Thank you for tuning in to this weeks broadcast of Overly Indepth Discussion of Film and its Effects on our Nation. This weeks topic: Murder! God, I love a good murder, it's just so sexy. Manson was totally bad-ass.
First up: A true American Cowboy Hero, a man who can boast extreme drug use, a knack for violence, and many sexual partners (most of whom were willing).... Oliver Stone.
Here's a guy that always warrants a reaction and while his films are largely hit or miss for me, this one is a home run that soars high over the fence, smashes an unassuming geezer on the head causing him to bleed to death all while some lucky reporter catches the whole thing on his camera and gets it played over and over and over on Sports Center for the entire next day. Did that make sense?
When Natural Born Killers was released it got a reaction, which at the least seems to be the intention. Some proclaimed "genius!" some cried "rubbish!", and some literally went out and killed people.
The reading talks about the meanings of the words sacred, power, and medicine. It defines something that is sacred as anything "that is filled with the intangible but very real power or force, for good or bad" and then draws parallels to our media.
It also seems to be saying that our interaction with the media is a very active one. Like a ceremony, our interaction with the media is something that we take part in and even help shape and evolve... we "feed" it . I like to picture the media as Jabba the Hutt, sitting on his throne, laughing away, eating big slices of New York Style Pizza with globs of hot cheese pulling off and slapping him in the chin (I hate when that happens). Anywayyy...
Then the reading talks about this dude named Hogan who compares film to medicine because it has the power to heal and hurt. The way he describes medicine doesn't really go with how we think of medicine now-a-days. He says it's more like something that can be good for some but bad for others. Medicine is a powerful tool that can be liberating or destructive. And so in that sense, he says film is like medicine. And I agree!
He says many films get us ass-deep into the madness, but never take us back. Thus, leaving us stranded in a swamp full of West-Nile Virus mosquitoes without the antidote. Does Natural Born Killers leave us stranded in the muck, surrounded by deadly mosquitoes without the antidote? I feel an itch comin' on! We'll be right back with the answer after this short commercial break...
(Indistinct Static)
"Yes, John, but we have to be conscious at all times of the potential for destruction that this great invention has. Let us not forget the destructive powers of a scientific triumph like the atomic-"
(Indistinct Static)
"Gone savage for teenagers with automatic weapons and boundless love. Gone savage for teenagers who are aesthetically pleasing in other words fly. Los Angeles beckons the teenagers to come to her on buses; Los Angeles loves love. It is 5am and you are listening to Los Ang-"
(Indistinct Static)
"This broadcast of the film Natural Born Killers has been edited to fit your TV screen, as well as for content that some viewers may find objecta-"
(Indistinct Static)
"This has been a message from Smokey the Bear, watch out for forest fires kids... and quit burning up all the Northern Lights, I gotta have some fun too."
(Indistinct Static)
Outside Reading:
Badlands - by Terrence Malick
(Indistinct Static)
"Gone savage for teenagers with automatic weapons and boundless love. Gone savage for teenagers who are aesthetically pleasing in other words fly. Los Angeles beckons the teenagers to come to her on buses; Los Angeles loves love. It is 5am and you are listening to Los Ang-"
(Indistinct Static)
"This broadcast of the film Natural Born Killers has been edited to fit your TV screen, as well as for content that some viewers may find objecta-"
(Indistinct Static)
"This has been a message from Smokey the Bear, watch out for forest fires kids... and quit burning up all the Northern Lights, I gotta have some fun too."
(Indistinct Static)
And we're back! When we left, I posed the question, Does Natural Born Killers provide us with the antidote, or simply show us the sickness?
And the answer is... I don't know.
On one level the film is clearly knocking the obsession our culture and media has with violence, but what is the active role that this film plays? The reading says that the film, "makes evil attractive", and I whole heartedly agree. Much like our culture, Natural Born Killers, worships the violence it critiques, which is precisely what makes it so brilliant, I think. It's a mirror that shouldn't be so god damn fun to look into. However, if understood correctly, it should make us take a good long look at ourselves and what we idolize.
And the answer is... I don't know.
On one level the film is clearly knocking the obsession our culture and media has with violence, but what is the active role that this film plays? The reading says that the film, "makes evil attractive", and I whole heartedly agree. Much like our culture, Natural Born Killers, worships the violence it critiques, which is precisely what makes it so brilliant, I think. It's a mirror that shouldn't be so god damn fun to look into. However, if understood correctly, it should make us take a good long look at ourselves and what we idolize.
Outside Reading:
Badlands - by Terrence Malick
Some really good, really fun writing here! Sometimes your blog stands on its own as one that movie fan on the net would want to read. This is one of them.
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