'Gender Roles In Thelma And Louise'

Throughout history there have been men who thought they were better than women for nothing more than the mere fact that they were men. Men have thought it was okay to suppress their wives and make them feel less than them. Society created roles for women such as “the homemaker,” making it out of the norm for a woman to want to do anything other be a wife and mother. Women deserve to be treated as an equal human being to men and be allowed to have hopes and dreams including but most definitely not limited to being a wife and mother. In the movie “Thelma and Louise,” Thelma wanted to desperately to escape her roles as wife. Thelma was stuck in an unhappy marriage where she felt trapped and lifeless. One could say she had “the problem with no name” as stated by Friedan. Friedan expresses that the problem with no name is when mothers and housewives feel incomplete with their lives. They start to feel lifeless because their needs in an intellectual sense are not being fulfilled. Thelma …show more content…
It seemed to be Thelma and Louise against the world. They were surrounded by cops, all of which were male. Rather than be caught Thelma told Louise “let’s keep going,” so they did. The cops surrounding Thelma and Louise amplified the theme of men trying to control women throughout the movie. Thelma wanted so badly not to go back to her life of being a housewife she was willing to die in that moment to keep the feeling she had of freedom forever. As they drove off of the cliff the last moment was she car in midair. One could interpret that however they want but, in reality they most likely died after driving off the cliff. So many of the serious stories told about women end in death or are depressing because they want to show the reality for these women to make an impression on people. If the movies were happy and joyful they would not make the same lasting impression on people that women are human beings and deserve to be treated as