21 July 2008

72. thelma & louise



i watched this one with two women, which was the right thing to do. when louise kills harlan outside of the club, the women cheered and pumped their fists in the air. the same thing happened when louise said "go fuck yourself". and again when they put the cop in the trunk.

needless to say, this is a movie that makes women feel empowered.

i think it is more subversive than most people even give it credit for, because it is actually a modern western instead of what it is usually categorized as: a road movie. instead of horses, our heros -- our female heroes, of course -- are in an old car. instead of killing a man for money or something else due to greed (a typical western trope), they kill a man for true justice. and our heroes head west, a typically american symbol of freedom: "go west, young man."

it also features, as part of the climax, one of the most potent sexual symbols since slim pickens rode a bomb -- stuck between his legs! -- at the end of "dr. strangelove". thelma and louise, after having fully embraced themselves as females free from a patriarchal society, drive a car into the grand canyon, which here represents the vaginal. they go back into the womb to die.