Section C - American Film Comparative study

How far do the two films you have studied for this topic present similar messages and values? [40]

Natural Born Killers (1994) is an American crime film directed by Oliver Stone and Badlands (1973) is another American crime movie and it is directed by Terrence Malik. In this first section I will be talking about the values and messages of the movie Badlands, there are many hard to notice messages that are shown throughout the entirety of this movie, in the first initial scene when Holly and Kit meet Holly is standing in the light and Kit in the shadows which is a symbolism that Kit is not to be trusted where as Holly is seen to be a warm and innocent character. Through the progression of the film we find that Holly is quite a cold naive character, she narrates the film and give important background information that is not necessarily shown in the film, for example the voice over tells the audience about Kit being executed on the electric chair, we don't necessarily see it happen. The fact that Holly is a cold character can be proven through her reaction to the deaths of both her dog and farther, she seems very unaffected by both incidents, although she did not take part in the murder of her farther like Mallory did in NBC, but she doesn't try to stop it or seem to mourn him through the film which helps show her morals and values in the film. There is also the aspect to Holly that because she is so young and naive she may not understand the impact of murder as we see this a lot through the film when Kit murder's people she seems very calm and almost non caring about the situation. Many messages in the film indicate the role Holly will take in the movie, a sign close to holly says "bait" which could be pre-emptive towards her role later in the film it also tells us a lot about the narrative. Comparison between Holly and Mallory is that they are very different types of characters. Holly is a very passive, quiet almost innocent character, her sexuality is very weak compared to Mallory from Natural Born Killers, Mallory's sexuality is incredibly strong, this is noted through the outfits she wears, the confidence her character bares and the extremely romantic relationship she has with Micky you could also say her sexuality is strong because of the scene where she seduces the gas station boy to try and get revenge on Micky for looking at other women. 

Although they have very different alternative characters for each films, the messages and values remain quite similar for both movies. The lover of the lam story is the main feature of both of the films and both pairs of characters are seeking the same thing through the film. The American dream. This is idea that anyone who lives in the USA can succeed through hard work and become happy with their lives, the definition is often including things such as freedom and meaningful relationships and sometimes fame. Both sets of characters in both films are searching for 'the american dream' both sets of characters gain notoriety throughout the films which could be linked back to the idea of the american dream.