Set it Off vs. Thelma & Louise
Q: How are the landscapes different?
In the film "Set it Off", the landscape is urban and in the "ghetto", while "Thelma and Louise" was set in a suburban to rural setting. In "Thelma and Louise", both women come from a white-middle class background and experience throughout their quest the open-country of western America. The four women in "Set it Off" are African-American in a sterotypical 'ghetto' projects setting. The landscape that they experience is drastically different from Thelma and Louise's. Their roadtrip does not even take them outside the urban landscape. They never escape the landscape they are from, yet just go further deep into it.
Q: How are the endings similar and different?
"Thelma and Louise" was a film that ended with inspiration as both women drove off the canyon into oblivion. The film ends with an understanding that both Thelma and Louise refused to go back to the life they left and preferred to keep driving. "Set it Off" was a film that was more disheartening at the end. Only one woman escapes death and capture. In a sense it is inspiring to see none of the women give up on the quest that they began... each woman desires so much to achieve the life (of money) of her dreams. Stony is the only woman who escapes the capture as well as the fatal death that her three friends endured.
Looking at both films, I found it very interesting seeing the contrasts and similarities between them. "Set it Off" obviously was more current of a film but I felt that it addressed many of the same issues that "Thelma and Louise" addressed in regards to race, sexuality, gender, and class.