Bonnie and Clyde

The opening credit scene is unique because of the flashing pictures. This is unlike any opening credit sequence we have studied in film class before. Also, sexuality is a very heavy theme all throughout this film and in the french new wave era. The most prominent example of this in the film is the silent scene of them laying on the bed with each other and they are grabbing and feeling each other and showing facial expressions of emotions. This is something that is unique in a film because it is showing two characters expressing multiple emotions to each other without using dialogue. What’s actually happening in this scene is Clyde and Bonnie are trying to be intimate with each other, but Clyde can’t do it for some reason. This type of scene also wouldn’t be allowed in films of the earlier era due to its highly sexual nature.

Bonnie is different from other female characters we’ve studied because she is very forward, however at the same time she likes being submissive when it comes to Clyde. An example of this is when they are sitting at the diner and he points at a part of hair and tells her to adjust it because he doesn’t like the way it looks so she does.  To Bonnie, a manly man is a man like Clyde. A man who isn’t afraid to rob a store or flash a gun, a bad boy if you will. To the victims of their crimes, Clyde is a scoundrel and the police pursuing him are the real men.

Guns in general are used to represent masculinity and sexuality in the film. When they shoot up the old house it’s only the men that do the shooting while the women and children wait in the car. Also, in this scene the man who used to own the house’s wife is shown holding her baby and she looks scared of the guns while Bonnie is standing with the men, this speaks to how different she is. Another scene where bank robbing is portrayed as masculinity is when they manipulate the gas station attendant into pulling off a job with them and joining their team by claiming he wasn’t man enough to do it. Being masculine in this time means being rough and tough, being the type of man who cuts his toes off when he’s in jail to get out of work detail and brag about it.

The film preserves realism though the very first moments of the film, by having pictures of the time period popping up during the beginning credits. Playing music from the time period while showing these pictures only adds to the realism. Realism is also kept in tact through the serious consequences of their actions. For example, the scenes when they show the victims of their crimes or when Clyde first kills somebody and he is trying to cope with committing murder. An example of them showing the victims of their crimes are the man that Clyde first hurt and put in the hospital and when the police office is talking to the camera looking all disheveled and horrified as he recalls the events of their shoot out with Bonnie and Clyde. A good example of this is the scene when Clyde’s brother comes to visit and his brother asks him about the murder and is he had to do it and Clyde goes “I had to, I had to”. The scene then goes very quiet as you can tell what Clyde did as been eating him up inside even though he is putting on a tough guy act for everyone else. You see Clyde’s manliness attitude crack when Bonnie yells at him after they get into a shoot out with the cops, almost as if she makes him feel like a man. The movie keeps in touch through realism through how characters deal and cope with the crimes they are committing. It also prefers history and realism by the setting and mise en scene. For example, the old timey car they drive, the clothes they dress in the, and the guns they use all keep in touch with the real feel of the movie. The different early 1900s setting with dirt roads and old banks also add to the realism of the film.

The way the film is dramatized or romanticized are the actions the character are committing in the movie didn’t happen the way they are portraying them. All the robbery scenes have a high paced soundtrack behind them which makes their actions seem light and fun. It is als dramatized through Bonnie and Clyde’s complicated love story.

Violence and sexuality are intertwined in this film from the very first scene. Bonnie is looking in the mirror at herself naked, then lays on the bed and begins hitting her bed frame. She then gets up goes to the window, still naked, and begins yelling to the first boy she sees. She then runs down to him to go and hangout with him. She teases him about how she doesn’t believe he robbed any store or bank, like he had claimed earlier. He then pulls out a revolver and she immediately gets turned on and seductively touches his gun. She then tells him he wasn’t man enough to use it so he robs a store. They then speed away with a fast banjo soundtrack in the background. Every time Bonnie and Clyde are about to get intimate Clyde can’t do it and his excuse is “I’m not a lover boy”. This intertwinds their crimes with sex even more because its almost how they get intimate with each other in their relationship.