The final scene, where the title characters embrace before committing suicide by driving off a cliff, has become iconic.[57][1] Numerous homages and parodies of the scene have appeared, including alternate film endings, cartoon parodies,[58] video game "Easter eggs",[59] and as a tragic ending to television series, music videos,[60] and commercials.[61][62] After the film's release, there were reports of a few incidents where people appeared to copycat Thelma and Louise's suicides by driving off the edge of the Grand Canyon.[63]
After watching the film, singer-songwriter Tori Amos wrote "Me and a Gun", the story of her rape several years earlier.[64][65]
Feminism
Many critics and writers have remarked on the strong feminist overtones of Thelma & Louise. Film critic B. Ruby Rich praises the film as an uncompromising validation of women's experiences,[66] while Kenneth Turan calls it a "neo-feminist road movie".[67] Jessica Enevold argues that the film constitutes "an attack on conventional patterns of chauvinist male behavior toward females". In addition, it "exposes the traditional stereotyping of male–female relationships" while rescripting the typical gender roles of the road movie genre.[68]
In her review for the Los Angeles Times, film critic Sheila Benson objected to the characterization of the film as feminist, arguing that it is more preoccupied with revenge and violence than feminist values.[69]
In an article commemorating the film's 20th anniversary in 2011, Raina Lipsitz of The Atlantic called it "the last great film about women" and said that it heralded the achievements of women that caused 1992 to become "the year of the woman".[70] However, she also said that women-themed films have since been losing ground.[70]
