Review by Judah Breitbach
A media-induced murder fervor has gripped the nation.
Not really, but it’s what is depicted in Oliver Stone’s 1994 film “Natural Born Killers.” The title’s often preceded with adjectives like, “ground breaking,” “gritty,” “frenetic,” or “controversial.” The movie deserves those descriptors, and others, as it doesn’t fit snugly into any one box — or even any three.
The nitty-gritty on “Natural Born Killers” is that “The Media,” albeit a lump term, portrays two troubled murderers, Mickey and Mallory Knox, as glorified stars, creating something the public can envy and aspire to.
It hits the viewer in the gut when the fictional film crew and reporter, the awarding-winning Wayne Gale, ask young adults who their favorite mass murderers were.
The trio answered with gusto that, far and away, their favorite murdering duet were the Knox’s.
The glamour, passion, and just plain sexiness they exuded when they slaughter their many victims nationwide is too much to handle.
The group raved to the camera about how intriguingly wonderful Mickey and Mallory were; qualifying everything with the clause that killing people wasn’t good, but that what they were doing was still indescribably cool.
Creating a sort of perceived resonance with the Knox’s escapades was a manipulative special of Gale’s. More than the media’s twist on events, however, is Mickey and Mallory’s own story.
“Mickey and Mallory know the difference between right and wrong, they just don’t give a damn,” mused Dr. Emil Reingold, a psychologist at the prison the Knoxes were confined and escaped from.
That description of the killers definition of murder is what’s really sickening about the film. The Knoxes affected many. Those trying to help them. Those trying to apprehend them and anyone that got in their way. Leaving a murderous path of killings across the country.
And Gale one step behind them all the way, glamorizing their grotesque actions.
But the connotations of Gale’s coverage of events multiplies the numbers affected. One could argue, and rightly, that the masses should be informed. But then you’re reminded of the enamoured kids who pandered to Gale’s cameras, raving about the Knox’s murders.
The message is a potent one, not to mention, classically relevant, as at any given moment, some show or program somewhere is glorifying — exploiting — trauma and tragedy for entertainment and money.