Set It Off and Keep Going
How do you compare a "classic" American women's road movie with a more modern road movie, the latter of which never actually makes it to the road? I have always enjoyed "Set It Off" and being able to analyze this one with a classic is eye-opening.
How are sisterhood and loyalty established?
In Thelma and Louise, the two women bonded through their mutual run from the law. Though unintentional, they both remained loyal to each other by sticking together on the road and growing and “evolving� together. In Set It Off, sisterhood and loyalty grown closer through their mutual trials and tribulations that they see each other experience. They all experience individual tragedies at the same time, and feel like they are hitting a brick wall. This becomes the initial bond that ties their friendship, and is bonded together by street loyalty of “keeping your mouth shut� and going along with the rest of the group once they start robbing banks. Although people like T.T. and Stony are initially reluctant, they go along with the rest of the group out of friendship, loyalty, and the mutual feeling that they have no other place to go. I also found the films both posess mutual hatred for overly aggressive male figures (Luther in Set It Off, the rapist and Thelma’s husband in Thelma & Louise) It’s also interesting how both groups of women had a mutual goal: to reach the road in Mexico for escape and new freedom. Even though only one woman out of the 6 total combined in the films actually reaches this goal, the outlook of freedom bonds them all.
How does the role of the white cop function in the narrative?
In Thelma & Louise, I saw the white cop as the female compared to the masculine women running the show. Even though he was supposed to be a source of authority and power, he was so passive it almost made me sick. He saw and treated the women as delicate little flowers, and not the fugitives he was supposed to be pursuing. In Set It Off, the lead officer is more aggressive than the cop in T&L, but still is astonished at the fact that a group of women can be running the show, robbing all these banks. They also make a lot of evident mistakes in both the initial investigation of the bank robberies, and their investigation of the 4 women; which I feel is due to their over-confidence because of how they initially judged Frankie, Stony’s brother, and the rest of the colored people in the projects. In T&L, there wasn't that large, evident divide of race seperating the cops from the women. Because of what happened to Stony’s brother, I think the lead officer in Set It Off also seems to feel an enormous amount of guilt, and that is why he seems more “gentle� and lenient when dealing with her in comparison to the other women.
How are the endings similar and different?
In both endings, the women meet their demise after running from the law for so long. Although in “Thelma and Louise� we never actually see them die, it is assumed, since they drove their car off the Grand Canyon. They had an almost successful road adventure, in which they seemed to finally find their voices and identities through being outlaws on the road. In Set It Off, all of the women but Stony die. It seems to be their punishment for their crimes and running for the road. It almost seems that, even though Stony was equally liable in all of the bank robberies, she lives because she had tried and attempted to make a better life for herself, even though she only succeeded once she reaches Mexico.