Thelma and Louise/Set it Off
In both movies the women aren't awful people, but the situations they are encounter drive them to a life of crime. In Thelma and Louise the event was when Harlan was raping Thelma. Louise protected her friend and shot Harlan. Thelma wanted to go straight to the cops and tell them that it was self-defense, but Louise knew that the cops wouldn’t believe that story because the whole bar saw Thelma and Harlan “dancing cheek to cheek all night�. This displayed the lack of trust the women had in the patriarchal system. In Set it Off there were multiple events leading up to the women committing crime. The first was when Frankie lost her job because she was an acquaintance of Darnell. This was a crucial event because Frankie was the mastermind of the bank robbery. She justified the crime by saying that the system is not looking out for them so they needed to take action into their own hands. The second event was when Stoney’s brother was wrongly shot. He was a good student and a good kid, and it was painful to see him killed, another situation when the patriarchal system failed. The final situation and the tipping point for when they finally decided to follow through with the plan was when TeTe lost her son to child services and needed to prove that she had enough money to support him. In both films, the women feel like their backs are up against the wall, and feel like they have nothing to resort to except criminal actions. The women in Set it Off justify their crimes because they keep saying that it is the last time that they would be doing it, and they are using the money for good. Stoney wanted to use the money to get out of the hood, and establish a better life, and TeTe was using the money to support her son. In both films the women have opportunities to stop and give themselves up. However, there would be no society for them to return to so they were forced to continue.
The similarities between the endings are evident, however there are also clear differences. The endings are similar because of the massive cop chases, the women not backing down to the cops, and the women would choose death over surrendering themselves. However, in Thelma and Louise the ending has more of a happy tone, they are sticking together to the end. There is a lasting impression of friendship, and we never actually see them die. In Set if Off the ending is more gritty and more realistic because we actually see three of the four women dying. The deaths are also more violent because we see the women shot down. However, the prime distinction between the two endings is that the women in Set it Off split up in the end for a better chance of survival, and Stoney does survive in the end. She is able to fulfill her dream of leaving the hood.