Analyzation of "Bonnie and Clyde", and "Thelma and Louise" ; Feminist Criticism

The two films "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Thelma and Louise" are two great films highlighting rebellion and gender roles in society, including the new techniques that new filmmakers of those time periods were using. The film "Bonnie and Clyde" is about a couple who go on a crime spree, the love birds partake in bank robberies and even murder as they trave across the country with their fellow criminal commarades who help the couple along their journey. "Thelma and Louise" is a film about two average  women who go on a  mini vacation/ getaway for the weekend and end up running into a little trouble that causes a snowball affect and before they know it they end up as fugitives and are on the run to Mexico for the sweet escape away from the feds. Both films display many examples of rebellion and excitement for viewers that has intrigued people for years, explaining why they're such great films.
                
The film "Bonnie and Clyde" shows a new sort of revolution that was going on in society about the changing gender roles, ore especially for women, in the 1960's. The movie starts with an opening scene of Bonnie's bare neck and shoulders, implying her nudity that the camera never fully reveals to the audience. So already we see a change because the main female character is less conservative as we might've seen in older films, and more sexualized. Also, as the film continues on we are introduced to a new character who lives up to the very stereotypical female role in society, named Blanche, who plays Buck's ( Clyde's brother) wife. If the audience couldn't see the obvious masculine roles Bonnie was beginning to take on. they could clearly see now compared to Blanche that she was. In one scene while they're taking photos, Blanche and Buck take one first and Blanche is very shy and bashful about taking a photo, yet Bonnie poses by herself holding a gun and uses Clyde's cigar, she even refuses to smile. That scene is just one of many that clearly displays Bonnie's taking on of the more masculine role on their journey.

Things have changed a lot by the early 1990's for women and men alike because by now, films were being released that displayed more and more signs of rebellion and people defying their gender roles. Films such as 'Thelma and Louise" were shown now and the audience from the 1990's would've been more adapted to that sort of a content in a film, than the audience of the 1960's, when "Bonnie and Clyde" was released. So, now that the younger generations were seeing this in many films then and other forms of social media, they would feel more obliged to partake in some of the societal changes of that time. For example, in the film "Thelma and Louise" the audience can see the women both at one point wearing jeans and smoking, which was something that was very stereotypical for a male role in that society of that time. Women were more likely to be seen in shorts and skirts, like how Thelma was in the beginning of the movie. However, towards the end of the movie as Thelma begins to change, she takes on the more male role and does things like smoking and wearing jeans, even getting drunk all the time.

I do think a similar film made today would have a different portrayal of gender roles or expectations from a modern audience because now in 2013 people are more open about what they like and not what society wants them to do. Women have come a long way from being the average housewife and child bearer, much like men who take on more feminine roles today, and a less masculine one. Nowadays females can walk around in male clothing and though it may still seem a little odd to us, it isn't something we are completely foreign to. Therefore more films would have to be curved and directed towards the way society and people are setup today, meaning they would feature things that we might have seen before and is popular now or even a little more daring than what we are used to. Every couple of decades we see more and more advancement in society, with more sexual content in the media along with, "abnormal" gender roles amongst people, so who knows what will happen next!