Thelma & Louise film is an American road film produced in 1991 that stars both Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon as Thelma and Louise respectively. The film is about these two friends, Thelma and Louise, who embark on a road trip which later turns calamitous after they intentionally colluded in killing a man who wanted to rape one of them. Because of this murder, the two are forced to turn into fugitives and migrate into Mexico where they believe it would be impossible for the American detectives to arrest them. However, they are later cornered by detectives, but the two agree to let fate decide their destiny and defying the odds by accelerating over a cliff rather than allowing the police to arrest them and spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

While reviewing the analysis provided by Josh Hall on the Thelma and Louise film, one argument that caught my eye is his belief that the film played a crucial role in exposing the deep-rooted aspects of gender inequality and pay gaps between female and male actors. According to Hall, the American film industry was significantly male dominated with women actors only playing lesser roles. However, with the production of the film, the aspect of male supremacy was smashed down thus breaking down the patriarchal barriers that undermined championing the element of female liberation. He states that ‘It is frustrating, then, that after 25 long years, these iconic characters are still the exception” (“Hall Josh”). In this statement, Hall is arguing that even though the production of the film was 25 years ago, the same issues that it aimed at addressing are still prevalent today. I concur with Hall on his response concerning the issue of the American film industry being male-dominated and that the Thelma & Louise film main aim was to delineate some of these issues.

The argument by Hall specifically caught my attention because it shows the challenges that have hindered the success of female actors in the US. I believe that issues of gender inequality and pay gaps between actors should be a thing of the past in the country’s film industry based on the billions of dollars that the industry generates annually as revenue.  The analysis by Hall, therefore, relates with my reading of the film as it portrays the need for women to stand up and determine and fight for what they believe is right just like Thelma and Louise both united and confronted the man who was almost raping one of them.

Work Cited

Hall Josh. How Hollywood betrayed the legacy of Thelma & Louise. Little White Lies. 2016. Retrieved from lwlies.com/articles/thelma-and-louise-25th-anniversary/