English 299C:
Film as Narrative Art
Mr. Kelley
Bonnie and Clyde
(Arthur Penn, 1967)
Points to Consider:
• Consider the mythic element in the film,
particularly in its use of the popular
culture.
• Consider the use of violence in the film.
What points are being made about
violence, socially and aesthetically?
• What is the function of the images we see
in the credit sequence?
• What do Bonnie and Clyde want? What do
they fear?
• Describe Bonnie and Clyde’s relationship.
Why is Clyde able successfully to make
love with Bonnie near the end of the film?
• How does C. W. Moss see Bonnie and
Clyde?
• How do Bonnie and Clyde see
themselves?
• How do the various “plain folk” see the
Barrow gang?
• Consider the imagery by which the film
establishes “seeing” as an important
theme or motif.
• With whom is the audience made to
identify? How, and to what end?
• How are the Barrow gang’s antagonists
portrayed?
• What is the function of the visit to Bonnie’s
mother? Why is the scene shot in soft
focus?
• Consider the mixture of comic and tragic
elements throughout the film. In what ways
does this combination affect the audience?
• How does this film compare and contrast
with other films about the Depression,
such as John Ford’s 1940 film The Grapes
of Wrath?
• What is the vision of American society
offered in this film?
• Consider the tradition of the gangster film.
What themes, images, patterns, or styles
does Bonnie and Clyde share with other
films in this tradition?
• Does Bonnie and Clyde share thematic
concerns or styles with any of the other
films seen this semester?
Selected Filmography of Arthur
Penn
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The Left-Handed Gun (1958)
The Miracle Worker (1962)
Mickey One (1965)
Alice’s Restaurant (1969)
Little Big Man (1970)
Night Moves (1975)
The Missouri Breaks (1976)
Dead of Winter (1987)