Discuss how dreams and desires function to define ‘identity’ in Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967). How do specific environments impinge on, or create opportunity for, the characters? How does this relate to the notion of making particular American movies, and putting America on the screen?
Deconstructing identity into only two simplistic ideals, dreams and desires, is an extremely minimalistic approach to assessing the identity of characters within Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967). Whilst the dreams and desires of the two fugitive protagonists may indeed shape their identity it is also important to question how these two aspects fuel their actions. Therefore, are dreams and desires not a mere function for action which then goes on to define identity? …show more content…
It creates the illusion of escape for the two fugitives and their gang whilst they are on the move. Whereas when not used, the lack of mobility results in tension between characters and entrapment by the police. Mobility is only able to be a key theme in Bonnie and Clyde because of the environment in which the film is set. “Mobility is a significant feature of American history and culture. This is reflected in literature and cinema of the road genre, in influential novels such as Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, and in films like Bonnie and Clyde” (Ireland 497), and the Depression Era setting of Bonnie and Clyde is key in creating opportunity for the two fugitives. Without the poverty and down trodden everyday man the ambition for success, fame and wealth would not be prevalent, “this is evident from the several scenes in which they come into contact with the social reality of Depression America in the Thirties. These scenes have a static quality: the poverty and degradation they depict being one of the social driving forces for Bonnie and Clyde, and the way in which they buck the system.” (Cook 105) Mobility, and the environment, also have a large factor when examining Penns use of interior in contention with exterior. “The car and the open air, where they finally make love and die, seem more appropriate to Bonnie and Clyde than any of the rooms (including Bonnie’s room) which they inhabit. Rooms lead to the explosion of tensions, particularly between Bonnie and Blanche, or to their being trapped in them by the police.” (Cook 102) When Bonnie and Clyde first try to consummate their love affair inside a room it ends in failure, and with Clyde pronouncing that he’d told Bonnie he “wasn’t no lover boy.” Already the interior setting has impinged on the progression of the characters relationship. It isn’t until much later on in the film that an exterior setting finally allows Bonnie and Clyde to
Deconstructing identity into only two simplistic ideals, dreams and desires, is an extremely minimalistic approach to assessing the identity of characters within Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967). Whilst the dreams and desires of the two fugitive protagonists may indeed shape their identity it is also important to question how these two aspects fuel their actions. Therefore, are dreams and desires not a mere function for action which then goes on to define identity? …show more content…
It creates the illusion of escape for the two fugitives and their gang whilst they are on the move. Whereas when not used, the lack of mobility results in tension between characters and entrapment by the police. Mobility is only able to be a key theme in Bonnie and Clyde because of the environment in which the film is set. “Mobility is a significant feature of American history and culture. This is reflected in literature and cinema of the road genre, in influential novels such as Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, and in films like Bonnie and Clyde” (Ireland 497), and the Depression Era setting of Bonnie and Clyde is key in creating opportunity for the two fugitives. Without the poverty and down trodden everyday man the ambition for success, fame and wealth would not be prevalent, “this is evident from the several scenes in which they come into contact with the social reality of Depression America in the Thirties. These scenes have a static quality: the poverty and degradation they depict being one of the social driving forces for Bonnie and Clyde, and the way in which they buck the system.” (Cook 105) Mobility, and the environment, also have a large factor when examining Penns use of interior in contention with exterior. “The car and the open air, where they finally make love and die, seem more appropriate to Bonnie and Clyde than any of the rooms (including Bonnie’s room) which they inhabit. Rooms lead to the explosion of tensions, particularly between Bonnie and Blanche, or to their being trapped in them by the police.” (Cook 102) When Bonnie and Clyde first try to consummate their love affair inside a room it ends in failure, and with Clyde pronouncing that he’d told Bonnie he “wasn’t no lover boy.” Already the interior setting has impinged on the progression of the characters relationship. It isn’t until much later on in the film that an exterior setting finally allows Bonnie and Clyde to