What is the significance about setting and/or place in your chosen American films?

Setting is a key aspect in both Badlands & Natural Born Killers as it shows main themes and ideas in the films that aren't always obvious to an audience.

A main convention of a "Lovers on the Lam" movie is the setting of the car. Kit & Holly spend a lot more time in their car than Mickey & Mallory do in Natural Born Killers. For Badlands, the car becomes an idea of escape, from the world and even from each other. This is shown in the scene just after Holly & Kit have sex for the first time when Kit calls her "Stupid". Once Kit says this, Holly replies with "Don't call me stupid." and walks off towards the car. She leaves the man she is supposed to be in love with and goes and sits in the car. Almost as if it will make everything better for her, that the car is a safe place or an escape from hurt and misery. The car is also their escape from the world when they start living in the car when they are on the run. They are sat in the back seat holding each other tight as if nothing can get in through the walls of the car and it is their safe place.

However in Natural Born Killers, the setting of the car shows Mickey & Mallory at their closest. They aren't in the car unless they are trying to get away (unlike Kit & Holly, who live in their car for a period of time) but when they are, they are often more lovingly towards each other than in other scenes after they run away. For example, just before the first motel scene, Mallory asks Mickey if he still thinks she's sexy. She tries to quickly make herself look pretty and Mickey replies by saying the need to find a hotel room and he rubs her leg as if to comfort her. By rubbing her leg, this shows he genuine cares about her feelings, that he's trying to show he does love her and she has nothing to worry about

But unlike Badlands, Mickey & Mallory spend a lot more time living in motels then their car whilst they are on the run. But we see a lot more of the characters background in the motels as Stone uses the setting of a psychological landscape. The psychological landscape shows clips of animals, almost to demonstrate the animalistic nature of Mickey & Mallory, but it also shows clips from Mickey's past of Mickey as a child and of Mickey's screaming mother. This demonstrates the common convention of a dysfunctional family in the "Lovers on the Lam" genre but twists it a little as normally it is the girl with the dysfunctional family, in Natural Born Killers, both Mickey and Mallory have the dysfunctional families. They were both abused growing up and surrounded by abusive events.

But since Badlands doesn't use the technique of a psychological landscape or use motels (as there wasn't many around in the time that the film was set) Kit and Holly spend the majority of their time living in the woods. However, the dysfunction in the film was also shown in them living in the woods as they start to form a dysfunction with each other. This is main portrayed in the scene where Kit and Holly are dancing. As a couple, they would normally be dancing together but there is a clear distance between the two characters as they dance seperately and don't even look at each other. They spend the entire dance looking down at the floor to the song "Love is Strange" which definitely shows how strange their love is. Normally lovers dance together (like when Mickey and Mallory start dancing together after they kill all those people in the diner at the start. Fire works explode behind them to show the true love behind them) but Kit & Holly keep their distance almost as if there a physical barrier between them, keeping them from truly being lovers and it could be suggested to an extent from them both truly being happy.

How far do the two films you have studied in this topic present similar messages and values?

Both Badlands and Natural Born Killers are based around the same murder spree story of Charles Starkweather. However, the messages they show come across in different ways.

Natural Born Killers' main message is that the media corrupts people. This is shown by using a number of different techniques but one scene that shows this the most is when Mickey and Mallory first meet. This scene is set out like a classic American sitcom. When Mallory's dad is talking about checking whether she's "clean", a canned laugh is used as non-diegetic sound. This makes the abuse seem comical as it's so americanised and it shows that even television is making abuse funny. Because, as a audience member, it makes you laugh at the absurdity of it, you become almost as bad as the father through how the "media" made you feel in this scene. However, Badlands' main message is that people will do anything to be famous. Kit models himself on James Dean and at the end, after his murder spree, Kit is handing out his belongings to the coppers like he is a worldwide star. He throws them his pen and lighter, etc. But because mass murderers were rare in the 1950s, by going on his rampage, Kit got the fame he desperately wanted. Henceforth, also showing the message behind NBK, that by the media covering Kit's story, the media has corrupted him futher.

How far do the American films you have studied for this topic depend on well established narrative and/or genre conventions?

Badlands and Natural Born Killers both run along the typical narrative conventions of the "Lovers on the Lam" genre. Both involve the story line of "Fall in love, kill the parents and run away". However, they both take different approaches on how the story is told.

Both films have the death of the parent/s to kick start the couple's stories, however, the circumstances of these murders are very different. In Badlands, Holly's father won't let the couple be together. Kit goes back to Holly's to take her anyway but when the father comes home and tries to stop them, it is Kit that shoots him. Through this part of the scene, Kit is filmed at a low angle to show his position of power. This is completely different to Natural Born Killers. In Natural Born Killers, Mickey turns up to whisk Mallory away to their happily ever after and Mickey smacks Mallory's father around the face with a crow bar when he tries to stop them. Mickey and Mallory are both shown from high angles in this part of the scene as they both have the power, they both take part in the murder of Mallory's family. But Mallory plays a much bigger part in the death of her family than Holly does. This is because Holly's dad was always a dad to her. He brought her up all by himself after her mother died and tries to make sure she is safe. So when Kit kills her dad, she just stands and watches. Almost as if she is a ghost on the scene, that she is emotional detached from the situation. Whereas, for Mallory, killing her father is a lot more personal. During the movie, you find out that her father raped her and due to this, Mallory takes enjoyment in the murder of her parents. She has a much greater part in their death and holds her dad's head under the water. She also yells at her mother "You didn't try to stop him." just before se lights her on fire and lets her burn to death. In Badlands, Holly is very naive to her father's death. She evens goes up to her dad and asks Kit is they should get a doctor. She's very childish and detached towards the event, as if it isn't really happening to her. Whereas Mallory is screaming at her parents and seems to take great pleasure in their death; which suggests she is a much more emotional character.

Both films also follow the narrative convention of the lovers running away together. Whereas, Mickey and Mallory's run away is far more violent than Kit and Holly's, they both run along the same idea of a fairytale life or a fantasy world. Kit and Holly end up living in the forest for a period of time and create a new life there. They are constantly shot from low angles as they are in a position of power in their own little world. They become almost like a married couple living together in their tree house and using the forest around them to survive. Much like Badlands, Mickey and Mallory also live in a make believe world. When they run away and get "married" on the bridge, they become aggressive towards the drivers who take them out of their fantasy world. Mallory starts screaming abuse at them. But as soon as the drivers are gone, they pick up where they left off in their fantasy and have a "wedding" in the style of a make-believe one you'd have as a kid. When they get "married", it's filmed as if it were a home movie. This adds to the idea of kids playing pretend. This differs to Badlands as Kit and Holly only act like a married couple but a couple that have been together for 40 years and can no longer stand each other. For example, when they're dancing out the front of their tree house, they are dancing to "Love Is Strange" and are completely separate to each other. Most loving couples would be dancing hand in hand or at least smiling at each other. However, Kit and Holly don't even glance at each other. They dance looking down at the floor and Kit has his hands in his pockets, almost as if they were strangers being forced to dance together. Which is unlike Mickey and Mallory as they constantly have their arms around each other like they can't get enough of the other person or like they are dependant on the other person to survive.