In honour of Bonnie and Clyde’s murder anniversary, which is in two weeks, I thought I would elaborate on an idea I had while researching them! 

Bonnie and Clyde were Glamourized by the Media

First, what you have to understand is the era in which they were outlaws. This was the 1930’s in America, also known as the Great Depression. People were not doing great. They were tired of hearing about how bad life was, and how much worse it was going to get. 

Enter Bonnie and Clyde, a young couple who took life into their own hands when they started robbing banks and killing people. Side note: it was only Clyde who was charged with the murder of 13 people, but you can’t tell me Bonnie didn’t kill anyone. Anyways. 

Their exploits were published all over the country. Conveniently, in a car that they abandoned, pictures of the daring couple were left behind. Next thing you knew, their faces were on every newspaper across the country. 

People were obsessed. They likened the young duo to Hollywood stars, creating a legend out of some criminals. Everyone wanted to hear about them, rather than how bad the world was doing. If the country hadn’t been suffering like they were, who knows what would have happened to Bonnie and Clyde? Maybe they wouldn’t have had to turn to crime?

Anyways, people were obsessed. These were the great heroes, bringing back the ways of the old west. However, nothing lasts forever. 

In May of 1934, the FBI were brought in because the pair had stolen a car. Yup. Not because they had killed 13 people and had committed several kidnappings and robberies. They stole a car and so they FBI had jurisdiction. 

This was the beginning of the end for ol’ Bonnie and Clyde. They were ambushed fleeing a safe house in Louisiana, and shot dead in their car. 

The public were shocked. Not because of their deaths, no. that was pretty inevitable. They were shocked at how ordinary they pair were. They were not the young starlets the media made them out to be. They had limps, scars from old bullet wounds, and Clyde even had missing toes. 

The media took this ragtag couple, and made them into legends. They altered public perception, and in doing so, immortalized them. But at what cost to them, and the public?