BONNIE & CLYDE (SEMIOSFERA)

BONNIE & CLYDE (SEMIOSFERA)

SANTIAGO ISLA

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La historia de Bonnie & Clyde, los amantes atracadores de bancos, ha sido recurrentemente tratada en diversos formatos a lo largo del siglo XX. Literatura, cine, música… Su impacto en la naciente imaginería estadounidense –ávida de héroes que, al estilo Robin Hood, desafiaran la ley y sus imposiciones en medio de las estrecheces de la Gran Depresión– resuena hasta nuestros días. Huyendo de unos orígenes pobres y un futuro cuanto menos oscuro, formaron la temida banda Barrow (“gang Barrow”), lo que les costó ser declarados enemigos públicos de los Estados Unidos y llevar una vida rutilante y en continua huida hacia delante. Fueron ellos mismos, con el poema “The Story of Bonnie and Clyde” (escrito por la propia Bonnie Parker), los encargados de cimentar su fama y el lado romántico de sus actos criminales. El poema, publicado en diversos periódicos americanos del momento, dice así:

The Story of Bonnie and Clyde

You've read the story of Jesse James

Of how he lived and died;

If you're still in need

Of something to read,

Here's the story of Bonnie and Clyde.

Now Bonnie and Clyde are the Barrow gang,

I'm sure you all have read

How they rob and steal

And those who squeal

Are usually found dying or dead.

There's lots of untruths to these write-ups;

They're not so ruthless as that;

Their nature is raw;

They hate all the law

The stool pigeons, spotters, and rats.

They call them cold-blooded killers;

They say they are heartless and mean;

But I say this with pride,

That I once knew Clyde

When he was honest and upright and clean.

But the laws fooled around,

Kept taking him down

And locking him up in a cell,

Till he said to me,

"I'll never be free,

So I'll meet a few of them in hell."

The road was so dimly lighted;

There were no highway signs to guide;

But they made up their minds

If all roads were blind,

They wouldn't give up till they died.

The road gets dimmer and dimmer;

Sometimes you can hardly see;

But it's fight, man to man,

And do all you can,

For they know they can never be free.

From heart-break some people have suffered;

From weariness some people have died;

But take it all in all,

Our troubles are small

Till we get like Bonnie and Clyde.

If a policeman is killed in Dallas,

And they have no clue or guide;

If they can't find a fiend,

They just wipe their slate clean

And hand it on Bonnie and Clyde.

There's two crimes committed in America

Not accredited to the Barrow mob;

They had no hand

In the kidnap demand,

Nor the Kansas City depot job.

A newsboy once said to his buddy;

"I wish old Clyde would get jumped;

In these awful hard times

We'd make a few dimes

If five or six cops would get bumped."

The police haven't got the report yet,

But Clyde called me up today;

He said, "Don't start any fights

We aren't working nights

We're joining the NRA."

From Irving to West Dallas viaduct

Is known as the Great Divide,

Where the women are kin,

And the men are men,

And they won't "stool" on Bonnie and Clyde.

If they try to act like citizens

And rent them a nice little flat,

About the third night

They're invited to fight

By a sub-gun's rat-tat-tat.

They don't think they're too tough or desperate,

They know that the law always wins;

They've been shot at before,

But they do not ignore

That death is the wages of sin.

Some day they'll go down together;

And they'll bury them side by side;

To few it'll be grief

To the law a relief

But it's death for Bonnie and Clyde.

-- Bonnie Parker

La figura del antihéroe joven y rebelde, que tanta iconografía ha dejado en Estados Unidos (de James Dean a Jim Morrison), tiene en la historia de Bonnie & Clyde una de sus piedras de toque. El cóctel de romanticismo, belleza y delincuencia que propusieron interesó desde el principio al gran público, que siguió por medio de los periódicos y la radio todos los pasos –con huidas, detenciones y grandes movilizaciones policiales– que llevaron a su muerte. Por ello, su figura de amantes condenados a un futuro inexorable –morir a manos de la justicia, pero juntos– ha cautivado a muchas generaciones desde entonces. A continuación, haremos un repaso de las diferentes expresiones que han provocado en la cultura popular.

1. Literatura

Probablemente el libro más destacado sea, por su carácter autobiógrafico, “Mi vida con Bonnie & Clyde”, de Blanche Caldwell Barrow, la única superviviente de la banda de Barrow que vivó lo suficiente como para poder escribir la historia desde su punto de vista. Sin embargo, en lo que al mito de los enamorados Bonnie & Clyde se refiere, existieron otros muchos que aportaron más en el terreno de la leyenda que llega hasta nuestros días. “Bonnie & Clyde: La vida detrás de la leyenda” de Paul Schenider, dramatiza la historia para hacerla suya, introduciéndose en la cabeza de Bonnie Parker mediante continuos monólogos de carácter lírico, acercándose con un estilo mucho más hosco para retratar el punto de vista de Clyde Barrow.

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