The two films that we are going to compare and
contrast are Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969) and Thelma and Louise (Ridley Scott, 1991).
The key genres that are shared by these films are:
- · The Western
- · The Road Movie
- · The Buddy Film
- · Crime/Outlaw Film
They also share generic elements of Drama and
Action. Both films also deal with themes
of gender (femininity, masculinity), age
and friendship set against the backdrop
of the American Wild West.
These two films have been chosen for study because
they are separated by thirty years so
one of the key comparisons and contrasts that can be made can focus on
historical context and whether the difference in time (social changes/progress)
affects the way that gender and age (generation gaps) are represented in the
two films.
Butch Cassidy
and The Sundance Kid is based loosely on fact.
A significant contrast (Binary Opposition) that is
presented by both films – as a theme
- is that between civilisation and the
wilderness and also between freedom
and imprisonment, literally and metaphorically.
Example question:
Q.15 How important is place in contributing to key themes in the American Films
you have studied for this topic?
Level 4
• A very confident ability to identify key themes in each film,
• A very good ability to offer a detailed account/exploration of how important place
is in contributing to those key themes.
• There is likely to be a specific and detailed comparison of how place contributes
to the presentation of the themes using macro and micro features.
• The best candidates are likely to be able to evaluate in detail and with some
sophistication how important place is in contributing to key themes.
Similar backdrops, the beautiful American frontier and the claustrophobic constraints of modern life.
Liberty and freedom is represented by the frontier and deserts of the west.
Butch and sundance cling to this but that world is a dying one.
They become trapped this symbolises their world shrinking.
The trip to NYC shows the world that replaces their old one. Through montage, we see the size of the new world.
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