Set it Off vs. Thelma and Louise
How are freedom and the road confounded in each film?
In both films, the road is seen is a source of freedom. The road is a mechanism of escape from their every day lives which have oppressed them. The road is also what leads to their doom as in both films they get caught on the road. In Thelma and Louise, they find trouble while on the road and then try to escape it as opposed to in Set it Off where they find trouble and then try to escape it by going on the road. In Thelma and Louise freedom is found on the road, and finally in their deaths. This is very different from Set it Off when three of the four girls are brutally shot down, finding no freedom in their demise. In both films the road is both a benefactor and a thief of freedom.
How are the endings similar and different?
In Thelma and Louise they die together as sisters. They are in control of their own death and die at their own hands. In Set it Off, they do not die together, in fact- one of them survives. They are also dying without the freedom that Thelma and Louise had aquired and at the hands of the police. Even in their deaths the women of Set it Off are still being oppressed. In both films their is the idea of a "good" white cop who tries to talk them down, but in both cases he is seen as a patriarchal figure who treats them as little girls and ultimately fails. His failure is because of his unwillingness to see these women as real people and as outlaws.