Castration as a way of showing feminism
The scene in Thelma and Louise that I though was the most effective at creating a feminist critique was when the two women finally pull off the road to confront the truck driver. The truck driver seemed to represent an exaggerated male stereotype. This stereotype (“macho man�) could be derived from his mud flats containing the outline of a woman’s body, his obscene hand and tongue gestures, and his inappropriate comments to the women (“ready for a big dick� or “ready to get serious�). As the truck driver gets ready to go meet Thelma and Louise for what he thinks will be a sexual rendezvous he grabs some condoms and removes his wedding ring. Louise begins talking to the driver and commenting that he has some very poor manners and owes them an apology. To this the driver seems confused and dumbfounded and tries to laugh them off. When the two decide that this man will never apologize and probably continue to behave in the same way they shoot out his tires and explode the truck. The “death� of the truck, a phallic symbol, is the symbolic castration of this man. Then, as if adding insult to injury, Thelma steals his hat and the two drive off.
When I think of what feminism means I think of the women’s rights movement. However, I don’t always associate a positive feeling with the word “feminism.� Thinking deeper about this I think it is a learned reaction because I note that when speaking to others about “feminism� many share the same reaction. It’s almost a fear to the word or what it represents. Like a fear to the unknown. If it doesn’t conjure up fear it seems to effectively close someone off. They no longer care to listen and tend to write off whatever is said as extremist. Society has always given men more power and right then women and having grown up in this society it is not surprising that we are taught to fear or ignore this movement.