The movie Thelma and Louise portray the female gender as an endangered species surrounded by numerous emotional and physical distress. Thelma, a housewife is married to a chauvinistic Daryl who has a habit of dominating and psychologically his wife. Despite being submissive, the husband is obsessed with having total control over her and violating her freedoms. Similarly, Louise, is married to Jimmy who always on the road, thereby subjecting his wife to emotional abuse and loneliness (Yang et al. 327). To flee the yoke of their abusive husbands, the two friends plot to go out. However, the curse of their gender declines to spare them as Thelma is almost raped by her new partner in the club. But this is not the first incident of rape as Louise had faced a similar ordeal in Texas which left her with haunting memories. The endangered gender turns to technology in form of a gun to protect themselves. Louise pulls a gun to protect Thelma from her assaulter and shoots him dead. From the incident, it is evident that technology in form of a gun becomes the source of protection, protecting the female gender from the dangers that surround them.
In a similar incident, the two female friends encounter a truck driver who expresses obscene gestures at them. As in the previous incidents, the female gender is again exposed to abuse by chauvinistic driver, and the two friends again turn to technology for protection. From the two gun incidences, technology become associated with the female gender as a source of security. Having female protagonists in the movie on the other hand created a different meaning by exposing the dangers that surround the female gender, especially when they try to gain freedom.
Works Cited
Yang, Haixia, and Yuetian Lu. “A Turn-Taking Analysis of the Characters’ Personalities and Relationships in Thelma & Louise.” Journal of Language Teaching and Research, vol. 13, no. 2, 2022, pp. 325-330. Web.