Thelma And Louise Essay, Research Paper
The film, Thelma and Louise, clearly shows it’s audience common negative male stereotypical characters. Almost all the men who appear in the movie mistreat Thelma and Louise in some form. Thelma and Louise in return take revenge upon them in the ways most women would like too.
Jimmy is a typical example of a man who is afraid of commitment. He never wanted to marry Louise, knowing quite well that that is what she wanted. He was certain that Louise would always stand by him and would never leave him.
Louise takes her revenge on Jimmy in quite an ironic manner. When it finally appears that she is leaving him, Jimmy tracks her down and proposes to her. He only proposed to her because he felt threatened that she might not return. Louise rejects his proposal. He was left the vulnerable one in the relationship for the first time. He finally worked up the courage to ask her and he rejected her.
Darryl adaquetly portrays the stereotype of an abusive male. He views Thelma more as his servant than as his wife. He is rude to her and is always putting her down. He tells her that she is nothing without him. He does not let her live her life. He is always telling her what to do, where to go and who to be friends with.Thelma finally just runs off with her friend without telling Darryl. She breaks all the rules that he tried so hard to enforce. When Thelma and Louise are being sought after by the police, Darryl is forced to become
subservient to the police. He has to do as they tell him. They treat him with as much disrespect and lack of courtesy that he showed Thelma.
Harland is probably represented as the most evil character. He is the man who tried to rape Thelma. He bought her a couple of drinks, used his charm and promised her excitement and adventure which she lacked in her marriage. He was unctuous in his moves and soon was in an ideal situation to take advantage of Thelma.Thankfully, Louise showed up with Thelma’s gun pointed at Harland. Thelma, who became quite aggressive having been raped herself, told Harland to apologize to Thelma for what he was about to do to her. When he refused she shot him. He died even though it was him who was commiting the violent crime.
JD is the stereotype of the smooth talker. He also talks Thelma right into bed with his charm. He told her that he was also a criminal and this was exciting and tempting for her. Little did Thelma know that his whole plan was to make off with the money that Jimmy had brought for Louise and herself.
Thelma and Louise catch up with JD in the movie. He gets caught and yelled at. The smooth talker can’t talk himself out of this situation!
The truck driver shows how vile some men can trully be. He has drawings of naked women on his tire flaps and does many things degrading to women. When he passes Thelma and Louise on the highway, he make rude gestures and sexual symbols. He trully represents white trash who is only interested in one thing… SEX!!!When Thelma and Louise see how gross this man is acting, they devise a plan to teach him a lesson. It’s a plan that would satisfy most women and would probably give them a huge rush. They lure the man out of his “powerful” truck with their sexuality. They suggest to him sexual escapades will occur between them, the three of them! When he exits the truck, they give him the opportunity to apologize (much like they gave to Harland who is also only interested in sex). He refuses and is forced to accept the punishment. Thelma and Louise blow up his truck and drive around him in circles laughing at him.
Hal is pretty much the nicest guy in the film. He actually cares for the girls but it is none-the-less his job to capture them because they are fugitives. Due to his genuine kindness he develops a good line of communication with Louise and later uses this to track them down by tracing their call.
The women don’t really take revenge on Hal. However, at the end, when Thelma and Louise take their own lives, Hal is left to feel misereable. He kind of drove them, using his manipulation on the phone to track them, into taking their own lives.
All the men in the film certainly received a revenge fitting to their crimes against Thelma and Louise. The typical female revenge fantasies are very well connected to the typical male negative stereotypes.