Essay Comparing The Driver In Thelma And Louise And Badlands

Have you ever thought of how much you’re influenced by the driver every time you sit on the passenger seat of a car? How your mood changes over the music and your actions and whereabouts all depend on where and what the driver is doing? Though Thelma & Louise and Badlands appear to be different runaway stories they have significant similarities. Thelma from Thelma & Louise, and Holly from Badlands are both in the passenger seat in the runaway car and throughout the films we see how the driver continually influences and molds the passengers compelling them into showing their true colors while breaking from the male oppressions they’ve dealt with in their lives. These are women on their way to a destination they didn’t know they would end up

in.
Thelma lived a life sheltered by her marriage with Darryl, but Louise came along and drove her out of the shell she’d been living in for so long. Starting the film we hear a conversation between the two women and Louise implies that Darryl is like Thelma’s father because of Thelma having to ask permission for everything. Thelma’s transformation was first seen in the film when Louise pressured Thelma into going to their getaway. Thelma got in the passenger seat and decided on not telling Darryl which was a rarity in her life, disobeying him that way. Thelma was married to her husband for 10 years and after her and Louise’s drive, her attitude changed which is reflected when she tells Louise “But I don't know... something's crossed over in me and I can't go back. I mean, I just couldn't live…” She even told Louise that the idea of growing old with Darryl started to get to her. With their trip, Louise made Thelma finally see that there was more to life than the enclosed way she was living being oppressed by her husband.
By Louise having a traumatizing experience in Texas, the whole getaway went in another direction not intended, influencing Thelma’s actions. It all started with the reason Louise ended up pulling the trigger to Thelma’s rapist when they both had the chance to walk away. Because Louise herself got raped in Texas, she pulled the trigger. This made both characters go on the run. Louise knew that if she went back she would be charged for murderer and there would be no evidence of self-defense so she makes a plan to go to Mexico and asks Thelma if she was going to go with her. Louise talked about the life they would live if they were to return and knew that they had prison waiting. At first, Thelma didn’t respond but after some events it was clear that she didn’t want to go back. Because of Louise’s actions, Thelma was guided on the course of leaving the life she had forever.
We start getting a glimpse of Thelma’s changes the second Thelma saw Louise upset.

A boy Thelma trusted stole all of Louise’s savings and Thelma saw how Louise blamed her for it and was devastated because of the occurrence. This is important because when Thelma decides to rob a store, she made a decision. She knew this meant she couldn’t go back to her old life, but that’s what she wanted. She tells Louise to drive off to Mexico. Ultimately Thelma’s modifications are shown when they got stopped by a police officer, the moment Louise got put in the passenger seat of the cop car we see Thelma put a gun near the officer’s head and told him to let Louise go. Both of them put the officer in his trunk and locked him there. He tried to tell them that he had kids and a wife, but Thelma cut him off by telling him to be sweet to them “My husband wasn't sweet to me and look how I turned out.” This far out on their drive Thelma realized how suppressed she had felt all her life with the constrictions her husband put upon her. The federal agents that were trying to find the women talked to them and let them know about how they knew that they were heading to Mexico and the only way they would’ve known that was because the boy Thelma trusted told them. Thelma’s transfiguration becomes more extreme after that occurrence because Louise then yelled at her “We're fugitives now. Let's behave that way!” With every series of events, everything Louise acted upon, Thelma step by step wanted to

become more of her accomplice. It drives her into saying that she was feeling wide awake, she mentions “Wide awake. I don't remember ever feelin' this awake. Everything looks different. You know what I mean. I know you know what I mean. Everything looks new. Do you feel like that? Like you've got something to look forward to?” When living in a cage for 10 years you always know what’s coming, but when you finally get out you notice that there’s something more to look forward to.
Just as Thelma was influenced by her driver, Holly was influenced by hers. Kit swayed Holly with his actions that drove her to reflect on the voice she’d never had to break out of the cage she’d lived in her whole life. Badlands starts off with Holly narrating the film in a naïve sort of tone which mirrors the way Thelma begins too scared to even smoke a cigarette or hold a gun. She tells the story of how her mother died when she was young and her father never got over it. In “The Cinema of Terrence Malick: Poetic Visions of America”, Neil Campbell comments “She appears powerless within this domestic cage, ruled by her father and by the memory of her mother’s love for him.” Throughout the film it is clear that Holly’s life was controlled by her father, then later by Kit. Her narration of the story is even portrayed as to view the men in her life as the protagonist. When Holly first meets Kit one of the first thing he tells her is “I got some stuff to say. Guess I’m kind of lucky that way. Most people don’t have anything on their minds do they?” This first sign could be implied as Kit silencing the voice of Holly because he is of more importance.
By Kit driving her down a tragic path, Holly just started becoming aware of the life she did not want.

