Thelma & Louise

Thelma & Lousie, a film that was released in 1991, is about two women who are friends and want to take a vacation for a weekend to escape their lives at home.  They end up shooting a man, who tried to rape one of them, and running from the law.  During their escape to Mexico they discover things about themselves and each other.

This movie did pass the Bechdel test.  The two main characters were women.  Thelma is a naïve housewife whose only role appeared to be serving and obeying her husband.  Louise is a methodical waitress who is having relationship issues with her boyfriend.  A majority of the movie was the two women having conversations with each other.  Many of the conversations between the two women were about men, but they also had conversations about money, about one another’s lives and how they were going to solve the variety of problems that they encountered.

I think this is a feminist film for a number of reasons.  First, I think it is a feminist film because throughout the movie Thelma transforms from a meek housewife, who is satisfied being controlled by her rude and controlling husband, to an empowered woman who wants to take control of her life.  At the end of the movie she says that she has changed too much to ever go back to the life she had before.  Also, the women are portrayed as the heroes of the movie, while most of the men are portrayed as the antagonists.  The film ends in a police chase.  In most of the movies I’ve seen police chases are of men who are being chased by the police, not women.  At the end of the movie, after the police have caught up to them, they decide to keep driving and choose their own fate, instead of being controlled and letting someone else (the police) decide how their story ends.  This shows that women can be in control of their lives and do not need men to make decisions.