Natural Born Killers
The media made them superstars.
CAST
Mickey Knox: Woody Harrelson
Mallory Knox: Juliette Lewis
Wayne Gale: Robert
Downey Jr.
Warden McClusky: Tommy
Lee Jones
Supporting Roles: Rodney Dangerfield
and Tom Sizemore
What
is the best way to become famous? You
could streak during an award ceremony, which could earn you some fame. You could become a great athlete, but,
unless you have great skill, you would probably be unknown. Maybe saving a baby from a burning building
would get you fame. Well, on the other
hand, hero stories are getting old; at least that is what TV executives 
and the media believe. Or, you could kill people, lots of people…then you would be
guaranteed instant fame. In modern
society, simple nobodies like 
Ted Bundy and Charles Manson become famous simply
through murder,
just like Mickey and Mallory Knox in Natural Born Killers.
In Natural
Born Killers, two lovers, Mickey and Mallory Knox (Woody Harrelson and Juliette
Lewis), went on a two-week killing spree, ending the lives of over 50
people. Throughout this madness, they
followed their simple pattern: kill everyone in sight, but leave one person
alive to “tell the tale of Mickey and Mallory.” Their style and charisma prompted the media to jump all over the
situation, which turned the killers into idols to the public. Unfortunately, Mickey and Mallory eventually
killed the wrong person, and, as fate would have it, they finally were thrown
in jail.
The
story is told in such a way that it is difficult to understand. There are several time changes and many
different images throughout the movie. Cartoon drawings and black and white
film interlace the actual film, which makes the movie beautiful yet bizarre,
which perfectly matches the mood and tone of the film. Seeing this movie more than once is the only
way to fully understand it. The first
time will give you a visual shock; the second will help you understand the
meaning; the third + is to realize that this movie is a cinematic landmark; a
film that should be studied in film classes as an example of how powerful and
symbolic film can be.
With this film, Oliver Stone is trying to show how
America is going down the drain.
Killers do not just spontaneously appear, but grow to become killers
after a life of abuse and suffering.
Mickey and Mallory’s parents abused them sexually and mentally, which
ultimately cause them to lose sight of 
reality. The
only reality they experienced was TV, which may seem fictional to most people,
but to people who have experienced nothing but hate in their lives, it was as
real as anything. From there, their
minds became so corrupted by their surroundings that the only pure thing they
knew was killing.
Stone is also showing that killers are more frequent these days because an extra incentive for them to kill has been added: fame. How good can our society be if the names of serial killers are more familiar than the names of war heroes? It is a possibility that fame could have been the main motivation for the school shootings. If someone said, “Name 30 American High Schools” Columbine High would definitely be named. On that dark April day, it took only one hour after the shooters were dead for every American to know the body count, the name of the school, and the names of the shooters. That same night, the President addressed a nation of 260 million people about the actions of only two people; two people who were unknown by most people in their school the previous day were suddenly the two most famous people in America. From these incidents, copycat crimes are committed. Is it a coincidence that another school shooting occurred exactly one month after the Columbine shootings and the same day the President was to speak of a “School Safety” bill? Because of our society today, suicidal people, like the ones at Columbine, have options: kill yourself, or kill 30 other people and have your face on the cover of Newsweek. Which would you choose?
NATURAL BORN KILLERS EXTRA CONTENT
Platoon JFK Wall Street Nixon Born on the Fourth of July Any Given Sunday
