Analysis of Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde is a crime film produced in the United States of America in 1967.
The film is based on the famous accounts of the bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde
Barrow. The film is also regarded as one of the first films of the New Hollywood, since
it broke with many cinematic taboos such as sex and violence and became popular with
the younger generation. This film fostered the creation of other movies in which sexual
images and violent scenes were presented as something normal and common.
It is important to talk in first place about the context that surrounds the film. As I said
before, the film was released in 1967, but for good or for bad this was a very dramatic
period. The 60s and 70s were a time of enormous social and political confusion not
only in America, but also in the rest of the world. In the United States as well as in
Great Britain, a series of violent student demonstrations exploded against the Vietnam
War and against the general and total dissatisfaction with the ruling elite Power Elite
of the time. This type of upheavals culminated, for instance, in the Kent State Massacre
of 1970 when the national police opened fire against some students, four of them were
killed that day just for protesting against the United States invasion in Cambodia.
But the Vietnam War was not the only one motivation people had to reveal against the
system. In the United States there was also a tremendous resentment of Black
Americans for the deep-rooted racism of the US society against them. Riots against
racist ideas started to fill out the streets of the nation, especially the year in which
Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated (1968). Things turned more
difficult for everybody in those years. The so called progress which was promised and
promoted by the new wealth and technology factories did not simply occur. The ideals
of love and peace promised and promulgated by the Hippy Movement just disappeared,
things were changing, but unfortunately, not for the better.
However, as it is the case in certain occasions, the worst times bring out the ingenuity
and inventiveness of the people. This period was traumatic in many senses, but
fortunately, for the film industry, concretely Hollywood, this time was labeled as the
Hollywood Golden Age. People, not only in America, but also in Europe started
searching for new means to express their uncertainties through the cinema. Films as
well as popular music underwent a big revolutionary change.
The most popular themes in the 60s and 70s were related to the dominant corruption
that existed in the nation (US), people hesitated about the big failure of a system that the
only thing that did was to call for wars in distant parts of the planet, and the
consequences of those wars propitiated the subjugation of the citizenry, especially of
those that were of a different race and social status. Evidently, most of the anger and
frustration of the people was centered in the fight against the Vietnam War, overall
because this war was fought by the poorest and most underprivileged sectors of the
American society (commonly Black Americans soldiers).
The time Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow lived in was not very distinct to that of the
60s and 70s. Both periods had something in common (the citizenry was upset with
politicians, bankers, stockbrokers) and all those people that represent the Power Elite.
The economy of the country had decreased severely and there was a great need for
justice and economic relieve. The Great Depression had lowered a gruesome mantle
over the nation. The American Dream collapsed along with Wall Street in 1929. Pride
of freedom became a joke. "The country's money simply declined by 38 percent,"
explains Milner, author of The Lives and Times of Bonnie and Clyde. Men in the towns
were roaming the streets in search of a job, community soup kitchens became just
jammed, many farmers were spelled out from their lands and as if that werent enough,
a great drought struck the plantations. Capitalism was not the answer in those times, big
businessmen and government officials had made of the philosophy of this economic
system a chaos.
Bonnie and Clyde were children of a nationwide economic depression and they, as
many other people, were just discontent with life, with the country, and with the system
in general. This can be illustrated in one of the scenes in the film, minutes 15:00:00 to
20:00:00 when Bonnie and Clyde go to rob the first bank. Clyde entered the bank, asked
for the money, but the employee tells him that there is no money; the bank had just gone
bankrupt a few weeks ago. Clyde got really angry, not only because he did not get any
money at all, but because the economic situation in the South (and in the entire nation)
had left nothing for anybody.
An immense anger dwelt within Clyde, having been born ragged and made more ragged
by the Depression he decided then not only to rob, but to killed in cold blood, and
always tried to justify the murders as if he had the right to pull that trigger.
While they terrorized banks and store owners in five states: New Mexico, Texas,
Missouri, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, Americans thrilled to their "Robin Hood"
adventures. However, the presence of a female, Bonnie, gave an air of sincerity to their
deeds.
However, restrictions and norms in the United States wouldnt allow the release of such
a violent film. The old US censorship system (commonly known as The Hays Code)
had been very strict on the portrayal of screen violence and the morality of films dealing
with criminals. In short, all films dramatizing outlaws, real or imagined were to show,
in no uncertain terms that crime did not pay. Although in that time this film was
considered extremely violent, the most subversive and alarming thing about the film
was that it showed a life of crime as liberating, sexy and fun. The press on both sides of
the Atlantic, as well as many critics, regarded the film as dishonest, dodgy and
potentially harmful in its effects on modern youth.
The film was popular with audiences, especially the young and, largely on the strength
of word of mouth, became a box office success. The film was just a boom, everybody
wanted to dress like them, to name the children like them, and more importantly, to
comport like them too. Even their cloths and hairstyles became fashionable.
Another problem or controversial issue with this film was the way in which it handled
the theme of sexuality. It is said that originally the script writers (Benton and Newman)
wanted Clyde (the character) to be bisexual so that he and Bonnie could have a three-
way sexual relationship with their male gateway driver, but this idea was very complex
for the time and finally Arthur Penn dismissed it in order to avoid problems with the
film industry and with the US government. They then decided to portray Clyde as an
unambiguously heterosexual and impotent man. Whenever Clyde shows his enormous
pistol to display his manhood, Bonnie caresses it softly. This alluded to the type of
sexual game between them.
This film treated so many other topics related to the situation of the 60s and 70s, and
also to the economic, social and political condition of the 20s and 30s, but those
mentioned before summarize the major themes the film treats. Bonnie and Clyde were
just an ideal in those times, an exemplification of liberation from taboos, norms, and
laws, freedom through violence, sex, and adventure, a complete hedonistic lifestyle.

References:
Milner, E.R. (2003). The life and times of Bonnie & Clyde. SIU Press: USA
Students British Board of Film Classification. (n.d.). Bonnie & Clyde. Retrieved May
21, 2013, from http://www.sbbfc.co.uk/CaseStudies/Bonnie_and_Clyde
G, Joseph. (n.d.). Bonnie and Clyde: Romeo and Juliet in a Getaway Car. Retrieved
May 21, 2013, from
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/outlaws/bonnie/1.html