Bonnie & Clyde Genre Theory PDF

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Bonnie and Clyde: Genre and Genre Theory Miranda Campbell ENG 225 Introduction to Film Prof. Marlene Shelton April 29, 2019

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Genres change overtime, and new genre films have certain elements from previous genre films. For example, horror films consist of killers and knives, but mystery films also mostly consist of killers and knives. There are future events or scientific theories in science fiction films, but these films can also overlap with fantasy films which involve events that are not real. Goodykoontz, Jacobs, Meetze, and Pritts (2019) stated that “Ultimately, we use genre theory to study films as much for the conventions that align to the genre as for those that are introduced and change the genre.” (p. 3.3) I’m going to be choosing a film from one genre and explaining how they are specified in a specific genre. The genre that I have selected is ganster. Gangster films are often involved with crimes such as murder, robbery, assault, etc. Goodykoontz, Jacobs, Meetze, and Pritts (2019) define gangster films as “Films that deal with organized crime, often with mob families; originally timely topical crime dramas inspired by recent headlines, now almost as often nostalgic recreations of past eras” (p.3.2) Gangster films and Western films can sometimes be associated with each other. For example, Goodykootnz, Jacobs, Meetze, and Pritts (2019) states that, “Many westerns might also be classified as crime dramas, as quite a few westerns deal with organized crime and political corruption.” (p. 3.2) Although, gangster films are based off of the times that they were created and not the historical period. The film that I have chosen to watch and write about is “Bonnie and Clyde” which was written by Robert Benton, Robert Towne, and David Newman. This film was producer by Warren Beatty and directed by Arthur Penn in 1967. This film is about a man named Clyde Barrow who attempted to steal a car and ended up meeting the owner’s daughter, Bonnie Parker. Bonnie and Clyde then went and got themselves into trouble, although it started out as petty theft it quickly turned into robbing banks. This resulted in Bonnie, Clyde, their driver C.W., Clyde’s

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older brother Buck, and Buck’s wife Blanche on the run and shooting multiple people, including the police. One genre convention that helped classify the film in its selected genre is when Bonnie Parker had old Clyde Barrow that she thought he was faking, and he had never really robbed a bank. At this point, Clyde then pulled out a gun and showed Bonnie except Bonnie didn’t actually believe Clyde would use it. Clyde then told her he would be right back, Clyde then went into the grocery store and robbed them for all of their money. This event helps classify the film under the gangster genre because it involves guns and robbing people. Another genre convention that helped classify the film in its selected genre is when Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow rob a bank. There are police officers there and one of them attempted to shoot at Clyde. At which point, Clyde fires his gun back, but he aims to high. He then threatens that he’ll aim lower next time, if the police try to shoot them again. They then take all the money and leave the bank. This helps classify this film under the gangster genre because they were robbing a bank and shooting guns at police officers. Another genre convention that helped classify the film in its selected genre is when Bonnie and Clyde’s friend, C.W., drove them to rob another bank and he waited in the car while Bonnie and Clyde went in. They walked into the bank and robbed them but when they went to return to the car, it wasn’t there. C.W. had parked it and was trying struggling to get it out of the parking place due to two other cars trapping him. Martin (2016) stated that, “In the first scene, Bonnie and Clyde run from the bank to find that C.W. has thoughtlessly parallel parked the getaway car, delaying their escape while he bangs around in the parking place trying to extricate the car.” (p. 10)

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Another genre convention that helped classify the film in its selected genre is when Bonnie, Clyde, and a few of their friends camped out in an empty field one night and they were woken up to cops surrounding them in the woods, shooting their guns at them. At which point they grabbed their things as quickly as possible, got into the car, and quickly drove off. As they were driving off, one police officer had shot Clyde in his arm which resulted in Clyde wrecking the vehicle. Everyone jumped out the vehicle and ran. This helps classify this film under the gangster genre because it has to do with people shooting their guns at people. Another genre convention that helped classify the film in its selected genre is when Bonnie and Clyde were on the run, so they were staying at a friend’s house. Later that night, a police officer knocked on the door. Shortly after, multiple police officers show up, surrounding their house. All the police officers then start shooting at the house at which point, Bonnie, Clyde and their friends started shooting back at them. Buck, Clyde’s older brother, then exits the house and starts shooting at the police officers, all while using a mattress as a shield. One police officer angled his gun around the corner of the mattress and shot Buck in his face. Although, Clyde grabbed Buck and pulled him into their car, Buck later was caught by the police officers along with his girlfriend, Blanche. A final genre convention that helped classify the film in its selected genre is when Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were in town, at the store when they saw a police officer, so they quickly left. While they were driving, they seen their friend, Malcom pulled off the side of the road. At this point, Bonnie and Clyde pulled over to check on him and see if everything was alright. But what Bonnie and Clyde didn’t know is that Malcom was setting them up, they were completely surrounded by police officers. Malcom quickly gets under his truck when the police officers start continuously shooting their guns. This resulted in the death of Bonnie and Clyde.

BONNIE AND CLYDE This event could expand the boundaries of the gangster genre because although Bonnie and Clyde were on the run and shot a lot of people, they were very much in love with each other and it was a bit sad to see them die like that. Free (1968) stated that, “For a brief moment, Bonnie and Clyde are like any other loving young couple in town on Saturday afternoon to do the shopping. We recognize them as like ourselves.” (para. 28) This is indeed true. In conclusion, the film Bonnie and Clyde is in the genre gangster, for a lot of reasons. There are multiple genre conventions during the film that help classify it under the specified genre. A few of these conventions consists of Bonnie and Clyde robbing multiple banks, becoming on the run from the police, and shooting many people including police officers. Bonnie and Clyde’s run from the police resulted in a lot of people getting hurt or even killed. It even resulted in the death of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, after two years of being on the run.

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Free, W.J. (1968). Aesthetic and Moral Value in Bonnie and Clyde. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 54(3), 220-225. Doi: 10.1080/00335636809382893. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? vid=6&sid=a97979f7-31b7-4e87-aaeb-0d0940e68f17%40sessionmgr102 Goodykoontz, B., Jacobs, C.P., Meetze, J. & Pritts, N. (2019). Film: From Watching to Seeing. (3rd ed.). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/Goodykoont.5132.18.1/sections/sec3.3 Martin, R. (2016). On Bonnie and Clyde: Still and Moving Images. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? vid=7&sid=84256922-897f-4977-8d5b-c4b32415fe19%40sdc-v-sessmgr06...