Compare the characters of Thelma and Louise at the beginning and end of the film.

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Thelma and Louise

Compare the characters of Thelma and Louise at the beginning and end of the film. Have they changed? How are those changes communicated to the audience?

The film 'Thelma and Louise' is about two women, who originally intended to go on a quiet fishing weekend in the mountains to have a break from their respective partners, but owing to a string of tragic circumstances Louise becomes a wanted criminal and Thelma is quick to follow suit.

In the beginning of the film, the two women are shown in stark contrast. Louise, an independent woman, clean and precise in appearance, she is a dominating woman and only feels comfortable being in control. Conversely, Thelma is an immature woman, over dominated by her husband, and a passive submissive, child-like person, trapped in a relationship since the age of fourteen. This point of contrast between the two women is again raised by their occupations. Louise works for all her income as a waitress (the audience is given the impression she has worked in this place for a long time because of the way she move around the room with a controlled speed, showing her efficiency at the job.) Whereas Thelma is fulltime housewife, she is shown to the audience as a well-intentioned but an incredible naive woman, who is weak willed and needing keeping; shown by the way she takes small bites out of the chocolate bar determined not to finish it, flitting back and fourth to the fridge, but eventually she consuming it. So in the beginning of the film there is a fundamental difference between the two women.

In the film there is a wide use of connotation. In the opening shots the mountains are shown to symbolise the element of impending danger. The road down the centre is used to symbolise a long journey, both physical and metaphorical, and the open space of the desert represents the freedom both women eventually gain. The music in the film is used to set the mood, and often gives clues as to what is being thought or said in a particular scene. The titles of the songs often reflect the mood of the scene. Again later on in the film, connotation is used very subtly when the shot swaps between the women and their partners back home; where the women are is open, bright and free, but where the males are it is dark, crowded and usually raining. Summing up the moods of both places, one more preferable to the other.
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In the beginning of the film Louise is clearly the character in control (Louise is more the dominator in the friendship) she is the one to suggest that they go on holiday, she drives the car and she is the one to organise the whole trip; we know this because one of the first questions the Thelma asks after getting in the car is "so where exactly is it we're going?" Another way we know that Thelma is an ingenuous character is the way that she pleads with Louise to stop at the bar, monotonously whining like a ...

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