the punk experience
In 1994, director Oliver Stone and storywriter Quentin Tarantino created the epitome of the American masterpiece: Natural Born Killers. This incredible movie was made to portray the 1990's as a whole, and to tell the story of a modern day Romeo and Juliet. Today, it is a classic and should be a standard for all movie making, as well as film critiquing. Natural Born Killers is about two people, Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory (Juliet Lewis) Knox, who meet, fall madly in love, and travel the west while on a three week "killing spree" until they are apprehended by the police and imprisoned. The movie continues one year later, when Wayne Gayle (a media icon who hosts a TV series documenting serial killers and mass murderers) conducts an interview with Mickey live on network-TV inside the prison. During this interview, Mickey makes a statement setting off the entire inmate population, which then causes a horrifically violent riot. When Mickey realizes he has an opportunity to reunite with his love, he seizes it, and the formerly separated couple resumes their previous habits inside the prison during the riot.
This is almost exactly the same as when Romeo and Juliet fall in love despite the feuding families. Few people realize that it actually is an incredibly romantic love story, very similar to that of Romeo and Juliet. The domestic violence and sexual molestation occurring in her household was laughed at as if it were a sitcom, despite its atrocious nature. The brilliant makers of this film use techniques such as including two different perspectives (visually) in one scene. Mickey and Mallory fall in love and begin to see each other without the consent of Mallory's parents. NBK is unfortunately popularly recognized as a film about a couple of mass murderers. When they were imprisoned, they were torn apart by the law and never allowed to see each other, just like Romeo and Juliet. This is why they (in the beginning of the movie) kill Mallory's parents; because they forbid Mallory to see Mickey. When Mallory is sitting on top of the man jumping on his back and pounding his head on the floor, there are two perspectives. For example, in the beginning scene, Mickey and Mallory are in a "redneck" diner. They travel together, and they refuse to let anyone get in between them. The first is that of the man, which shows Mallory completely straight faced and silent while beating him, and the second being that of Mallory herself with a barbaric look on her face while she is screaming at the top of her lungs in a "Xena" type yell. This showed the idea that the typical American in the 1990's was fed by TV, and felt emotions when he/she was told to. This represents the apathy millions of people feel toward many very serious and frighteningly common problems in our society during that decade.
Common topics in this essay:
Mickey Mallory,
Wayne Gayle,
Love Lucy,
Born Killers,
Romeo Juliet,
Lewis Knox,
Mallory Mickey,
Quentin Tarantino,
romeo juliet,
love story,
,
Oliver Stone,
natural born killers,
born killers,
natural born,
mickey mallory,
interview mickey,
inside prison,
classic love,
mallory's parents,
fall love,
classic love story,
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Acceptance Essays
