The End(s) of the Road(s).
Set It Off and Thelma & Louise are both films that feature unconventional women on the road and on the run from their conventional lives (and unfortunate circumstances); women who take up crime in order to afford the freedom they so desperately need. In additional to plot, both films employ similar conclusions in which the road must suddenly end (or begin at a terrible price), and the law must inevitably catch up with our would-be heroines. This is less so, however, in the fact that several (or all) of the main female characters die, depending on the film--it is how they choose to die that begs comparison. Both groups of women go out with a bang, on their own terms. They were brought to a crossroads, at the end of their lines and cornered by cops. They can either surrender to a sexist, racist law, or they can try and run towards the bright white lights of their own fate. Thelma and Louise DID take their own lives, while it can be argued that the women of "Set It Off" (with the exception of Stony) were killed, but both endings still make quite the statement: live free, or die. The only stark differences are that Thelma and Louise clutched hands and died together, while Cleo, T.T. and Frankie died separately, though some by choice; and that their deaths were far less picturesque (no Grand Canyon postcard here, kids) than Thelma and Louise's.
I do believe that both Thelma & Louise and Set It Off are, despite these differences, very powerful road films that put women at the wheel and make freedom their ultimate destination. Stony is the only member of the latter group that comes out alive, which is somewhat ironic considering her "white" physical features and a willingness to leave the hood and adapt to upper-class "white" culture (both mentioned by Professor Zita in class). Still, she is given her dues, and the film concludes with a peaceful, if not Thelma & Louise-esque image of her in Mexico, driving up a hill and past the big, beautiful ocean. This is an image of freedom she has spent all of Set It Off wanting, and it is the first and only hint that she may have succeeded (despite losing her three best friends, her brother, and Keith). Thus, Set It Off is more a quest for the road, a sort of "anywhere but here" story, than an "on-the-road" account. Still, both films feature women convinced some sort of road will free them from their pasts. This road propels their initial drastic actions, justifies their criminal activity and remains an ever-constant destination. And though Cleo, T.T., Frankie and even Stony never truly "make it" onto an actual road, their quest for freedom a'la Thelma and Louise makes Set It Off an important women's road film nonetheless.