"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.