‘Thelma & Louise’ is hailed as one of the “best road trip films of all time”, according to the Telegraph, making it a classic.
The film is well known for it’s feminist themes which caused quiet the stir when it was released in 1991. It was written by Callie Khouri and directed by Ridley Scott. With Sigourney Weaver portraying the infamous ‘Ripley’ in his 1979 cult hit Alien, Scott was no stranger at having a female take the lead roll and it was his very argument (to Khouri) to let him direct the film.
READ MORE HERE: 15 Things You Might Not Know About ‘Thelma & Louise’
Famous screenwriter, Syd Field, makes numerous references to ‘Thelma & Louise’ in his book The Definitive Guide To Screenwriting and using his Breakdown of the “Three Act Structure” we will see how the film forms into the paradigm.
If you are in need of a scriptwriter or script reader (doctor) you can get in contact with me on my website here.
SPOILER ALERT!
ACT 1
| Context: | The film is set in Arkansas (United States) during the early 90’s. |
| Main Character(s): | Thelma Dickinson (Geena Davis)
Louis Sawyer (Susan Sarandon) |
| Dramatic Premise: | Thelma and Louise decided to take a break from their lives (away from the men) and go on vacation together to get back at them. |
| Dramatic Situation (Circumstance): | Thelma is a reserved ditzy naïve housewife, married to a controlling egotistical man (Harlan). In order for her to get away from him and go away with Louise she has to lie to him.
Louis is the opposite. She comes off as a strong and independent woman. She works as a waitress and is unmarried. She is in a relationship with Jimmy, a travelling musician that is barely around. Due to Jimmy’s absence of phone calls to keep in touch with her, she decides to go away to the mountains for a few days and not tell him. |
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Sub Plots: |
Thelma excited and afraid of what they’ll come across during their vacation decides to pack a gun. Reassuring Louise that it’s just in case they come across a “crazy psycho killer”.
Louise questions Thelma on her having to lie to Darryl with “is he your husband or your father?” and again she says to her that “you get what you settle for”. *Has an underlying story of “freedom” , “taking matters into one’s own hands” and “feminist revenge”. |
| Other Characters and their relationships towards the main character(s): | Darryl (Christopher McDonald) – Thelma’s arrogant husband
Jimmy (Michael Madsen) – Louise’s musician boyfriend Harlan (Timothy Carhart) – the man Thelma dances with at the bar during their first pit stop. A few minutes later he attacks Thelma outside |
PLOT POINT 1
| Dramatic hook: | When Thelma is attacked outside of the ‘Silver Bullet’ bar, by Harlan, Louise comes to her rescue, wielding Thelma’s gun. After Harlan verbally abuses Louise she totally loses it, firing the gun and killing him. |
ACT 2
| Dramatic Need: | In the aftermath, Thelma wants to go to the cops but Louise refuses as they won’t believe that it was self-defence. She and opts that they should make a run for Mexico and keep a low profile to evade the law. |
| Obstacles and Conflict: | It’s a long way to Mexico.
They can’t go through Texas as Louise has a past there and refuses to tell Thelma what it is. *Setup They don’t have much money. The cops are looking for them. Thelma always making a mess of things and Louise has to fix it. Thelma gets involved with JD, and persuades Louise to let him hitch a ride with them. They meet up with Jimmy to get the money. He and Louise get into an argument, and then he proposes. JD and Thelma sleep together “the proper way” she says, signifying her lose of innocence – the next morning Jimmy leaves and the girls then find out that JD has ducked off and taken the money. Louise breaks down. Thelma robs a store (which she learnt how to do from JD) and believes she has found her calling. Encounter a sexist trucker on the road. *Setup |
| New Characters: | Hal (Harvey Keitel) – the lead Detective looking for them
JD (Brad Pitt) – the “Boy-toy” |
PLOT POINT 2
| Dramatic hook: | The girls had been pulled over by a cop. Thelma pulls the gun out on the cop and takes charge of the situation. There is a roll-reversal between them now as Thelma is not the strong character coming to Louise’s rescue.
The moment when Louise finds out that detective Hal knows what happened to her in Texas and that they are wanted, dead or alive. She refuses to make any deals with him. |
ACT 3
| Climax: | They are found by the cops and are caught in a cat-and-mouse pursuit. Just when they believe they have gotten away they are found to be surrounded. Thelma suggests to Louise that they keep on going. The girls then drive off the cliff together. |
| Payoff of Setup(s): | They come across the sexist trucker again and lure him into a trap so that he can apologise to them. When he refuses they almost kill him. This pays off that they are the “crazy psycho killers” to watch out for. It also pays of the “feminist revenge”. *This piece forms part of the beginning of Act 3, leading towards the climax.
The gun was already payed off when Louise shot Harlan. They gun is an integral part to the story. Without it Louise would never have killed him and there would be no story. We find out what happened to Louise, as it’s safe to assume that she was raped back in Texas. Thus at the moment when she killed Harlan, back at the bar, it was her younger self (the victim that never got justice) that shots him. In the climax the girls refuse to be taken and decide to keep on going (to their freedom and ironically their deaths). Thus pays off the “freedom”, “taking matters into their own hands”. The entire story is centered around the “you get what you settle for” setup. From deciding to shot Harlan, go on the run, trust JD, becoming outlaws etc. every decision they settled for |
| Resolve: | At the ending, we don’t see the car falling; instead a montage of their happy and fun times together is displayed. They kept going and stuck by each other to the end. |
If you are in need of a scriptwriter or script reader (doctor) you can get in contact with me on my website here.
Angela de Sousa 