On Mon, 4 Sep 1995, DAVID MOON wrote: > > 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. > It seems to me that David Moon makes an interesting observation in noting the *Butch Cassidy* nature of the ending. There is a very telling contrast between these two endings. The Butch Cassidy ending is consistent with the western-macho genre. The *heros* move out TOWARD the source of violence and death (other males), their phallic symbols ready to shoot. Freeze frame and we hear the infinite shots of orgasmic gunfire. In T&L, the women make their final moves AWAY from the source of violence (males) but toward death (while a male is chasing after them). This is a female ending, but it is hardly a liberating one. Its iconography belongs to a film tradition which goes back to the early silent era, when the fair damsel, pursued by a rapacious male (often with a racist subtext), rather than submit, jumps off the cliff or into the raging river. Liberation through death is an old theme, but it is hardly liberation in the sense I understand feminism. Whether or not the fact that two women go off a cliff together (in buddy movie fashion) makes a differnce as a text, one which can be read as *liberation* and *freedom,* seems doubtful. Ron Hoffman ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]