Analysis of Screen Shot from "Thelma and Louise" Ridley Scott (1991)

The location of the screen shot says a lot about how Ridley Scott utilises thriller conventions in the screen shot from “Thelma and Louise”.

The clever camera angle shows a lot in just one still photo. The medium close up shot of the scene shows the characters faces and how they both react to the situation in hand, not to mention how the screen shot also shows a great deal about certain details of the film which we do not see till later on.

From this screen shot we can see that the film challenges stereotypes. The women is pointing a gun at the man which would usually be the other way around. Another aspect of challenging stereotypes is that the women is holding a male signifier, a gun. We know straight away that the film is not going to be a standard thriller film, but instead deny generic conventions and challenge stereotypes.

We can immediately see that the location of the screen shot is in a car park - this is a perfect place to commit such a crime as nobody else is around, it is quiet and very isolated from the rest of the world. The car park in itself is a masculine signifier but in addition, the surrounding cars are also a masculine signifier. This shows that the film does not convey standard thriller generic conventions, but instead challenges stereotypes to turn this around, for example, the women being in a car park and holding a gun at the man.

From this screen shot it is clear how the rest of the film is going to pan out in terms of stereotypes. That being said, the screen shot does not give too much information away so as to make the viewer watch the rest of the film.