Section C: Exam Response

With particular reference to the endings of your chosen American films, compare their messages and values.

Both Badlands and Natural Born Killers have similar messages and values, however, because Badlands was made in 1973 and Natural Born Killers was made in 1994, the way these messages and values are portrayed are very different, however, both of these films were inspired by an American mass murderer known as Charles Starkweather.
One very big theme that runs throughout both films is the American Dream. The American Dream was basically that all Americans dreamed of being rich, famous and successful. This theme is shown in Badlands because Kit wanted to be famous and like a film star, also, the constant references to Kit looking and acting like James Dean & when Holly said they were going to change their names to James & Priscilla, as in James Dean and Priscilla Presley.
At the end of Badlands, Kit is sentenced to the electric chair and is killed, the film ends at that, which is completely different to Natural Born Killers. When Mickey and Mallory went to jail, the film was no-where near over, a big message that runs throughout Natural Born Killers is the media, and that the influence it has on society is not always how it seems and is not healthy. Wayne Gale, played by Robert Downey Jr. is the man that represents the media, and in this film Mickey and Mallory both kill him, thus killing the media. A key scene in Natural Born Killers is the one where Mickey and Mallory are both at the drug store buying antibiotics for a snake bite, because as they are both being beaten by the police outside of the drug store, this is a re-creation of something shown through the media a few years before, the OJ Simpson beating in England.
Wayne Gale is an important character in the film in terms of getting the message across to the audience that the media is bad and evil, in most of the shots that he is in, a blue background is behind him, to show the cold hearted media that doesn't care about the people that they portray, just that they portray them in a way that will attract an audience, also every so often he would be shown in devil costume with a low angled shot, which his power over the media, but also shows what he does is evil.
In Badlands, society isn't consumed by the media like it is in Natural Born Killers, because obviously back in the 50's when Badlands was set, there wasn't a TV in every room in the house like in the 90's. Even though this is the case, Kit still wanted to be famous like James Dean, and he believed an easy way of doing this would to become a serial killer, just like in Natural Born Killers where Mickey and Mallory both celebrate after they see they're on TV. Both films give people the idea that it's easier to become famous by doing something tragic and horrible like being a serial killer, rather than becoming a film star. However, the two endings of these films both give off very different messages. At the end of Badlands, the death that was foreshadowed in all of Kit's life, like with Hollys dog being shot and the cow dead on the floor, ended up with Kit being caught and killed, however, in Natural Born Killers, the film ends with Mickey and Mallory having killed Wayne Gale and then walking out of the shot, this shows they have in fact escaped the media and have gone on to live a normal life. So Badlands shows that actions have consequences & Natural Born Killers shows that you can just run away from your problems, this also reflects the times in which these films were actually made.