The movie Thelma and Louise centers around two women whose friendship takes them through adventures and mishaps. Each woman seems to personify a specific stereotypical American women outlook and attitude about life and political philosophies. Thelma is a housewife who is extremely dependent on her husband and has an almost infantile way of thinking and expressing herself. Louise seems to be the opposite of Thelma, where she is single and supports herself. Louise has a cynical outlook on life based on her experiences. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the two main characters actions and the decision they make in comparison to the political philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and Jean Jacques Rousseau.
Early on the film both two characters decide to go on a weekend vacation to get away from their significant others. But an incident that occurs at a roadhouse and the decision they make afterwards changes the course of their lives. There is an attempted rape on Thelma and consequently Louise rescues her by shooting the guy, ultimately killing him. Louise does not want to go to the police because she does not believe that the authorities will believe their side of the story. Instead of reporting the incident, the two ladies decide to leave the scene.
Thelma and Hobbes's Total Sovereign Authority.
Thelma's character seems to have accepted total sovereign authority, similar to Hobbes's perspective on the subject, in her life with her husband prior to the road trip. Although Hobbe's is referring to actual government or monarchy, you can almost see how her husband takes the place of this entity in lieu of an actual government or monarchy because she has accepted his control over her. Even though he is seen as controlling, inattentive and overall not a nice character. She has agreed to obey him since he can effectively protect her in her point of view, however, the "obligation ends when the protection ceases" (Lloyd and Sreedhar, 2014).