1. Thelma & Louise: Case Study
• Ridley Scott’s Thelma and Louise (1991) was significant as it challenged people’s
perspectives of female roles.
• Rejected Mulvey’s idea of the male gaze
• A fantasy film of women getting their own back? – Most of the male characters a
seen to be ‘pigs’
• “I just got fed up with the passive role of women. They were never driving the
story, because they were never driving the car. What happens when women drive
cars, instead of adorning men’s cars, instead of sitting, fixed and still, draped
across them? What happens when women wear cars, instead of clothes? What
happens when women strip down for a purpose that exceeds, bypasses, or falls
short of sexual display?”
(Callie Khouri cited in Collins, 1993: 125)
Clip no.1 – getting ready for the road trip (6 mins) – DVD chapter 2
• Thelma is an example of a passive woman.
• We first see her cooking and cleaning as a housewife.
• Her husband, Daryl, is a dominating character. He orders her around by telling her
not to holler. He seems irritated by her.
• Thelma is too scared to ask Daryl’s permission to go away for the weekend with
Louise as she knows he won’t allow it (mainly due to the fact that he can’t look
after himself). The fact that she feels the need to ask permission in the first place
shows Daryl’s dominance.
• He expects her to be at home while he does as he pleases.
• Louise is dissatisfied with her job as a waitress. They both desire some form of
escape and a chance to let their hair down.
• When Thelma and Louise leave for their road trip they both look very feminine –
headscarves, make-up, styled hair, Thelma packs far too much.
• Although Thelma packs a gun she is clearly scared of it and doesn’t really intend
to use it. Louise is also shocked by it.
• Louise is represented as the mother figure that is in control. She doesn’t fall for
the charms of men like Thelma.
Clip no. 2 – Brad Pitt’s physique and the robbery (10 mins) DVD chapters 16 – 19)
• Up until this point, the road trip has turned sour. Louise has killed a man who
attempted to rape Thelma and they are now on the run.
• “…the law will recognise these women as the definition of a bad example – a
threat to the existing social order. In a system of exchanges that existed before
they arrived, Thelma and Louise’s desire for more pleasure, and their decision to
act on this desire, will bring them toil and trouble.”
(Collins, 1993: 135)
• This is the result of them going against type and letting their hair down. Society
doesn’t make it easy to break down gender barriers and preconceptions.

2. • While on the run, Thelma and Louise have picked up a good looking hitch-hiker,
J.D., as a result of Thelma’s crush on him – again letting her hair down, playing
Daryl at his own game.
• Long shot of Brad Pitt’s chest displaying his muscular physique. He’s the subject
of the gaze but this time it’s female. Most men can’t identify with this in a
narcissistic way. They can generally only aspire to it.
• The result of J.D. stealing all of their money sends them on a downward spiral –
men continuously make their road trip problematic.
• Thelma becomes strong and assertive and takes control – roles reversed.
• She changes from being afraid of the gun to committing armed robbery.
• Although they reject the stereotypes of their gender, they lose some of their
femininity along the way – lack of make-up and styled hair, dresses are replaced
by jeans, headscarves are replaced by cowboy hats.