Thelma & Louise (1990)

Seminar paper from the year 1995 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography grade: 1 University of Tubingen (Department of American Studies Faculty of English Philology) course: Hauptseminar American West language: English abstract: University of Tübingen Department for American Studies HS: The American WestWestern Myth with gender change: Thelma & Louise (1990)von: Sebastian HoosAbstractThe scientific community widely agrees that no region on earth shaped as many contemporary myths as the American West. The number of definitions of what is meant by „the West is close to the number of references made to it - in numerous fields. Only by looking at individual examples of western myth at work can we find ways to appoach the myth itself and its consequences. In this paper I want to illuminate the intellectual and cultural web that is worked into and created around the Hollywood-made motion picture „Thelma & Louise. Following a rather broad attempt I want to give a comprehensive overview over all the printed reactions and reviews of this piece of discourse beginning with a few „traditional Westerns and a piece of generic criticism by a young female American film critic. Following that the story of the movie will be recaptured analyzed and thereby finally interpreted. This paper is a revised and extended version of an earlier one presented to Prof. Jeff Bass at Baylor University Texas USA. Thanks to the excellent facilities and up to date media access of Moody Memorial Library on Baylor University campus I am apt to say that all relevant publications about this movie have been elaborated in my work. New insight about the recipience and interpretation of the western myth made me rewrite this paper specifically for a course on the American West. Directory of contentp. 3 Introductionp. 4 Chapter I : Recent Western Film Reviewsp. 5 Chapter II : Generic Criticismp. 8 Chapter II : The Echo of „Thelma and Loui