The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: Thelma & Louise

written by Callie Khouri


Thelma & Louise is a wonderful movie to study for the use of "buddies" as protagonists. In a buddy picture, two strong leads share the central focus, each with their own character arc, often sometimes in conflict with one another. In some buddy pictures, one character clearly is the lead; in others, as here, both are equally strong roles, and the movie is propelled by the drama of this joint-protagonist.

Structural Analysis

  1. The Hook (1-7 min.)
    • Thelma & Louise are planning a vacation together but from the start we learn that Thelma hasn't told her husband, who clearly won't approve. Will she get permission to go? Or will she go without telling him? She ends up doing the latter, leaving him a note.
  2. The Complication (9 min.)
    • Thelma convinces Louise to make a quick stop at a bar, rather than continuing quickly to the secluded cabin that is their destination. Here is where the trouble will begin. They start drinking, celebrating.
  3. Call to Action (18 min.)
    • When a guy takes Thelma into the parking lot for fresh air, he makes an aggressive move on her - and, in fact, would have raped her if Louise had not intervened with a gun (that Thelma brought for protection). The women are moving off when the guy makes a lewd remark. Spontaneously, Louise turns and shoots him. Now everything has really changed: they enter a new world, the "extraordinary" world of being criminals on the run.
  4. Act I Plot Point (33 min.)
    • What should they do? Thelma wants to go to the police. Louise says no one would believe it was self-defense. Now we see the antagonist: the sexist culture in which they live, that lead them to decide there is no justice for them through lawful channels. Louise decides she is making a run for Mexico. Thelma will come to the decision to join her.
  5. Midpoint Plot Point (66 min.)
    • They need money for the escape, and Louise's boyfriend delivers an amount equal to her savings, $6700. But Thelma has taken a liking to a hitch-hiking cowboy, ending up in a motel room with him (where she gets "fucked right" for the first time). The cowboy skips with the money. Now the women are broke. How will they get to Mexico? Thelma will rob a market, using the technique her cowboy one-night-stand shared with her.
  6. Act II Plot Point (105 min.)
    • Their trouble has escalated: from accidental shooting; to robbing a store; and then to locking a police man who stops them in the trunk of his squad car. Now a warrant is out for their arrest for murder, "dead or alive." They are considered armed and desperate. Moreover, through the cowboy (with whom the ever-trusting Thelma was honest), the police know they are making a run to Mexico.
  7. Resolution (120-5 min.)
    • The women are surrounded by police and trapped at the Grand Canyon. They decide to drive off the edge rather than to face the consequences in a sexist society where they will receive no justice, a suicide that becomes their final act of new-found power.

Notes

This movie offers many tips for beginning writers:


MODULE 4: SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting

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