Thelma & Louise - Research Paper Example

She works as a waitress and has a boyfriend named Jimmy. On the other hand, Thelma is a housewife under the dominion of her husband. Despite their differences, the audience learns that they have organized a weekend road trip, but Thelma has to seek permission from her dominant husband. In the first scene of the film, the director depicts two different women in kitchens (Lanouette 2). Louise is in a commercial kitchen that appears huge and large with multiple processes going on. Thelma appears in her household kitchen, but that depicts a high level of disorganization.

In addition, the kitchen appears highly messy. Moreover, the director depicts Louise dressed in white while Thelma wears a loosely hanging bathrobe. The director uses these different illustrations to introduce the evident differences between the women at the onset of the film. The conversation between Thelma and her husband Dareel serves to highlight to the audience that she is a voiceless housewife, having to bear with the suppressive nature of her husband. Thelma’s tone of addressing her husband reflects her passive nature since she struggles to impress her husband through her tone and choice of words.

She struggles to find the right words to seek his permission, but she fails, and decides to leave for the trip without his consent. On the night prior to the trip, the director depicts the women packing, but in different ways. Louise is seen packing in an organized manner, having clear ideas on the items that she needs to pack. Louise’s apartment exhibits effective lighting and multiple mirrors. On the other hand, Thelma exhibits disorganization in the way she packs, clustering clothes, and items into her bag.

In this scene, the director also emphasizes on the spatial opposition that is evident in the entire film. The effective use of costumes and props in the film serves to introduce the spatial opposition (Pramaggiore and Wallis 94). When the two women start their trip, they begin to share the same space in the car. Previously, they had not shared any space, and their attitudes were different. At the onset of their trip, they exhibit different attributes. Louise is in control of her life, and makes decisions that define her moves(Lanouette 4).

Thelma has just made the first defining decision of embarking on the trip without her husband’s consent. Since spatial opposition is minimal in the shared car, and the scenes that follow depict the many changes that occur between the spatial settings of the women. Thelma exhibits an emerging desire to make her personal decisions when she suggests that they stop at Silver Bullet, a club where the passive Thelma indulges in a flirty dance with a stranger Harlan. The club space defined by music, waitresses, and revelry serves to highlight a percentage of the transformation that occurs in Thelma.

As the plot progresses, she seems to be pursuing more freedom. At the club, Harlan decides to take advantage of Thelma, and drags her to the parking where he intends to rape her. The lighting at the parking appears dim suggesting to the audience that something undesirable was about to happen(Pramaggiore and Wallis 95). The director also ensures a level of tension that ensues before Louise gets to the parking lot where the ordeal is transpiring. The vulnerability of Thelma is evident from her