Women

In Bonnie and Clyde, Bonnie has been corroborating with Clyde’s criminal activities. Far from the classical depiction of a passive character of women, Bonnie has been depicted as a “revolutionized” image of a heroine. She was not the typical women who had a weak image in the film, rather, she had an equal footing with Clyde.

Gangster movies, violence, and crime were rarely associated with female sexuality before the 1960s, and Bonnie and Clyde shattered those stereotypes.

Men

In Bonnie and Clyde, the two main stars have their gender roles completely reversed. This is key in seeing how men are represented in Bonnie and Clyde, Clyde isn’t your typical love interest like in Warren Beaty’s other film, instead he is a multi-layered, impulsive and reckless character. This suggests Arthur Penn wanted to represent Men as being just as emotionally vulnerable as a woman, this is highly influential at the time because men in movies were only love interests, or mysterious gangsters without an actual personality.

Authority Figures

 if not all, the authority figures in these films demonstrate a ruthless disregard for the truth and a sadistic pleasure in their ability to torment. If Bonnie and Clyde represent the attitude of the youth, then there is no question that Sheriff Frank Hamer symbolizes the older generation.

People of Colour

People of Colour are notably absent throughout the majority of the film, besides the character of Davis, who works with Otis Harris. Davis has no lines in the film, and can be seen waiting to be instructed by Harris before shooting the gun at the window. This is a negative representation, as Davis’ character is not represented equally to his white co-worker. However, it may be historically accurate, as racial prejudice was still common in the 1930s.

Realism

“The director, Arthur Penn, wanted his film to be as real and untheatrical as possible,” Guffey comments. “The producer, Warren Beatty — who was also the star of the film — shared his point of view. They were out to get stark realism on celluloid. Nothing was to be beautiful. Everything was to be, you might say, harsh — and that’s the way it was through the whole picture.”

In the interest of such realism the decision was made to film as much of the script as possible in the actual locales where the true-life outlaws of the title had held sway more than 35 years before.

Tone

Directed by Arthur Penn, Bonnie and Clyde has a tone that constantly switches between comedic and tragic, childish fun and grave consequences. The use of black in the scene where Bonnie meets her mother for the last time creates a funereal tone and foreshadows the death of the protagonists. Overall, the tone of Bony and Clyde is at times comic, slapstick, and light-hearted. At others, violent, dramatic, disturbing, and tragic.

Visual Style (French New Wave)

From the opening credits, depicting period photographs accompanied by the sound of camera clicks suggestive of gun shots, through to the film’s boldly original framing, employing windows, glass and mirrors as recurring visual motifs, Bonnie and Clyde constantly experiments with the tools of cinema, clearly echoing the techniques most familiarly connoted with the French New wave.

1. Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton was an American actor, comedian and director. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname “The Great Stone Face”.

Films:

The General(1926)

Sherlock Jr.(1924)

One Week(1920)

Steamboat Bill, Jr.(1928)

1. Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin KBE was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered one of the film industry’s most important figures.

Films:

The Great Dictator(1940)

Modern Times(1936)

Chaplin(1992)

The Kid(1921

1. Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many silent comedy films. One of the most influential film comedians of the silent era, Lloyd made nearly 200 comedy films, both silent and talkies, from 1914 to 1947.

https://www.capcut.com/s/CUo1FRTgtQtdu581/

1. Originally, the movie industry was driven to the West Coast by the strict limitations placed on filmmakers by Thomas Edison’s monopoly known as “the Trust.” The physical distance between California and the East Coast-based Trust allowed filmmakers freedom they wouldn’t have had otherwise.

2. Denmark’s film industry in 1910 was considered one of the best, most innovative in their definition of the art of light. In Scandinavia there is an abundance of literature and creativity, meanings films were full of new technique and idea. The lack of censorship meant the film makers had the freedom to take more risks in their films.

