Sisterhood and Freedom is Established
Throughout the course of these feminist road films we are able to see this loyalty and bond through sisterhood that is created through connections made with the presence of suffering. In Thelma and Louise both women are able to bond through their experience of rape and abuse by the men that they encounter. Through their journey their relationship is strengthened as they move further and further toward feminism and away from the societal norms that have been enforced on them by men. In Set it Off the women are initially bonded through childhood and upbringing emphasizes the connection found through poverty. As time passes and the individual women begin to be taken prisoner by the system that is both dominated in terms of race and gender of the white male and stripped of any power they may have possessed over their own lives. They realize that their misfortunes can strengthen their sense of sisterhood allowing them to raise up and fight against the system to reach a state of power and stability.
In the two films as the women move further down the road the journey provides them with accessibility in reaching freedom. Both Thelma and Louise as they continue to beat the male dominated system with situations when Thelma robs the convenience store and the two women shoot up the semi-truck realize the freedom that they have provided themselves with by standing up for the rights as women. Similar to these examples in Thelma and Louise, the women in Set it Off continue their path toward empowerment as they continue to “set off” the system. The more illegal activity they involve themselves in the more free they become knowing that they are leaving social constructions of normality behind allowing themselves to feel privileged something the white male dominated system has never allowed them to experience.