After Holly’s father telling Kit he didn’t want him around anymore, without even asking Holly, Kit started packing her things to drive her away from the life she had. Holly was forced to be a fugitive after Kit killed her father. Holly only slapped Kit, she really didn’t say much about her father’s death and maybe it was because that meant she regained control of some part of her life. Kit was always the one in control of the wheel and murderers. Holly never decided on where they were going she was just a passenger fleeing. At one point they find this couple, but because they’d seen one of Kit’s murder scene Kit took the decision of trapping them. Holly stayed with them because Kit asked her to. The girl asks Holly what’s going to happen to them and this is when Holly makes it clear “You have to ask Kit. He says frog, I jump. […] I’ve got to stick by Kit… He feels trapped” The girl replies with “I can imagine” and Holly says “Well, I’ve felt that way, hadn’t you?” This is the prime clue we get of Holly’s transformation. When she begins to accept what her life actually is, but then questions a life without being trapped like the girl she met. After a while we hear he narrating “Kit was the most trigger happy person I'd ever met. He claimed that as long as you're playing for keeps and the law is coming at you, it's considered okay to shoot all witnesses.” He killed

reprehensibly without looking back, he just kept driving Holly around. Later on, Kit tells her that when everything is over and they’re not being looked for anymore he’ll buy her some steak but she told him she didn’t want any. Subtle signs like those are the ones that indicate Holly’s change in behavior towards Kit and her own actions. Johnathan Bignell comments in “From Detail to Meaning: Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973) and Cinematic Articulation.” that “Holly almost ceases to communicate with Kit, and her voice-over informs us that instead she spells out whole sentences on the roof of her mouth with the tip of her tongue. By doing this, she articulates an unseen, unspoken alternative writing in her mouth that, together with the voice-over retrospectively accompanying the sequence, denies Kit mastery over the terms in which their journey’s meaning can be framed.” Kit’s decisions have driven her to another train of thought that makes her not want to be a part of the life she’s had for so long. Campbell discusses Holly evolves negligibly throughout the film, […] trapped in cycles of repetition, attempting to be ‘for Kit what her mother was for her father’ […].” Kit didn’t just show her murderers and crime, he showed her that her voice wasn’t as important as his and this was made Holly change directions. Holly was just trapped in the passenger seat of Kit’s wild ride.
While both Holly and Thelma had different reasons as of why they were on the run they shared the similarity of having their driver drive them into the life they wanted, free from their oppressors. Brenda Cooper, author of “The relevancy and gender identity in spectators’ interpretations of Thelma & Louise." goes over about how in Thelma and Louise “[…] they strike back against the men they encounter along the way and, in the process, discover in themselves strength they didn’t know existed.” which is one similarity that Holly shares. Holly turns herself in and leaves Kit and Thelma and Louise killed an almost-rapist. This is how they stroke back and in the midst of it, discovered themselves. Thelma at one point asked Louise if she had gone crazy, but Louise replied “No... You've always been crazy. This is just the first chance you've had to really express yourself.” With all the events that occurred, Louise helped Thelma realize how she was trapped. As for Holly, Campbell analyzed “Yet because Kit controls the journey just like her father does her life, it is only through her narration she gains power […]” While growing hatred for Kit, Holly realized she wanted to control her own life from then on.
Both characters ended up making dramatic decisions that made them regain control. Holly decides to leave Kit and turn herself in encountering the control she’d never had. Thelma couldn’t go back to the life she couldn’t control because she could finally breathe so she made the radical decision to tell Louise to keep going and that’s how they drove off to the Grand Canyon. In “Anti-Oedipus: feminism, the western, and The Ballad of Little Jo.” Barry Keith Grant debates “[…] the ending of Thelma and Louise sparked considerable debate regarding its feminist political value: did it signify suicidal defeatism or triumphant transcendence, a compromise or a refusal to compromise?” Seeing Louise put her foot on the pedal making the decision of driving off the Grand Canyon and watching Holly walk away from Kit to turn herself in is a grand refusal to compromise connoting finally breaking free from their male oppressors and doing what they’ve desired for once.
They didn’t just step out of the passenger seat, they jumped out of it. To such a degree it’s like both characters drove off a cliff; for Thelma it ended with a tragic death, but Holly had a second chance. Trapped in Kit’s passenger seat for this tragic adventure Holly found what she wanted to say thus she found a way to open the door and jump out. Holly finally talking instead of spelling with the tip of her tongue and Thelma finally breathing, they jumped off.