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September 1995, Week 1

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From:
DAVID MOON <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 4 Sep 1995 18:34:15 -0400
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     Patricia Rozema's "When Night is Falling" is the third film I've seen
     recently that refers to "Thelma & Louise" (T&L) in the text "... we'd
     be like Thelma & Louise - without the guns". The other two were "Boys
     on the Side" and "Butterfly Kiss" (although I'm not 100% sure that the
     latter doesn't come from a reviewer's comments). I seem to recall
     noticing the reference to T&L in (an)other film(s) before I became
     sensitised to the phenomena. So what is it about T&L that makes it such
     a diegetic icon for other films? Did T&L really break that much ground?
     And what do these references to T&L really signify?
 
     I only vaguely remember T&L as a better than average girls-on-the-road
     movie, with overtones of the western genre. Certainly, T&L fought back
     against societal ills and wrongdoers and, for a while, came out
     inspiringly on top. Mistress fate was certainly on their side against
     incredible odds right up to the end and happily made their final flight
     into the next world (Butch Cassidy style) an honourable one.
 
     Without wishing to offend anyone who is able to offer a more reasoned
     comment on the film, I can crudely pick out that T&L is a woman-buddy
     film, where one fairly vulnerable woman and another hardened by
     experience get to know each other and themselves, discarding the bonds
     of accepted norms, standing up to sexism, sticking up for themselves,
     and having a good time on the way to the death of a lifetime. Was the
     film that original? Hadn't all this been done before or was the film's
     success (and continued success) due to the audience being new to this
     type of film? Is this T&L referencing a catch introduced by the
     screenwriters/ producers or is this film really such an important
     signifier of our times?
 
     So if two girls, sticking up for themselves in a man's world is enough
     to inspire references in other films, does it have such a powerful
     effect on the population at large? How much real-world support is there
     for the (justifiable?) acts of aggression/ self-defence portrayed in
     the film?
 
     I have problems knowing what I really feel about T&L because I came
     out of that film highly irritated by the audience, more than anything. I
     found the film rather tragic, despite the moments of obvious humour, but in
     the German speaking part of Switzerland where I saw it, the audience has a
     highly irritating and *worrying* habit of laughing through EVERYTHING sad,
     violent, or emotionally touching {apart from in comedies when the laughter
     comes in the parts that are not supposed to be funny}.
 
     I bring little more than the observation to this, but would be most
     interested to see how the discussion develops.
 
     David Moon
 
          "Once a group of people is dependent ...
      ... there is nothing in life for them" Hugh-Jones
 
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