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.
No comments:
Post a Comment