The Tragic Lives of Bonnie & Clyde, A Two-Night Miniseries, Lifetime's Lizzie Borden Took an Axe and Flowers in the Attic

The story of Bonnie & Clyde
aired this past and Monday  on A&E, History, and Lifetime, and some questions about the
direction of the plotline a part from the historical aspect of their lives
arise. 

Should feminist viewers rally at the bold inference
that Bonnie Parker (Holliday Grainger) was cause of Clyde Barrow
(Emile Hirsch) continual life in crime even as he protected continuing on?
Probably not the two outlaws were destined for a hard life the moment their
eyes meet. In the two-night miniseries that producers remained as faithful to
the facts of Bonnie and Clyde life as possible. Described as
being as iconic heroes in modern day folk culture, the story of Bonnie
and Clyde is anything but a tale of heroism. The miniseries is more of a
none-to-subdue cautionary tale that show what can happen to wayward youths, or
it should be one.

As for Bonnie meeting with the female reporter P.J.
Lane (Elizabeth Reaser), Lane is fictional character, and all photos
published by the press at that time were found by the police in the room that Bonnie
and Clyde shared and before abandoning it to evade capture. The photos were
found along with Bonnie’s diary of poetry and though many were playful
in nature the one photo of Bonnie cigar smoking gun moll was used to
stir up bias feeling against her. The only reason to create a character like P.J.
Lane is probably to show that women were working in more jobs that were
previous dominated by men. Being that newspaper reporting was one of those job, the struggle for women writers to
have their articles treated in the same accord their male counterparts was another
of the then ongoing and mostly unwelcome women rights issue.

It is also hard to believe that a man like Clyde
who ready had a criminal record before his meeting with Bonnie would be easily
persuaded by a woman to continue a criminal life, or that suffered from bouts
of premonitions. It was the times. It was the heart of prohibition and jobs
were hard to come by, especially for school dropouts and people with criminal
reorders. Clyde did as he wanted to do and he brought faithful but not
blind Bonnie along. 

In all, I found the 1967 loosely based historical
version of Bonnie and Clyde in which Faye
Dunaway and Warren Beatty played the title characters, just as informative as this fact-based
representation of two of America’s most infamous outlaws posing passing for
entertainment. However, the real life death of Bonnie and Clyde is
not surprising. To the law enforcement of the 30s, they were a phenomenon, like
an unknown infectious disease. They influenced others. The people of that era loved
their daring exploits while hating them for their brutally, and the same holds
true today. Therefore, like any disease, the Bonnie and Clyde phenomenon had to
be cured from society.

Lizzie Borden in life

The next historical based miniseries to be aired by Lifetime on January 25, 2014 is a biopic in which Christina Ricci stars role as Lizzie
Borden in Lizzie Borden
Took an Axe. This is story of a young woman who for reasons never entirely
explained (and remains one of the oldest cold cases in American history of
unsolved crimes) is said to have brutally murdered her father and stepmother
with an axe. In the 1892 in the town of Fall River,
Massachusetts, Lizzie was tried for the crime of double murder,
but lacking motive and evident she was never convicted. Nevertheless,
she faced ostracized from Fall River society during
the remainder of her life.

Fans of Christina Ricci remember her as Wednesday
Addams from the Addams Family and
the Addams Family Values films of the
early 90s.

After the trial and even today, there several
popular theories as to who could have killed Lizzie’s parents. Lizzie
was the first suspect. However, to the theorists there were at four other
suspects with motive who could have done the deeds. However, from the Lifetime poster, Lizzie Borden is portrayed as a sadistic killer. 

In addition on Lifetime,  Flowers in the
Attic, the miniseries based
on V.C. Andrews’ controversial novel Premiere January 18 at 8.7c. Cast includes Heather Graham, Ellen Burstyn,
Kiernan Shipka, Mason Dye, and Dylan Bruce