Final Entry
Like much of the rest of the class, I have to say that I didn't find Leaving Normal wasn't particularly good or interesting. The two characters of Marianne and Darleen didn't seem particularly developed or interesting to me; infact, i downright disliked the childish mannerisms of Marianne, so much so that it made it tough for me to get into the film.
My two favorite films of this semester were definitely Easy Rider and Thelma and Louise. I felt that both of these films did a perfect job of exemplifying the road/buddy film in two very different, but successful manners. Both films did a great job of building the main characters and our connections to them as the films progressed, keeping the viewer very interested and involved as they wondered what would happen next. While the characters in Easy Rider weren't as easy to sympathize with as Thelma and Louise due to their illicit activity and their mannerisms towards women, they were still thoroughly developed and likeable dispite their faults. Thelma and Louise on the other hand were very easy to sympathize with, as they were both victims of sexual abuse in a time when women were unable to speak out against it. For me, these two films represent the growth and change of the road film genre over time, and set very high expectations for all other road/buddy films to come.