, at least in terms of how a rape victim would be treated by the law in that similar situation; most people would say, “she was asking for it”. This is a shame, but I highly doubt that attitudes towards this will change anytime soon.
The way that the film took off after the shooting of the racist may be over-the-top, but we must not see this film as realistic, but as highly representational. What Thelma and Louise represents is an overthrow of the system of male-authority. The best example of this is when the two women put the police officer in the trunk of his own car. What makes this notable is the way the power system changes so suddenly. At first, the cop (a man) is about to thwart their attempt for freedom, but they turn the table on him. They take his gun, his belt, and his ammunition, essentially emasculating the officer, leaving him a crying mess. While the officer is crying about his wife and kids, Thelma and Louise act in an authoritarian manner. This role-reversal is still relevant today in the arts.

The film may be dated---nineties fashion and Brad Pitt being a good actor—but we mustn’t see this as an indicator for us to think that these issues have been resolved. In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, we see the same issues played with in an even more representational fashion. This dystopian novel shows what happens under a purely male-driven authority system with a heavy Christian influence. Although religion does not explicitly play a huge role in Thelma and Louise, the residual effects of Christianity are given. Thelma’s relationship with her husband is evidence of this, and I am sure that her husband would not object to living in Gilead. Her husband expected her to be completely subservient to his wishes, and as much as she breaks that mold, the film says something about the consequences. Thelma and Louise rejects the traditional male society through the actions of the characters, but at the same time reaffirms the society. The ending shows that there is no hope for women like Thelma and Louise, they are destined to fail within our society’s structure.

Gender Wars

Thelma and Louise raises significant issues related to gender. I was not in attendance for the class screening, but have previously viewed the film and vaguely remember the outlines and mainpoints. I am not certain if it is because I am seething liberal or otherwise that I attribute merit and purpose to the film.

There were many instances that made me think and that reiterated the importance of bringing issues like rape and identity to the forefront of the American, popcorn eating consciousness. Furthermore, the film's intentional portrayal of what amount to 50's era female stereotypes reminds us that even though the film was made in the early 90's, the struggle for female equality has hardly ended.

Comparing the Handmaid's tale with Thelma and Louise is rather easy. Much like an odd version of the "Stepford Wives," the characters within both of the aforementioned works are considered comparable "peons" who serve the worthless and utterly slovenly corridors of high society. Both Thelma and Louise, like the character in the novel, are portrayed as subservient, "stay at homes," and sort of fulfill the archetype of the female "June Cleaver."

The interconnected nature of expectations and the simplicity of their daily existence, the females within the movie and the novel would never be readily believed if, say, like in Thelma case she was raped. The patriarchal nature of authority both in cinema and reality dictates that females often neglect to inform medical and legal personnel about the incident. Much like an invisible ceiling exists within corporate America, the perpetration of rape constructs a rather unavoidable "it is my fault" and wounded mentality that precludes women from rightfully expressing their hurt and victimization.

When contrasting "Thelma and Louise" with Handmaid's Tale is that, unlike Thelma or Louise,the Handmaid was a resident of a highly stratified class structure that disabled her from removing herself, by choice, from the negativity and economically deprived situation that she confronted.

Some critics of feminism would view (especially) the issue of rape as a matter of women's failure to "speak up," but that is a simplistic and rather flawed logic that fails to address the reasons why many women who were, like Thelma, abused do not curb future violence by way of non-disclosure. The film does an artful and tasteful job of demonstrating the necessity of continued feminism. While many males would like to believe that we have have "outgrown" the necessity of feminism, any female can underscore the very contrary and probably provide a "Thelma and Louise" like example to demonstrate their sentiment.

I would say that the end of "Thelma and Louise" reiterates the notion that an idea or movement must be externally reinforced and the problem sort of portrayed to be perpetuated for the issue to remain legitimate and relevant. Much like the NAACP and other organizations that strive for diversity, often only the negative or most extreme examples are promoted or publicly discussed because if nothing negative is happening the organization and leaders within are devoid of a continuance catalyst. In some instances it can be said that the overwhelming positive-in the instance of feminism the progress made, can be neglected or swept under the rug so that people do not perceive the issue or series of issues to be of diminished salience.

"Thelma and Louise" concluding with the idea that women will have a difficult time advancing by way of gender structure, is real. Unfortunately,the harsh reality of gender inequality will continue to so long as there exist societal members who deny rather than acknowledge pressing matters of inequity.

