The turning point of this movie is when Louise gets the gun that her and Thelma brought with them for protection and shoots the male offender. Although Thelma and Louise gave Harlan a shot at redemption (or at least a chance to spare his own life), he continues the objectification by saying more degrading things and he refuses to apologize for the incident. Thelma is a victim of sexual violence and this violence is in turn combated with additional violence. However, there is something interesting that I see in this situation, and throughout the rest of the movie: there is great power in the bond between females, even oppressed and abused ones. Women do stand together with other women to battle this oppression; there is certainly strength in numbers. The men in this film seem to think that women are powerless, for example the FBI agents and how they treat Thelma and Louise as “scared little girls” when in reality they have been committing criminal acts such as robbery all across the country, and if they were men they would definitely not have been treated in such a light manner. However, Thelma and Louise do accomplish many things on this trip: criminal activity may be one thing, but they also find happiness and freedom together, without any men, and it makes me question whether or not they could or would have done any of this on their own, by themselves, without each other.
The "bond" described between Thelma and Louise is complex; more than just a simple enjoyment of each others company. Obviously, they share a friendship. Anyone can share a "friendship"; men can be friends with other men, women can be friends with men, and women can be friends with other women. But below the surface of this friendship there is a much deeper connection that exists between these two females. There is comfort and safety often found in matriarchal relationships. This is because in a traditionally patriarchal society, which can be definitely exemplified in America, women do not feel as though they have been treated equally by men especially in close personal relationships, such as husband and wife. They often have been objectified for sex or for the role they play in a household. An example of this as seen in Thelma and Louise; Thelma is kept in the home, does not have a job and is expected to make meals and to always be there, physically, for Daryl. He has a job and makes the money, and does not want to lift a finger when he gets home; Thelma is to have dinner ready and to be there herself. Thelma is so bound by fear of upsetting him that she submits to his control, consciously or subconsciously. It is her female friend Louise, that encourages Thelma to work up the "guts", so to speak, to leave the house without telling her husband where she is going. The point is made when Daryl reacts to Thelma's absence, just how it is assumed he would. He gets upset. This first "bold move" on Thelma's part, which in actuality is just a human being in America asserting their right to freedom, is just the beginning of a whole other realm of "bold moves." The first action may have never been initiated on Thelma on her own. In the movie, I believe Louise is even referred to as a "bad influence" on Thelma. In my opinion, Louise is a great influence on Thelma asserting herself as a strong female. She is seen as "bad" by Daryl, because she encourages Thelma to do things that are against his own personal, selfish wishes, which were to keep Thelma as a victim of domestic abuse and not let her ascertain her own individuality. This shows how men view women that do not "conform" to their ideals of what a real "woman" is and how they should act. Thelma definitely found some of her own strength in Louise; many other women find inspiration from female friends who know in one way or another they have both been oppressed either by society or by a specific man, in Thelma's case Daryl, and can relate to each other under these unfortunate circumstances.
This video clip is a compilation of various clips from X-men, the cartoon version. I don't watch this show and I don't really know anything about the comic in general. The two female characters, Storm and Rogue, are featured in this clip. The girl who made this video explained that she made it because her and her best friend are "just like Storm and Rogue"; I assume she meant that they are great friends and always come to each others rescue in tough times, and are always supportive of each other. In this short clip, the viewer can see many times when either Storm or Rogue is being confronted by a menacing male character, or huge monster (that is portrayed to be male as well). They are never battling other females. The song playing, "You Raise Me Up" which is originally done by Josh Groban is sung by a female in this video to emphasize the idea of female bonding. The two cartoon characters are always coming in to rescue their friend from danger, right in the nick of time! The most important thing to note about this video is how it relates to Thelma and Louise; the two women are "partners in crime", they often battle violent/oppressive male figures together, and they love and cherish each others friendship dearly. The strength of their friendship enables them to do things that alone, they would not have been able to do.
This next video is a clip from CNN World News. It offers interviews with Indian women in New Delhi concerning a recent ban of men from certain trains going to and from the city. In this video, women are shown dancing, singing and just having fun together to pass time on the trains. They explain that they used to get harassed by men on these trains, whether they were going to work or catching a ride on the train to go somewhere to try to enjoy themselves. This clip is important because it reminds me a lot of Thelma and Louise's journey; they were faced with men who harassed them on their road trip, and sang songs together and were happy when they were just driving on the road by themselves.
The following clip is a spoof on how men view women. It is not intended to be serious, it is intended to be humorous. However, there is really nothing funny about sexist remarks. The female in the video is portrayed to be helpless, in need of a lawyer. When she explains that she was fired from her job for an unlawful reason, the male she encounters asks things like, "What are you doing out of the kitchen?? Did you get lost?" and later in the skit the female's husband sees that she is looking upset. He asks her, "What's wrong? Do you wanna cook something?" She replies "no." "I know, you want to clean the house." She again replies "No!!" This video is important because it demonstrates (to an extreme, obviously), how helpless the men in Thelma and Louise saw the two women, and how Daryl especially believed that Thelma only belonged in the kitchen, and not out having her own life.
This next clip features Jillian Michaels, the famous physical trainer from the TV show "The Biggest Loser." She explains that the next wave of feminism, or the future of feminism, is reliant on women helping other women succeed. She also explains that where as women previously felt competition between one and another, and that there is only room for one is an outdated way of thinking; modern women support each other to succeed and stand against the assault of the patriarchal society that women still live in today. This assistance, whether mentally or physically, between women is exactly the mindset that Louise has when encouraging Thelma to get out of her oppressive situation.
This video shows a segment from the Early Show on CBS featuring Dr. Callahan who is a trained psychologist as well as the shows host and her best friend. She reviews many physical and mental benefits of having a close female confidant. She explains that in 1985, women surveyed had on average 3 close female confidants, where as now the average is two. In addition, females without any other female friends have a increased incidence of disease of about four-fold. Female friendships provide support through life's ups and downs. She preaches the point, "Forget about the past, embrace the future." This reminds me of Thelma and Louise and their friendships that remains, even though Thelma is married and Louise isn't. They did not let the differences in their lives, especially Daryl, prevent the friendship from flourishing. Female friendships are healthy for other females and provide support and encouragement which a male figure such as a husband, may just neglect.
This last video provides a harsh glimpse into what people, primarily men in this case, think about feminism. Feminism is simply defined as a movement promoting equal rights of women. Consequently, anyone can be a feminist, not just women. But in this clip viewers in Time Square of New York City are interviewed on what they think feminism is, and who feminists are. One man calls them lesbians. One man says "the Bible says the man is the household, I don't see any need for this." Sadly, this video clip shows the attitude of many people; rights of women to be seen and treated as equals to men is not an important, relevant issue. I would, by definition, call Thelma and Louise a feminist film. In my eyes, it showed two women breaking free from all their repressing environments: Thelma the husband and Louise her job, and going out and asserting themselves. Despite the fact that they did get into trouble, they seemed happy to be "free" as they described it.
