Analyse the representations of gender in Bonnie and Clyde. How do key elements of film form enhance these representations?

 Analyse the representations of gender in Bonnie and Clyde. How do key elements of film form enhance these representations?

The representation of gender in 'Bonnie and Clyde' is a reflection of the era the film was produced in. Produced in the 1960s, where gender equality protests were prominent, Arthur Penn's reprsentation of his female characters encourages this movement and belief that women should be equal to men. In this essay, I will discuss how this makes Arthur Penn an auteur, as he uses key elements of film form to stray away from typical film conventions prior to the 1960s, whilst being influenced by the social contexts of the 1960s to tell a story to rewrite women as equal within the 1930s.

Firstly, Arthur Penn's work in Bonnie and Clyde began a new era of codes and conventions of Hollywood similar, and abolished the old such as the Hays code (a format which gave restrictions to the representation of characters and themes such as relationships and sensitive topics in cinema). One way Arthur Penn strayed away from typical codes in cinema to present women as equal was through the civil partnership-type (non-marital) type relationship between the title characters. Marriage prior to the 1960s had connotations of patriarchy, where in a marriage the man in the relationship could have superiority over his partner to a legal extent. Therefore, having a non-marital relationship at the heart of the film allowed Bonnie to be free from the restraints of a 1930s marriage, maximising the presentation of gender equality within the specific type of relationship she has with Clyde (that being a civil partnership). The distinctive nature of Bonnie and Clyde's equal relationship is also depicted through Penn's use of key elements, which is crucial towards his goal of presenting women in equity to men. Both characters when interacting are given the same camera treatment, meaning there's a shot-reverse-shot, medium-close ups meaning there is a reduction in sexualisation of female characters, as well as both characters taking turns in dominating conversational dialogue in different scenes. This allows Penn to portray multi-dimensional main characters who both develop character arcs in different scenes, whilst reinforcing the equality towards spectator by balancing a screentime in a joint conjugal fashion, similarly to how many feminists of the 1960s wish for men and women to co-exist together. Again in similar fashion, Penn reinforces the feminist idea of conjugal roles, but perhaps showing segregation in how men and women behave naturally. Using mise-en-scene as a key element, Penn's costume choice connotes to segregated-conjugal roles between men and women. The segregation lies in the connotations of colour between Bonnie and Clyde's clothing. Bonnie wears 'white' representing her feminine purity, whereas Clyde wear's black, representing his darker masculinity. At the point in time of when we meet the characters, Bonnie's purity reflects her clean record of being yet-to-be introduced to criminal acts, whereas Clyde's darkness reflects his establishment of being a criminal. The colours therefore show that the characters behaviour up until that point is influenced by their expectations of gender prior to the 1960s. Bonnie is expected to be a lady, well-behaved and absent of antagonism. On the other hand, it would be accepted that a criminal was male and there would be no irregularity for that being Clyde's occupation to the spectator. However, the black and white costume colours also represent a yin and yang between Bonnie and Clyde. With all taken into this context, Arthur Penn is essentially saying that Bonnie's feminine purity and Clyde's masculine darkness may separate them but there is no inbalance or hierarchy between the two. Therefore, they are segregated due to their gender, but are also conjugal in terms of the intended respect Penn wants the spectators to give both men and women equally.