Section C: Comparative Skills Q3

What is the significance about setting and/or place in your chosen American films?

In film, setting and place can be used effectively to either convey emotion/mood and often reflects the characters thoughts and feelings. Another use would be with how it can foreshadow things to come, e.g. red walls of the room would be a sign of danger, or green could signify jealousy or sickness.

Typical settings for the ‘Lovers on the Lam’ genre are:
·         Mid-west or Southern US
·         Deserts or open plains
·         The Open Road
·         Diners, Motels and Gas Stations
·         Prisons

All of these various settings are in keeping with the genres crime, romance and road trip. The crime would tie in with the prison setting, and perhaps diners or gas stations if they are targeted by the couple. The isolation of deserts/open plains could be a part of the romance; they need no one but each other. Finally the open road setting would be the basis of the road trip genre.

Even though the settings are linked heavily to the hybrid genre that is lovers on the lam, the settings themselves convey meaning particularly in relation to Badlands and Natural Born Killers.

Prisons are used to confine and isolate criminals from the public whether to protect the public or to help them reform. In a certain light, it can be seen as hypocritical of America , in terms of a pioneer state, that, whilst they preach freedom for all, if someone breaks the law, they are imprisoned in tight spaces or are executed and ‘dealt with’.

This consequence for breaking the law differs greatly between the films; there is no prison scene in Badlands, instead we learn that Kit is sentenced to the electric chair and is no longer a problem for the state. In contrast to this, Mickey and Mallory who killed more people with greater violence and bloodlust are merely imprisoned, and eventually escape, implying that they managed to ‘get away’ with murder. This idea of being so high in society or having enough money to not get persecuted for murder reflects how O.J.Simpson managed to be acquitted for killing two people. A similar situation would be the police officers who were also acquitted for the savage attack on Rodney King.

The open road is significant in both films for the freedom the couples feel whilst they avoid capture, a complete opposite to the confinement of the prison that Mickey and Mallory escape from. Most ‘lovers on the lam’ films tend to be set in the Mid-west or Southern US; these are areas that are stereotypical for the ‘love’ of guns (otherwise known as trigger happy). To me, this suggests that by raising children around such lethal weapons, with the knowledge that they would eventually be allowed to legally have a licence for one when they’re older, it conditions the next generation that violence is ‘okay’.

In Badlands, Kit and Holly spend more time in the isolation of the wilderness than they do in the company of other people. Not only is the death count lower due to this, but it also implies that they are reverting back to primary instincts in humans making the killing spree more about survival than killing for the sake of killing. The couple isolate themselves from society for the most part, and, even though Kit is generally treated as a celebrity at the end, they do not have the same fan base as Mickey and Mallory do. Mickey and Mallory spend the majority of their time on the run in towns or cities; this indicates that they are closer to society and have a greater impact: they not only have a large fan group wishing to be them, but Mickey causes a riot in the penitentiary allowing them to escape.

Another place Mickey and Mallory end up is in at least one diner, where they proceed to kill all but one person. Diners are generally considered pit stops during a long journey where people spread news and gossip; this is taken advantage of by Mickey and Mallory as they not only slaughter the people in the diner, a clear message of their presence, but leave one person spare so they can proceed to tell the tale to other people.

Both Mallory’s and Holly’s homes have clear significance in the films. In Badlands Holly lives on a street where quaint houses and white picket fences are the norm, suggesting that on the surface there is nothing wrong. However, when you take into account the dysfunction (her mother’s death) in Holly’s family, it becomes clear that sweet and neat house is nothing more than an illusion to hide what lurks beneath.

Mallory’s home is presented in a similar manner: you have the seemingly pretty house hiding the abhorrence of the dysfunction, namely Mallory’s father. In contrast however, you can clearly see the mark the dysfunction leaves on Mallory in her bedroom; she has sad faces papering her walls indicating her unhappiness either in the house or reality, whilst the bedspread has a single happy face representing the relief and escape she gains in her dreams

Together, Mallory and Holly’s respective homes show that the surface of the pretty house with the picket fence is just a façade to deeper problems beneath.

Overall, the setting/place in Badlands and Natural Born Killers represents the director’s views and opinions on, not only the characters and the symbols of freedom and confinement, but society too.