Arthur Penn began two very important trends in Hollywood filmmaking with Bonnie and Clyde, specifically introducing a new type of gangster film and creating a signature director’s style. First, audiences were attracted to Bonnie and Clyde, even though they were the gangsters. He describes Bonnie and Clyde as folk-heroes “who live from their spontaneous impulses, not from any codified morality (80).” He identifies several scenes in the film, such as the reunion with Bonnie’s mother, that humanize the gangsters and portrays conventional society as abnormal. Secondly, the French New Wave inspired Penn’s use of slow motion, special photographic textures, and free intercutting to create a sense of tension, excitement, and escalating violence. But, Cameron argues the “released” his artistic signature and desire for a distinguishable style. Penn really applied his own "mark" to his films through editing.

    Cameron’s analysis explains that despite the unequivocal evidence that crime does not pay, the film is still very likely to encourage spectators to like Bonnie and Clyde because these outlaws are attractive, spontaneous, and even seem fun. Cameron believes people do not identify with their criminal nature, but rather their carefree sense of independence. This essay supports the notion that Penn glamorizes the perpetrators of violence by creating endearing characters. From Cameron's perspective, there are sociological and cultural implications that the audiences identify so intensely with outlaws, which up until this film was nonexistent.