Thelma destroys Louise's life and chance at true happiness
I haven't seen this film in years, and I happened to see it again the other evening as my wife started watching it (I am not trying to assert my manliness -- I simply would not have watched it of my own accord). I remember how this film was discussed in popular and academic culture and praised for being a feminist film, a feminist take on the road story, a feminist "revenge tale," etc. As I am an academic myself I remember that this film was often discussed at conferences and seemed to be considered a defiant response to "the patriarchy." As it has been many years since I last watched this film, I noticed details that I don't think I noticed when I saw the film initially. The idea that the film is a straightforward feminist tale seems, well, too simple.
Thelma may be Louise's best friend but for all the talk about evil men in the film, Thelma is the single most destructive force in Lousie's life. Basically Thelma's actions cause every negative incident in the film, which leads to the dire situation at the end of the film, when Louise feels that she has no way out except for a suicide drive off a cliff. Here are the problems that Thelma (who for most of the film behaves like a reckless child) causes:
1. Thelma is running very late when Louise arrives to pick her up; this forces the women to leave later than Louise expected. If they had left on time they would have driven straight through to the cabin.
2. Thelma brings the loaded gun, and instead of dealing with the gun herself, she asks Louise to take care of it. Of course this puts Louise in the role of rescuer later. Thelma should have held on to the gun herself and protected herself.
3. Thelma asks to stop at the trucker/cowboy dance spot, and then she makes a series of bad decisions despite repeated warnings from Louise. Thelma's idiotic and dangerous behavior (trusting the obviously creepy, aggressive cowboy when Louise has already asked her to stop dancing and drinking so they can leave) puts Louise in the worst position of all. Louise of course pulls the trigger of her own accord, after the women are out of danger, so Louise makes serious mistakes herself.
4. Thelma allows the money to be stolen. Louise is more desperate than Thelma, and she works at a waitressing job to support herself. The five thousand dollars means everything to her but not that much to Thelma. Her behavior is again reckless and cavalier. Thelma allows Brad Pitt to destroy Louise's plans by stupidly leaving the money with the admitted thief Pitt, and she also tells Pitt where they are going so Louise feels that she no longer has any options. And of course Louise has already told Thelma repeatedly that Pitt is bad news.