Thelma & Louise is Forever
I was 15 or 16 when I watched Thelma & Louise (1991) for the very first time. I became so obsessed with it that I would watch it every single night on my laptop. Living in South America 15 years ago meant access to streaming services wasn’t great, so I had to pirate the movie (apologies in advance). It was the only way I could repeatedly go on a deadly road trip with Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon), because even the possibility of getting a DVD was out of the question.
My fangirl hyperfixation on Geena Davis led me down a path where I watched every movie she had ever made. While I encountered some titles that both Davis and I will probably never watch again, Thelma & Louise was the one that stood out and stayed with me in the long run. It became my comfort movie, the one I turned to in the darkest days. I would make everyone I knew watch it (or rewatch it if they had been lucky enough to see it before me) until I memorized every line of the movie. To this day, 15 years after my obsession began, I can still recite the entire final monologue.
When Thelma & Louise premiered, the movie was labeled as a feminist film. While many loved the movie for what it was, others criticized it for romanticizing murder and crime. But let’s be real, would they have criticized it that way if the main characters were men?
Davis and her counterpart, Susan Sarandon, took on these roles with grace, talent, and passion. Davis was obsessed with the script and couldn’t wait until she landed the role of her dreams, which led her to meet the woman who would change the way she carried herself from film to film. Many times Davis has said that working with Sarandon changed the way she approached movies (and life). When, in the past, she would have apologized for ever suggesting a change, her meeting with Sarandon pushed her to realize she had every right to make changes, suggestions, and edits… not only in movies but in her life as well.
And if Sarandon did that for her, Davis should have never been surprised at the reaction women had when watching the movie for the first time. Thelma & Louise helped change the way women perceived themselves in society and how they carried their personas, even at a time when they would have been called progressive simply for existing on their own terms. Like Davis, many believed this film would change everything in the industry, but did it?
While Davis went on to make movies like A League of Their Own (1992), keeping in theme with Thelma & Louise’s female empowerment theme, things didn’t change as they should have. Otherwise, the public wouldn’t go crazy when movies like Barbie (2023) and The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026) premiere. Nevertheless, the movie must be recognized for what it did and the way it shook the industry one way or another.
Personally, Thelma & Louise shook the core of my existence. Sexual assault and harassment have always been at the top of my list of things we must always speak on and fight against, so the movie resonated with me. But beyond its beginning, Thelma & Louise was proof that women can do and be anything. They can fall in love, commit crimes, go on road trips, have sex, laugh, cry, and it’s all better when it’s shared with a best friend.
Even though Thelma and Louise are independent women with their own story, the truth is that their friendship is what makes them memorable characters. Being survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence is rooted deeply in them, bringing them closer together to an understanding that not everyone has. But their friendship builds from that point on. Thelma and Louise see each other for who they really are, flaws and all, and remind women everywhere of the power of female friendship. While we are absolutely capable of everything, we are stronger with a best friend by our side.
When Davis talks about the impact the movie had, she mentions that women have told her over the years that they’ve recreated the road trip with their best friend. Even though she jokingly says she hopes not the entire trip, there is an understanding of why women share that with her. Thelma & Louise gave women the “permission” to be loud about their friendships. To display the amazingly deep love that women can share for one another. To live in a world in which their existence and their bond are important and cherished.
Thelma and Louise driving off the cliff is the perfect ending to the movie, and one that still stands the test of time 35 years later. Without it, the movie might not have had the same impact. Watching these women choose their own fate is even more meaningful and impactful than anything they did up to that point. They were opening the door for women around the world to choose, do, and say whatever they wanted. And that is why 35 years from now we will still be talking about Thelma & Louise…because Thelma & Louise is forever.
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