Evaluate the representations of women in Thelma and Louise

I have analysed how women are represented in different ways. I analysed two clips from Thelma and Louise and looked at how women were represented. I then read a chapter from Nick Lacey's 'Representing Gender' and got quotes from the chapter and analysed them then gave a summary of them. The film Thelma and Louise was made in 1991 and it was about women wanting freedom away from men.

In Thelma and Louise I analysed different codes. One of the codes I analysed was the characters. I analysed the costume in the film and we see the women are wearing a hat and sunglasses after they have blew up the truck and this is used for them to hide there identity from the police so its like the women have to hidden away from people to gain freedom and cant do so without wearing the sunglasses and the hat. This links in with Louise wearing a waitress outfit in the opening scenes so she fits in with the crowd and doesn't stand out. So using the caps and hats could say that the women have lost their identity again as they are now shying away from the crowd like before.

For props I talked about the gun used. The gun that Thelma and Louise gives them authority over men and this makes the women become powerful and also they become more confident and more ambitious in the ways that they start to like bully men with the power of their gun. In my opinion I think that the gun takes away the power the women find as anyone can hold a gun and have power over people so I think this gives a negative representation of the women as the only power they have is due to their gun and if that go's then what power do they have? I think this sums up the representation of women in Thelma and Louise as I feel that it represents women as second to men and can only have power over men due to their gun.

I think the film is trying to express the freedom of women but I think it struggles to do this and in fact comes across as women wanting power over men. But when they have this freedom they struggle to keep it and we see the women hiding away from the police using hats and sunglasses and this comes across as the women will always be trying to get away from men and when the police find Thelma and Louise we see them becoming oppressed again as they're being chased by over 8 police cars so i think this shows that even though they want to have freedom they will always be oppressed to men.

A quote I found in Nick Lacey's 'Representing Gender' was Women's freedom is now often expressed in consumerist terms: the traditional image of the 'wife-mother-housewife' is now being replaced by images of sexually assertive, confident and ambitious ways' I think that this quote ties in with Thelma and Louise as we see Thelma and Louise take roles of like a housewife or working as a waitress but as the film goes on they get rid of this assumption of them being a 'Housewife' and they start to become confident and ambitious in getting the freedom from men the way they want. I think the film was trying to get the women to come across as confident and ambitious but failed to do so as the women failed to earn their freedom but i think that this could be read in a preferred reading and this could be seen to people as the women tried to earn their freedom but failed to do so due to being held back by men just like in today's society as women can now take on big roles in work but men still are having the better jobs.

Overall I think the films main aim was to try and show that women are now beginning to have more freedom than before but are still held back due to men. The film represents the women in more of a positive way than negative as we see them fighting for their freedom but there still is some negative representations for example the only power they can earn is due a gun which should be tried to be shown better as it comes across as women need to be violent to earn there respect and the right for freedom when in fact being violent isn't a good way to earn something and in fact it pegs you back even more than before as you will be caught and then will lose even more freedom by being held in jail for example. I think that the film forgets that its trying to show women as wanting freedom but in fact the women start to become violent with the power and forget why they wanted freedom in the first place.