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The Obvious Logical Question About Movies Like BONNIE AND CLYDE

posted 10 years ago by HijodelCid
8 replies | jump to latest

Anyone who knows the careers of Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda knows that they painted very sympathetic portrayals of Jesse and Frank James, so this movie's whitewashing of Bonnie and Clyde is not without precedent--a LOT of precedent.
So why are film makers so fond of glamorizing criminals, including pirates? I myself have been robbed several times, so I am not sympathetic to criminals.

God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)

[–] heyuactor 10 years ago

There're mass audiences who love it, but why, I don't know. I don't care for the glamorization of criminals either. Good films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and this one, irritate me. If people can divorce themselves from the real harm criminals inflict, then such films are very entertaining.

"Did you make coffee...? Make it!"--Cheyenne.

[–] tmaj48 10 years ago

I suppose in the same way that people can watch a romantic film and want to believe that the lovers who unite at the end of the movie will live happily ever
after in the throes of romantic bliss, instead of gradually becoming bored with
and contemptuous of each other, they also want to believe that criminals are
charming rebels instead of the cruel, trashy scum they often are in reality (as
the actual Bonnie and Clyde were).
The pirate thing really bothers me, especially when pirates are glamorized for
little kids.

I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!

Hewwo.

[–] liscarkat (16530) 7 years ago

"I suppose in the same way that people can watch a romantic film and want to believe that the lovers who unite at the end of the movie will live happily ever
after in the throes of romantic bliss, instead of gradually becoming bored with
and contemptuous of each other"

Sorry to spoil the popular view of today about marriage, but it is actually possible to live happily ever after, without becoming bored and contemptuous of each other. I speak from 37 years of happily married experience.

[–] shepardjessica-1 10 years ago

I didn't see anything glamorous about the lives of B& C in this film.

[–] heyuactor 9 years ago

You drove me to my dictionary with your post, shepard. 
I agree there isn't much glamour ('dazzling charm') in the movie, but glamorize takes the word to a different place, as in: 'to make (something) appear more attractive than it really is...'

That's the problem some of us have here with the depiction of the lives of B&C.

"Did you make coffee...? Make it!"--Cheyenne.

[–] marvelass 7 years ago

I believe the term you're looking for is romanticize.

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[–] 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ridge-m-1 7 years ago

One cannot view "Bonnie and Clyde" without being conscious of the times. No, not the 30's but the late 60's when it was released. Substitute the counter-culture for Bonnie and Clyde and the Establishment for the banks while keeping in mind that Vietnam was raging. Penn did something similar with his revisionist western masterpiece "Little Big Man".