Bonnie and Clyde & Thelma and Louise - Feminist Lens

   The Feminist lens is a good way to look at the films Bonnie and Clyde & Thelma and Louise considering the women in the film were bold and do not portray the "normal" female qualities. In Bonnie and Clyde, the film starts off as Clyde attempting to steal Bonnie's moms car. Instead of Bonnie calling the police on him for theft, she handels it herself and whines up going with him on his journey of robbery. Bonnie is not the "typical" female anymore as the movie moves along, she starts to lose some of her feminine traits despite her looks. She becomes more interested in robbery, and violence and enjoys the thrill of running from the law. Where as other females wouldn't typically act like that, but rather cater to their husbands, and stay at home etc. Bonnie does not fit into the "norm" of women.

   In Thelma and Louise, Louise also does not fit in with the "typical" women either. Louise is a lot like Bonnie in a way as the movie goes on. She starts losing the feminine traits that she once had. At one point in the movie she threw away her make up and even took off her jewelry which could signify that she is changing. Thelma on the other hand was really feminine. She was the one that would could for her husband, and basically a stay at home wife. Once she knew she was going on a road trip, she started to rebell and do what she wanted without asking her husband. Later in the movie, Thelma kind of becomes almost just like Louise. Thelma starts becoming more comfortable with the gun, robbing stores, doing illegal things, and running from the law. She is also not the typical women, but throughout the movie she keeps that feminine look that she had. 

   If you look at the men in both movies, they seem almost feminine compared to the women at some parts and wouldn't typically fit in with the "normal" or "average" man. In Thelma and Louise, Thelma's  husband Darrel was very tough and manly in the beginning. But as the movie went on, when he started to see that Thelma was getting into all sorts of trouble with the law, we saw his weaker more emotional side. We also so it with Louise's significant other, Jimmy. When he tried to purpose to Louise, and she rejected his proposal, you could see his emotional side by the look in his face and how he responded. The gender roles in these movies are "backwards" so to speak for society.

Citizen Kane & American Beauty

Citizen Kane and American Beauty have many similarities and differences. One of the main similarities is the rose. In Citizen Kane the rose is symbolic because it is on the sled; that being the rose is the name of his sled which is symbolic of his childhood. The rose is talked about throughout the movie, when we finally see the sled in the furnis which could also  be symbolic of his childhood withering away, and that he was never able to get it back. In American Beauty the rose is also symbolic, but in a different way. Roses appear multiple times throughout the movie, but not only roses, the color red. Roses seemed to appear whenever something was desired. For exampled when Lester and Angela were walking towards each other, right before they kissed there was a bouquet of roses in a vase on the table. That represented their desire for one another. In both movies the desire for happiness and childhood are big themes. In American Beauty, Lester has the desire to be happy, and one thing that made him happy was Angela. Angela could be symbolic for his childhood, and what he went after when he was younger. In Citizen Kane, Kane desired to be happy. He tried to buy happiness, when all he really wanted was his childhood back, but money couldn't buy that back.A symbol in Citizen Kane that could be a symbol for his Kane's childhood when he was happy was his sled. The sled was definitely a huge symbol because when he died, the last words he said was "rose bud" and that was the name of his sled which could infer that the sled did once make him happy because it reminded him of his childhood.