3. Benjamin Christensen directed films that reinvented the idea of film as society knew it at the time, some of his films include:

• The Mysterious X (1914)
• Blind Justice (1916)
• Häxan (1922) aka Witchcraft Through the Ages

4. D.W.Griffith’s controversial epic 1915 film about the Civil War and Reconstruction depicted the Ku Klux Klan as valiant saviors of a post-war South ravaged by Northern carpetbaggers and freed Black people. History is usually written by the winners. This film portrayed African Americans as menacing and cruel, while it depicted KKK members as honorable, heroic figures. 

1. Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory, Dir. Lumiere Brothers. 1895

2. A Phantom ride is when a camera is places on the front of a moving vehicle, e.g train, to mimic its path and travel. ‘Phantom ride’ gets the name from it looking like a ghost floating above the train tracks.

3. The film ‘The sick kitten’ Dir George Albert Smith 1901, was ground breaking as it utilises close ups in a way that was never seen before. Redefining close ups as a way for audience to get a better or more dramatic understanding of what’s happening.

The film ‘Life of an American Fireman’ Dir.  Edwin S. Porter, George S. Fleming 1903, was also considered inventive as it used cuts to show what happens next.

.4. The first movie star in Hollywood was Florence Lawrence, she was the first film player whose name was used to promote her films

The use of Diegetic sound is used to foreshadow Bonnie and Clyde’s death in the ending of the movie. Amidst the rapid cuts between Clyde, Bonnie and Malcolm, the sound of birds flying away in fear can be heard by both characters and spectator. This acts as the ‘calm before the storm’ a sign of danger that is pending.

The use of the non–diegetic banjo underscoring is used in the scene where the gang flee from police following their bank robbery, the spectator can hear an upbeat, jolly score of banjo – signifying how Bonnie and Clyde find their criminal life fun and amusing, and how they enjoy the chase and thrill that comes with their life above the law.

Dialogue

‘When i get my hands on those kids, Velma, I’m gonna tear them apart!’

‘What if they have guns Eugene?’

‘Listen we better get the police and let them handle this’

The use of Dialogue in this scene is used to create a comedic moment surrounding the victims of Bonnie and Clyde’s antics. By adding in this moment between Eugene and Velma, the spectator is encouraged to forget the seriousness of the crimes they commit, and instead share their joy and unbothered attitude in regard to their life of crime.

Sound Motif

The use of gunfire as a sound motif in the movie is effective, in the sense that the audience is led to connote gunfire with the fun and antics of Bonnie and Clyde. The spectator is desensitised to the sound of gunfire, as the use of it in the movie and beyond excessive and with a rarely bad result for Bonnie and Clyde.

The reoccurring sound of gunfire is also used to connect the movie all together, and reinforce the films overarching theme of violence. In the ending of the movie, the only sound that can be heard is gunfire, this prefaces how the ambush of Bonnie and Clyde was excessively violent and unexpected. The audience now redefines the connotation of gunfire from the success of Bonnie and Clyde to the downfall of the two.

Sound Mixing (atmos/foley)

Examples of foley sound in Bonnie and Clyde include and external sound from outside during dialogue, for example the scene that Bonnie and Clyde share on the field. In addition any gunfire that takes place behind dialogue.

Immediately in the film Bonnie and Clyde, director Arthur Penn uses editing to let the viewer know that the film will be moving at a rapid tempo.

As photographs quickly flash across the introduction, it lets the viewer know that the action will be fast paced. Throughout Bonnie and Clyde the use of editing does indeed romanticise the criminal activity of the Barrow gang, and is also used to recruit the viewer to the Barrow’s side.

Example of editing sequence in Bonnie and Clyde

A scene that stood out was the one where they had just robbed a bank and fled to Oklahoma, this scene stood out because narrative sequencing was used to depict a few results and opinions that resulted from the bank robbery all while they
were escaping from the police.

Narrative sequencing is used “to suggest the
simultaneity of events happening in different settings” (Pramaggiore 201).

While Bonnie, Clyde and the rest of their group were outrunning the police, a few shots of what was happening back at
the bank were entered into the sequence. these shots featured a policeman who was taking in the glory of having escaped the crimes of Bonnie and Clyde.

This was done to help the audience realize just how notorious Bonnie and Clyde had become. There is also a shot of an old man who thought what Bonnie and Clyde did was right by him.

