Natural Born Killers

Oliver Stone’s Portrayal of the Effects of Violent Media

When I was young the only time I willingly woke up early was on Sunday mornings. I would throw on a robe over my pajamas and run down stairs with my brother to the living room and sit myself in the middle of the couch, which was directly in front of our television. To me the best part of the week was watching the morning cartoons with the family while eating breakfast. We always enjoyed good laughs watching the Coyote try to catch the Roadrunner, and I was jealous of the special powers and military devices in cartoons like ‘X-Men’ and ‘GI.Joe’. The habitual watching of cartoons eventually transformed as I reached my teen years. Instead of cartoons I watched music videos and movies. All of my life I have been growing up with the television, watching and learning from the characters and images on the screen. I realize now that the media greatly effects our lives and the lives of today’s youth, often in ways that we do not realize. In Natural Born Killers, a film written and directed by Oliver Stone he portrays what he believes are the negative effects from the media on America’s youth.

On April 20, 1999 during school two students wearing commando attire opened gunfire on the students and teachers at their high school in Columbine High School, Colorado, fatally killing 12 students, 1 teacher, and severely wounding 23 others. This massacre caused uproar across the country. What caused these students to do these horrible atrocities? Many blame the negative media, music groups such as Marilyn Manson also known as the antichrist super star, movies that glorify militant and violent behavior such as The Rock and Saving Private Ryan, and lack of positive role models in today’s society.

In Natural Born Killers Oliver Stone backs up the assumptions that violence in the media such as music videos, movies, cartoons, and newspapers are cause the violence in society today. To portray his beliefs he uses cinematic techniques such as camera angles, shadows, lighting, and sound. And maybe most importantly characters the audience can identify with. The story line follows two serial killers in love named Mickey and Mallory Knox (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis), who go on a shooting spree throughout the country. The couple is a product of all ‘bad’ influences of society. Mallory was a child that watched too much te...

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...s that used to entertain me when I was young have negative effects, laughing along with the fake audio laugh track when Willey Coyote fell off cliffs or ran into walls seemed like the right thing to do, while psychologically it was the beginning of desensitizing violence.

In Natural Born Killers Oliver Stone uses an array of cinematic techniques to portray how negative media influence children, which may lead to a destructive role in society. Stones movie Natural Born Killers is made for adults, to show how different media’s in today’s society are corrupting the youth. The use of cartooned killings, using music video cinematography and violence as entertainment all parallel to experiences a typical youth will have while growing up. Stone believes it is not the responsibility of the media to raise today’s youth, as an entertainer he is simple the ‘messenger’. Oliver Stone uses the characters of Mickey and Mallory, both whom did not receive any love during their childhood years, parents are the pivotal part of a family needed to let a “crack of light to come through”, to show them a little love. The responsibility is ultimately held with the parents for control, guidance, and love.