The scene where Harlan attempts to rape Thelma has strong relevance to today. The issue of rape is something that is addressed multiple times in the movie and is a factor that strongly influences the main character's actions. At the end of the movie when Hal asks, “How many times are these women going to get screwed over?” I have a feeling that he was referring to both of their encounters with rape. Today, we hear stories on the news about rape all the time. As college students, we often hear about the dangers of rape at parties. Yet, I feel that the issue of rape is something to which society is becoming slowly desensitized. Take for example, Kobe Bryant. The celebrated sports star was just a few years ago accused of rape. It is most likely that he was not guilty of rape, but it makes me wonder how many cases go dismissed in which the victim actually was telling the truth. Furthermore, popular youtube videos such as Derrick Comedy's “Bro Rape” make a joke of the issue of rape. It is even common nowadays to hear someone say they were “raped” by a test they took or even an online video game. Thus, Thelma and Louise presents the issue of rape as a definite problem in society. While this message still speaks to today, it should speak even louder than it does.
Is the issue of rape still important today, or has it been overshadowed since the time this movie was made?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I definitely agree that rape is still a serious issue at hand, especially on a college campus. It is so relevant to today, actually, that it was the topic of Mary Lingwall's "Hump Day" column in the Daily Texan newspaper recently :
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailytexanonline.com/life-arts/hump-day-drunk-sex-entangled-in-legal-issues-1.1942667
While rape is definitely not experienced by only women, it is certainly more common and something that women must think about more than men in certain situations. The fact that a main reason the attempted rape occured was because Thelma and Louise were two women out alone demonstrates this point well. Harlon wouldn't have even approached them had a man been around, but since there wasn't a man around I imagine that he was less likely to think that there would be anyone around to stop him.
The topic of rape is obviously a driving force of the plot of this movie. Do you think the writer/director is making a statement about women and rape, and, if so, what is it?
For me, and this is what I gathered from this ambiguous scene, the diner scene when Thelma and Louise talk about what just happened after the rape stood out to me.
ReplyDeleteThe moment when Thelma says "If you weren't concered with having so much fun, we wouldn't be here right now." Interesting that she puts the murder in Louise's hands instead of her own. Louise trusted Harlon to take care of her. Clearly, she's never drunk that much before and Harlon wanted to take advantage of that.
Its weird that women tend to blame each other for faulty men. We see it on Maury all the time. Men cheat and the women get mad at each other for "stealing the other's man", instead of going ballistic on the guy. Now I know this is a cheap example, but the issue does parallel.
Why do women continually blame each other rather than looking at the man's actions? Is this a girl thing, a social thing, or what? Ladies, why do you do it?