Natural Born Critiques; How Stone Uses Form to Criticise Different Medium.s
by Fionn Morris.
Cinema, for example, is a medium that inhabits the world of Natural Born Killers entirely, being a film itself. However, the film takes the form of a hyper-real and disturbed pastiche of many of cinema’s favourite genres. In effect, it subverts the typical audience's need for entertainment by depicting a more disturbed version of the sublime, overstimulating and morphing these icons that we are familiar with into a disturbing manner. Once again, the best example of this is depicted in Natural Born Killers' clear homage and pastiche to the road movie, a subgenre that is essential throughout film history. The scene inside of the motel is our best depiction of this, as it takes this classically trope-ey romantic theme and undercuts it with unsettling undertones, combining the hyper-real and the ultra-violent. Black and white projections of irrelevant clips that are seen through the window of the cabin are evidence of this, despite being situated in a cabin that is very clearly artificial. Through fill lighting that is sourced out of frame to the plastic walls that are meant to look like wood, the ontology of the set as a false space is made apparent. Yet, the visuals displayed outside the window, along with sometimes being intercut into the film itself, are for the majority documentary or real archived footage, being quite literally the real being contained within the fake. Overstimulation is also an important aspect of this scene, not just through the intercut editing, but also the dutch camera angle that the scene is filmed at and the sound mixing that is constantly busy between the dialogue of Mallory and Mickey along with the blaring background noise of Mickey’s TV and the dramatic soundtrack. Finally, there is the ultra-violence of the scene, one maintained by the material of the previously stated Projections, as behind the romance being talked about between our protagonists, behind are an assortment of different depictions of violence. These range from documentary footage of predators to filmic portrayals of killings, to real pictures of dictators such as Stalin and even tragedies such as The Holocaust. This ultra-violence comes to a head near the end of the scene, where it is revealed that Mickey and Mallory have kidnapped a woman, as the final visual from her perspective sees Mickey quite literally pounce on top of her. In turn, Stone takes these characteristics of classical Hollywood and transforms them to hyper-real, ultra-violent pastiche, unsettling the expectations of the audience by reaching that same sublime but in a more taboo manner.
Outside of cinema, news clearly inhabits another point of critique that meets Natural Born Killers ire. Stone’s depiction of his world’s highly commercialised news, exaggerated to a point of both comedy and tragedy. Gale and his network station’s need for maintaining an ever increasing audience leads to a dangerous precedent set by these outlets, trivialises the brutality on screen and eventually destroys the medium in the need for a, “story.” While we could examine the many instances of the pairs murders being commodified to seize upon the public infatuation of the killers, with slick and stylistied “dramatisations,” of the duos murders, or the rampant fan groups that are shown donning cutesy “Mickey and Mallory,” t-shirts. Wayne Gale, the enigmatic and obsessive news reporter, however is the best depiction of how the news is critiqued. As he commodifies Mickey and Mallory, even becoming an elated fan and sacrificing himself in order to maintain their story. This is no better illustrated than in Gale’s interview with Mickey during the tumultuous prison riot, an event directly correlated with the same interview that depicted our killers as misunderstood pseudo-intellectual outlaws. We witness as Gale transforms himself into a murderer, killing in order to keep the story of Mickey and Mallory rolling for the cameras. All culminating in Gale’s death. The role of the camera itself transforms into Mickey and Mallory’s last witness, a fact we understand Gale is comfortable with as he transforms into a part of their legend through his execution. Mickey even picks up on this, arguing that, “You’re scum, Wayne. You did it for the ratings.”
This is emphasised by having the audience themselves look through Gale’s camera, consuming the reporter’s final moments for our own entertainment. Such infatuation with the serial killers and commodification of tragedy apes real life of similar examples that gained major traction at the time, most notably the case of OJ Simpson. Restantly, this depiction of a sensational and exploitative news industry, whose prime representation quite literally dies for attention, reflects a similar case of news commercialising tragedy.
One final form that Natural Born Killers’ apes and critiques is that of the TV show, more specifically, the sitcom. Namely, Natural Born Killers critiques the sitcom mediums minimise certain issues such as domestic violence or psychological trauma. We witness this most explicitly at the very start of the film, where Mickey brutally murders Mallory’s violent father, Ed. While this scene's contents are horrific, as viewers are subjected to Mallory’s abusive domestic life and then the killing of Ed, the many sitcom aesthetical tropes elevate the scene, morphing this disturbing sequence into something darkly comedic. Mise en scene during this scene is very much artificial, reminiscent of the classic sitcom stage-set alla I Love Lucy or Cheers. Already, this set's artificial sense breaks the tension of the scene, removing the gravitas by drawing attention to the film's artificial nature. Similarly, the film's casting indicates this less-than-serious nature, namely through the choice of sitcom icon Woody Harrleson as Mickey or comedy legend Rodney Dangerfield as Ed. Instantly recognisable to many audience members, both Harrleson and Dangerfield’s presence in the film and their public image as comedy actors inherently clash with their role in Natural Born Killers, and again trivialise the domestic abuse on screen as it is played out by two actors whose comedic prowess proceeds them. Finally, and most vitally, is the use of sound, as Stone makes use of stock stereotypical “vaudeville,” comedies which juxtapose the brutality displayed. For example, when Mickey bludgeons Ed in the head, a stock thud and tweeting is heard, making this barbarous action, for lack of a better word, “family friendly.” It could be argued that this is a similar, if not exaggerated, way that sitcoms make working class struggles for a middle class audience. While subjects may not be as taboo as domestic violence, subjects of distress and upset for many working class people such as losing a job or drug abuse are packaged for more affluent viewers. Therefore, it could be argued that Natural Born Killers’ apes the sitcoms characteristics in order to critique the genres own failings by trivialising important subjects.
Natural Born Killers’ transforms itself and mimics different mediums in order to critique tropes and growing trends in deeply satirically exaggerated depictions. Cinema’s tropes are transformed into an ultra-violent hyper-real style that over-stimulates the viewer, subverting expectations that genres would expect yet still obtaining that sense of the sublime through its own excess. News, however, is critiqued for its exploitative attitude towards tragic events, one played out in a hyperbolic way through the character of Wayne Gale. Finally, the sitcoms and the forms tendency to trivialise real world issues for an audience, with Stone naturally expanding upon this behaviour through his own tactless attitude towards more taboo issues such as domestic violence.
by Fionn Morris, March 2024