A reason why this shot might have been added was so that the audience could sympathize with Bonnie and Clyde and not think of them as all that bad. 

Ultimately, Bonnie and Clyde were thieves and murderers but what Penn did with editing was to make the audience sympathize with them. He used tempo, timing, along with joining shots to enhance the film. 

Locations

The use of location in Bonnie and Clyde is used as a way to communicate the feelings and atmosphere at any given part of the movie, for example, when Bonny and Clyde are rid of the others they live out their life as they wanted in the beginning: alone, robbing banks together. The bliss they feel in this part of the movie is communicated by the ‘perfect’ and pleasant locations such as this field.

The use of this external shot in this location, being a typical town centre, ensures the verisimilitude of the movie. As the plot is central to how Bonnie and Clyde rob Banks, the audience are aware of what is about to happen, but the surrounding civilians aren’t, therefore creating a sense of dramatic tension in the movie.

Sets (interior)

The use of set design in Bonnie and Clyde translates to the audience how the characters feel in a particular moment in the movie. This scene where Bonnie feels helpless and isolated in her sadness, the set is dimly lit, suggesting her low mood as a result of the dark themes of their crimes.

One of the first scenes Bonny and Clyde share is set in a typical café, the set isn’t fancy or over elegant, showing how they both want a happy life with each over, bot one full of riches etc. The light being dim but shining over them both signifies how they both feel a sense of hope and safety in each over; how Clyde has met a women who interests him, and how Bonnie has found a man who excites her and promises her a better, more fulfilling life.

Costumes

Costumes in Bonny and Clyde tell a story of how characters change over time in a subtle, yet effective way. The first appearance of Bonny depicts her in a simple and plain dress, which she, quite literally, throws on. This shows how she feels her life lacks excitement and how she, before meeting Clyde, is a stereotypical, working class women of good moral and pretty, sensible character. her hair is experimental, including a swirl pattern, Clyde tells her to remove it, showing her attempts of living a more exciting life is nothing in compare to the life he can offer.

Once Bonnie starts to be influenced by Clyde and his radical and dangerous ways, Bonnie wears more designer, expensive clothes. Firstly showing their sudden influx of money and wealth as a result from stealing from banks, but also to show how she feels more herself in the way that she expresses herself. She now takes on a more ‘iconic’ and fancy appearance, aligning with how she is one step closer to living the life she longed for in the beginning of the movie.

Props

The way in which guns are presented in Bonnie and Clyde tell the spectator lots in regard to how Bonnie views violence vs. how Clyde views violence. As seen in the scene with the Sherriff, Bonnie uses Guns as props for photos, hinting towards how she uses this type of life as a statement, rather than a thirst for killing. She holds the gun haphazardly, careless to what they do, this foreshadows her demise in the end of the movie, and how she got carried away in the feeling and fashion that being a runaway brought whilst forgetting the real consequence of her actions.

The use of food as a prop in this scene communicates how Bonnie and Clyde aren’t against normal, working class people, rather the system and how the government exploits normal people (hence the reason they rob banks). They treat there ‘hostages’ in a arguably comedically ‘nice’ way by feeding them, showing how they are nice people deep down, whilst evoking the spectator to sympathize with Bonnie and Clyde.

1. Cinematic term- a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favour of experimentation and a spirit of iconoclasm.
2. Filming techniques included fragmented, discontinuous editing, and long takes. The combination of realism, subjectivity, and commentary allowed these movies to have ambiguous characters, motives, and even endings that were not so clear-cut. 
3. Arthur Penn, working on Bonny and Clyde was influenced —one might almost say inspired—by Truffaut’s (see below) “Shoot the Piano Player,”

films that influenced the ground-breaking Hollywood classic:

• Scarface (1932)
• Gun Crazy (1950)
• Seven Samurai (1954) Toho Co., Ltd.
• Breathless (1960)
• Shoot the Pianist (1960)
• In a way Bonnie and Clyde were pioneers, consolidating the vein of violence in American history and exploiting it, for the first time in the mass media. Under Arthur Penn’s direction, this is a film aimed squarely and unforgivingly at the time we are living in.

4.