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Original poster

Thelma and Louise

55 replies

OtterInDisgrace · 22/08/2023 02:24

It’s a film I love and can watch over and over. Is it a great film? Well that’s my question. It’s become a kind of feminist Anthem film yet it fails the Bechdel Test. And it could be argued it’s not particularly empowering given the only route left for these women is:

SPOILER ALERT KLAXXON! DO NOT READ ON IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN!

suicide. However, I’d argue that it’s their choice that’s key. They refuse to be constrained by patriarchal mores and seeing no other option want to be free at any cost, hence they ‘just keep going’.

Anyway, I love it. Am I being unreasonable?

OP posts:
Missingmyusername · 22/08/2023 02:26

I don’t think I read that much into it to be honest 😂 but agree it’s a great film.

Thedogscollar · 22/08/2023 02:27

YANBU. They kick some ass along the way. Yep they're way out is a bit of a cop out but it was one hell of an ending.

SuperNewMe · 22/08/2023 02:38

YANBU, absolutely love this film.
First watched in the 90s as a teen, thought it was great, watched recently for the first time in about 25 years and it's stood the test of time! So much more I "got" this time round being old too 😁

Original poster
OtterInDisgrace · 22/08/2023 02:44

Plus I’m a sucker for a road movie. The cinematography is stunning.

OP posts:
Morestrangerthings1 · 22/08/2023 02:53

I loved this movie - I wasn’t all that much younger than the characters.

However, I hated the ending. Two female characters who fight back, buck social norms etc., and they can only resolve the ending by killing them off?

Final message of the film: don’t do what Thelma and Louise do, or you’ll end up dead.

My take on the end of this movie wasn’t that popular amongst my friends at the time - they disagreed with me - but I still think I’m right. LOL.

Forgottenmypasswordagain · 22/08/2023 03:08

I didn't think much of the film myself.

WandaWonder · 22/08/2023 03:35

It's a film to me no better or worse than others, it is a work of fiction I presume so can't say I read anything more into it than it is a film

MrsTerryPratchett · 22/08/2023 03:36

It can't fail the Bechdel test. Surely?

MrsTerryPratchett · 22/08/2023 03:37

MrsTerryPratchett · 22/08/2023 03:36

It can't fail the Bechdel test. Surely?

Just googled. It passes the Bechdel test easily.

JanglingJack · 22/08/2023 03:46

My friend (both teens at the time) thought they made it over to the other side of the Grand Canyon and escaped!

I had to let her down gently 🤣

Dontjudgeme101 · 22/08/2023 03:59

JanglingJack · 22/08/2023 03:46

My friend (both teens at the time) thought they made it over to the other side of the Grand Canyon and escaped!

I had to let her down gently 🤣

I think l did too! 😂😂

JanglingJack · 22/08/2023 04:00

Dontjudgeme101 · 22/08/2023 03:59

I think l did too! 😂😂

Show quote history

We may be friends 🤣

urbanbuddha · 22/08/2023 04:42

However, I hated the ending. Two female characters who fight back, buck social norms etc., and they can only resolve the ending by killing them off?

Final message of the film: don’t do what Thelma and Louise do, or you’ll end up dead.

Yep, that’s the problem with it - women, know your place.

KickAssAngel · 22/08/2023 04:48

It could be seen not so much as a threat issued by the patriarchy, but more as an acknowledgement of women's lives from a female perspective.

Binningtonianrose · 22/08/2023 06:26

I love that film.
The beautiful scenes, the music, the actors. The soundtrack. It's one of my favourite all time movies.

Sayitaintso33 · 22/08/2023 06:40

urbanbuddha · 22/08/2023 04:42

However, I hated the ending. Two female characters who fight back, buck social norms etc., and they can only resolve the ending by killing them off?

Final message of the film: don’t do what Thelma and Louise do, or you’ll end up dead.

Yep, that’s the problem with it - women, know your place.

There are (at least) two important parts of the ending.
First, Thelma and Louise were not going to surrender to men and rot in their jail.
Second, the world would change faster if it realised that the only way brave women could be free was to be dead.

The ending was a call to arms. It is a great, great film.

Willmafrockfit · 22/08/2023 06:42

they were going to be shot surely?
fantastic film,
watched it again recently,

yellowsmileyface · 22/08/2023 09:25

I love this film. I see the film as a whole, and especially the ending, as a warning of what can happen when you push women too far.

If they had a happy ending, there'd be a danger of being left with a message that it's okay to abuse women because it'll work out for them in the end.

AreYouShittingMe · 22/08/2023 09:34

@Sayitaintso33 - absolutely! That's the way I see it too. For me it's the way the police office reacts, not just to the end but also tracking them. He understands, but he's also constrained by the law, and I saw him struggling with that during the film.
Great film. I loved it.

Rhythmisadancer · 22/08/2023 10:04

yeah, great film, shame about the ending, but I thought it was nod to Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid - better to go out fighting than surrendering

Gillyyy · 22/08/2023 10:20

I don’t know if you can find the interview with Callie Khouri who wrote Thelma and Louise but she explains it’s an act of defiance, they were going to get caught so this was on their own terms and she purposefully didn’t show the car wrecked or the devastation caused so that they kind of flew off and in a sense ‘won’.

Also, so many people wanted to change the ending but Callie Khouri and Ridley Scott insisted it was the only ending.

EmmaGrundyForPM · 22/08/2023 10:25

I think it's a great film and a strong ending. As a pp said, a bit like BCATSK

Does anyone remember the French and Saunders version?

urbanbuddha · 24/08/2023 07:54

It’s a strong ending in that it’s visually exhilarating and an act of defiance. But they’re still dead. No place in society for defiant women.

Sayitaintso33 · 24/08/2023 08:08

urbanbuddha · 24/08/2023 07:54

It’s a strong ending in that it’s visually exhilarating and an act of defiance. But they’re still dead. No place in society for defiant women.

The American Police shoot defiant men as well as defiant women. Perhaps there is no room for defiant men in society either.

stayathomer · 24/08/2023 08:10

Did you hear Susan Sarandon talking about it-look it up, the other people who went for Brad Pitt's part!