Bonnie & Clyde (1967) vs.  Thelma & Louise (1991) 

     This post will talk about the feminist point of view of the films Bonnie & Clyde and Thelma & Louise. Both of these films portray women in a way that is against what its society would suggest is "right". 

     To start off, the film Bonnie & Clyde presented the female character Bonnie as a desperate and bored woman. For example: The movie starts off as showing Bonnie stuck in what it appears as a jail naked. This shows how isolated she is and wanting to do something outside of her "normal" day-to-day life. It shows that Bonnie is a waitress was sort of typical for women in that time period as the society thought. It seems that Clyde jumped into her life which was the one that changed all that. He was the one that got her into robbing. She was pretty much bound to become reckless and the "manly" She became more interested when Clyde showed her his gun as in the picture above. As Bonnie and Clyde's relationship went on their roles in their genders switched. At first Clyde pretty much was trying to be as  manly as he can saying "I ain't no ladies man" This switch was started by when Bonnie wanted sex but Clyde showed that he was too scared for it. After that moment it seems that Clyde's emotions began to show when Bonnie was becoming more and more manlier.

       The movie Thelma & Louise has a similar storyline. Although, two females, their roles switch as well. In the beginning of the film, Thelma is showed to be manipulated by her "husband". The audience can easily tell that she doesn't appreciate it which is the reason she went on a "vacation" with Louise. Her "husband" was pretty much keeping her in a cage and not technically in a good way. The moment she left for the "vacation" with Louise, she was gradually freeing herself. She maybe freed herself too fast at first which led to the changing event of the entire movie, her nearly if not actually getting raped by a man she was dancing with. At the time Louise was the manly one in the situation which actually was the one who shot him. A good portion of the film, Thelma was very scared and seemed more like a stereotypical little girl. Louise on the other hand was the one that kept saying it was alright. Thelma even suggested turning themselves in to the police. However, Louise refused to go as she argued that they would still get in trouble despite what happened to Thelma. The second changing point was the meeting of the Brad Pitt character. Even from the beginning, you could tell that Thelma and Pitt both liked each other. It did seem weird that he kept following them as Louise at first refused to trust him. However, Thelma the second time begged for her to let him get a ride. This further led to sex between Thelma and Pitt which was the huge changing point for both Thelma and Louise. They had $6700 which Pitt had stolen. Louise figured it out and that's when her emotions showed. Thelma became the manly one saying "we'll be fine" and had the idea off robbing a store.
      Both films show two characters, one manly and the other similar to a stereotypical female as sort of a damsel in distress. However, their roles are switched by an event which both films have.

American Beauty (1999) vs Citizen Kane (1941)

In this post we will be comparing and contrasting the films Citizen Kane (1941) and American Beauty (1999). This post will be discussing the similar emotions portrayed by both Kane's and Lester's wife. Also in this post will discusses the different but somewhat symbols; for Citizen Kane it was "Rosebud" and for American Beauty it was red roses.

      Both films begin as telling exactly what was going to happen to both main character as they both were going to die. However, they both were presented in different ways. In Citizen Kane it showed the ending of the film and him lying on his deathbed and said the biggest idea that the entire movie was trying to prove what it was "Rosebud" However, in American Beauty Lester was narrating that he was going to die but not telling specifically HOW he was thus creating a mystery on how and when he was going to die and by what feeling does he die from.
     The main character Kane was an empowered figure that had supporters and people that disliked him. He was a rich person that collected many expensive items such as paintings, antiques, newspapers, and junk. This implies that he most likely collected these items to feel less alone. One thing that isn't an object but was something that he wanted to collect was people's hearts and consideration. He wanted "love" which in the movie it didn't seem like he was getting from his wife. The main character in American Beauty, Lester didn't collect things but he definitely was alone despite having a wife. Even more than Kane because he was trapped in that phase of not knowing what to do. He was such a boring person at first. Something in his life had changed when he used to be happy with his wife and daughter. In the movie his daughter Jane and himself got into a conflict and Lester asked the question "What happened to us? We used to be cool" This implies that they had a less conflicting relationship where they were disagreeing. The wife was explained by a picture that he viewed which showed the entire family having a good time.
   Both films use symbolism to drive their stories. However, they are presented in different ways. In Citizen Kane "Rosebud" was depicted as the snowglobe which no one mentioned what exactly "Rosebud" was until the end where the audience can sorta find out aAmerican Beauty the film heavily uses the symbol of red roses. There are many different meaning for the red roses. However, what I personally thought the roses meant was desire and love. In the film Lester was interested in Jane's friend Angela who DEFINITELY was different than Jane. Lester had a dream or halucination where he imagined Angela dancing in the gym by herself specifically for him. However, when she opened her jacket a bunch of roses came out. The amount of roses showed the amount of desire and love there was. There was one scene in the movie where it Lester's wife Carolyn was trying to sell houses but there was only single roses. However, when Angela was over his house, the roses were closer to her and there was a bunch of roses showing that there was a lot of love going towards her.
nd analyze what exactly does "Rosebud" means.