"Bonnie and Clyde" and "Thelma and Louise"; the waitress symbolism.

     In these two moderately modern films the main idea is that perhaps freedom, even though it feels good, isn't likely to have good outcomes. "Bonnie and Clyde" begins with the beautiful Bonnie completely naked in her room while laying on her bed. The symbolism of her being imprisoned is implied. Soon after, the main character, Clyde, attempts to steal Bonnie's mom's car; once Bonnie finds out she is interested in him and they soon leave to start their live fast - die young journey. They rob banks, kill people, assault an officer, and are happy together along with Clyde's best friend and his wife. In the end, after all the prosecution they are ambushed and killed by a line of fire.

Bonnie and Clyde

     On the other film, "Thelma and Louise" begins with Louise in her job and Thelma in her house being mistreated by her husband, take note that Louise is a waitress and has her uniform at the beginning of the film. They plan a field trip without consent and get in some trouble in a bar. They kill a man that raped Thelma, and that lead them to be runaways fugitives. Soon after, they meet the good-looking J.D, played by Brad Pitt. They give him a ride around then soon kick him out, he comes back to the hotel room in which Thelma is staying, seduces her, they have sex, and he finally steals Louise's money the next morning. Because they were poor now, Thelma does armed robbery which leads them to be prosecuted. They also assault an officer and run away from the police. In the end, they are cornered between a line of armed policemen and the Grand Canyon. They choose to drive the car off the cliff and inevitably die.

Thelma and Louise

     What I want to address is a very symbolic quote near the beginning of "Bonnie and Clyde". Clyde says that he doesn't want Bonnie to become a waitress like the one that was serving them at the restaurant. Keep in mind that Bonnie was already a waitress but she was never seen with her uniform on throughout the film, contrary to Louise in "Thelma and Louise" who is already wearing it at the beginning of the film. I personally believe that being a waitress in "Bonnie and Clyde" and in "Thelma and Louise" symbolizes not being free, or just accepting being caged.

     Finally, the reason why the waitress symbolism was used in both of these films was to express two sides of a story. Avoiding becoming a waitress, and escaping from being a waitress, or being oppressed. Bonnie never wore her waitress uniform which sort of shows she is trying to avoid fully accepting being caged, and she also eventually runs away even farther to experience "the other end of the stick", and eventually die :'(. Louise starts off the movie being a waitress, she doesn't seem very happy, but once she gets to talk to Thelma about the trip that was happening a few hours later she seemed happy and joyful. This represents that Louise attempts to escape from her oppressive uniform at least for a weekend. Things happened that made her need to stay "free", and she liked it. She and Thelma preferred to die over being waitresses again, just like Bonnie constantly refused to go back even though she had many chances.

Comparing "Citizen Kane" and "American Beauty"

      The symbolic meaning of these two very intriguing films is really up to opinion and perspective. The symbols and themes in these movies may be a little complex as they are either given to you too often to be noticed at all, or too sutile to notice at first. To begin with, Citizen Kane first significant symbol is given to the viewer at the beggining of the film, the very famous "Rosebud". By what the viewers see, they might predict that the meaning of Rosebud will be revealed at the end. Turns out the people investigating Kane and his death couldn't find the meaning of his childhood sled to him; sort of a perfect symbol to explain that what a person thinks can't be quite understood unless he explains it himself.

Kane looks at his snowglobe reminding him
of his childhood, says his last words "Rosebud",
and dies.

     But what could it mean? is the question left to the viewers and really, it is an open ended film. Some clues are scattered throughout the film but no one will ever know if they are exactly correct or not, reason why listening to some theories really can help develop what you believe it means. Several clues reveal that Kane didn't quite have a childhood, wanted to buy love, and technically tried to have everything in the world. Maybe he wanted all these things because he was trying to find the childhood he didn't have, of course, using the wrong approach; reason why he said "Rosebud" as his dying word. He mentioning the sled with which he used to play reveals that he realized that to experience childhood he would have needed to play and be a child. But then again, this is just a theory and anyone could find something more explicable and reasonable; proving that the movie is open ended.

Lester lusting of over his daughter's friend.
(This is a fantasy) Roses, symbolize desire and appear
all throughout the film.

     The adaptation of this film, "American Beauty", is really a modern version of the same idea of old an old person hunting for happiness. Lester, the hero of the movie, is a married man with a  daughter living in a normal house like a regular family would. At the beggining of the film, Lester tells the viewers that in less than a year he was going to die, but he also mentioned that he as dead anyway. This reflects on Kane as older man with everything he wanted but still sad. Lester then lusts for one of his daughter's friends reavealing that he wanted his childhood, what he could do when he was a teenager, just like Kane. Lester rebels, smokes drugs, quits his job, gets a job at a fast-food place flipping burgers (like he did when he was a teen-ager),  drinks, and works out; this reveals his attempts to be young again and do what he didn't. 

     Finally, both of these films come together to explain the value of youth and how people should value the beauty of the world and not just pass it by. This is told in a very sutile way through the use of symbolism and goes to show the geniuses behind these films. A decent way to look at these is as fables, they teach something through a story instead of just telling the readers/viewers what to do straight out. But in the end, what the viewer learns is what they intrepreted, meaning that these movies could teach a million things to a million people and they makers might not even know. That is the beauty about these films.