Can I fill your gas tank? Ooooh yeah Thanks...
This movie is the farthest thing I have seen from liberating in my entire life. Every decision that Rebecca made that might have been considered liberating were only made because of her lover, Daniel. Even the mode of transportation that carried her from her unhappiness in her marriage was given to her by her lover. All he does is oppress her. He uses her for sex and does not show any other interest in her. The way that the camera is used even dehumanized her and makes her into a sex object rather than a human. The moment when she puts her motorcycle outfit on is a slow pan down her body. When there is nudity in the movie it is of Rebecca's breasts and only of her breasts. When they show her naked body her face usually isn't in the shot. The whole movie is a male gaze through the camera. As a woman, I saw nothing that made me proud of my gender, it actually made me feel upset that I was being represented in that way.
Rebecca even admits that she doesn't want to be independent and liberated. Her husband, Raymond, is very nice to her and asks her her opinion. But she only tells him that “you ought to tell me to shut up and do what you want.� Daniel just just that. He tells her to shut up when she asks him of his intentions on the motorbike. The phallocentrism in this movie isn't subtle at all. When she pulls up to the gas station, the attendant goes to fill up her tank with gas and it is so overly obvious that the insertion of the gas hose is a sex reference.
This movie really upset me. I am also really peeved that this was a pioneer female centric film. I think Thelma and Louise are looking like angels to me right now.