Bonnie And Clyde: A Deeper Look

 What and Why?

So when looking at Bonnie and Clyde you have to remember that there was a lot going on at the time of its production and release not to mention the actual message behind the movie itself.

So lets go back to 1960's America, at the time there were a lot of movements and system shake-ups that were having dramatic effect on the world around them like the Women's liberation movement or the Anti-Vietnam movement or the Hippie movement but all of them had one thing in common. Shaking up the normal and having a pop at established society of the time. Like we've discussed before MASH was a commentary on Vietnam but based in Korea to make sure that the film and its contents would be protected because there were restrictions when it came to making jokes against the government or the effort. So what did Bonnie and Clyde do?

Well they went against the norm in a different way and actually have been claimed to be the catalyst for the start of these types of films. If you think about it you can see why, most women would probably have been at home while the men held office or similar jobs doing the work for the support at home. Bonnie and Clyde shakes this up in quite a big way by having it as two people who granted at first glance meet that conformity going around and basically destroying the established stereotype by being criminals.

This trend of just straight bashing what's been built by the government continues with one of the characters (CW) having a tattoo, now while we may consider this normal today back in the 60's people were criticized for it as it's marking ones body permanently. Now you may be thinking "Well it was just the character so they used make-up, why are people so upset?" You'd be wrong because the actor who plays CW actually got a tattoo just for the film with his father criticizing his choice.

Now all the films that were a part of the new wave followed this pattern of experimental non conformity like Easy Rider which gave mind altering drugs and long cuts of seemingly anything possible, but that's what these films are about, the idea to break-up and shake up what you've been taught and told to go be unique and different to mess what society says you have to be before going to bed and doing it again the next day.

Well hopefully this has helped with a little more background on Bonnie and Clyde and why it was as influential as you'd think.