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.