Corey S. Dutra

aWW-some

The question if this film is still relevant I believe is a yes, a resounding yes. It was cleverly done and while a lot of the movie I did roll my eyes or fail to see what would be liberating about just getting into a car and driving. I have done it several times and across complete states. When watching the movie I thought it had been done maybe in the 1980’s sometime it just seemed like a world apart, even though we found out they were from Arkansas but still the whole movie seemed alien to me. Why wouldn’t women be believed, why wouldn’t they be able to drive somewhere to go fishing. I thought the fishing premise was weird I only know one girl who likes fishing and even then she goes to get a tan. The fact a woman wouldn’t be believed by the cops or the whole premise of “she was asking for it” I mean that is what struck me as when was this thing made. Granted I were only four when this movie came out but the world I grew up in was nothing like that portrayed in the movie. The whole movie would have been over 30 minutes in had they just went to the police station and said what had happened, the movie deals with a lot of prejudices; women feeling/treated as second class citizens, women being subservient to their husbands, women lacking overall freedom. The movie revolves around all these ideas, the women themselves though were either blasé and air-headed or hard and cold. So the characters in my opinion are not what I picture or know most women to necessarily to be, so this movie has a lot of built in prejudices that help to keep this movie going. This movie also takes a weird turn when they decide to turn into paladins. So was the person exposed to get from that if woman have too much freedom look at what happens; tankers for some odd reason blow up, people get shot at, stores get robbed and police officers are held captive. I mean this movie just jerks you around from one spectrum to the other and maybe that was what it was going for. We cannot forget the easy going, honest, trusting cop because police officers don’t hold grudges at all they don’t have their own baggage they bring to the job. When answering the question is this movie still relevant, I feel you would have to defer the question to a woman since the movie was based on them. From looking around the room from time to time you could see girls in the class enjoying themselves and paying attention so I believe the movie still does have some relevance. I think it is a shame it does because it means there are still some prejudices out there and those I believe need to be removed. The movie I am sure served its purpose when it was out and opened people’s eyes but it seemed that many things in the movie were relics of the past. Robert Foster

Feminism Fantastica

Blog Question: What is the legacy of “Thelma & Louise” in 2009? Is this film relevant today or is just another relic from the gender wars of the past?
I have a feeling that this blog will bring out my inner feminist, which although has a largely negative connotation, I have to remind myself often that being a “feminist” is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. The term feminist dates back to the women who worked for women’s suffrage. Not only should I be damn proud to lump myself in with those astounding women, I should feel that I am hardly worthy of that title. That tangent aside, I would like to talk about “Thelma & Louise.”

There are many aspects of “Thelma & Louise” that I find very relevant in 2009. Although the movie was dated, with a young studly Brad Pitt, and, let’s be honest, Susan Sarandon does not look that young anymore, I think that all of the major issues are still very real in the lives of women (and some men) today. Let’s start with the first hiccup; the attempted rape. The issue of rape, specifically with reporting rape, is still very much around today. Many women feel that they can’t report for the same reason Thelma couldn’t. No one would believe her and even if they did, the finger would be pointed at her. Now I’m not here to debate the epic battle of men vs. woman, and I will openly admit that men deal with some of these same issues, and even to a different extreme, but today I will limit myself to a specific gender discussion revolving around “Thelma & Louise.”

There are many similarities and differences that exist between “Thelma & Louise” and The Handmaid’s Tale. Both women had appointed roles in their society that they were expected to fulfill. Offred to be a Handmaid and provide babies for unproductive high society wives. In the same way, Thelma is expected to stay at home, clean, cook, look pretty and wait on her husband hand and foot. When Thelma drinks and dances, she is expected to “put-out.” Louise plays the role of the raped and wounded, bitter, unmarried woman. If she’s single at her age there must be something wrong with her, at least that’s what society says, and the role that Louise fulfills. However, there are some differences. For example as it was at the time and is even more so now, woman have some choice as to what role they fill in society. We can choose to be single or married, have kids or not have kids. However, the Handmaid’s had no choice. They were appointed into roles given certain circumstances that existed in their lives prior to the creation of the new class system.

I think that Thelma and Louise, although it could never be as great as this version, especially because it was on the verge of the new feminist movement. This movie is a classic and I hope that they don’t mess with it.

Beth Goin