Both Natural born killers and Badlands are based around the 'lovers on the lamb' genre convention of two people who run away together and go on a killing spree, on the run from the law. In both of these films there is also some sort of obstacle which must be defeated so the couple can have their freedom and begin their rampage. In both badlands and natural born killers this obstacle is the family of the girl in the couple. Holly's father and Mallory's father and mother. In the case of both these films the father has to die before the journey can begin. However, a difference in narrative concerning the death of the father in both films is that, in the case of Holly, she is extremely passive while Kit kills her father, and doesn't involve herself at all. This is in sharp contrast to Mallory who actively participates in helping Mickey to kill her father, holding his head down as he drowns, and rejoicing when he is dead. This contrast can be attributed to the differing social roles of women in the times both films were made. Badlands was made in the 50s where women were typically quiet, passive and forced to rely heavily on men. Whereas natural born killers was made in the 90s where women were just as likely as men to be violent and aggressive, as is the case with Mallory, and this fact is made very clear throughout the film.
Both films deal with the ideas of fame and glorification of violence in different ways, In Badlands the couple become infamous for their crimes, because the film is set during the 50s, and there were very few similarly violent incidents that had occurred before the events in the film, in this way they were almost the first serial killers who had killed in the way they did. It is because of this reason that Kit receives the attention from the police officers at the end of the film, as he is something of an anomaly. He enjoys passing out his belongings and signing forms for the policemen, imagining himself as a celebrity. Kit almost suffers from a lack of identity, opting instead to take on varying roles as the film progresses, one of these roles is that of his hero, James Dean, who was extremely famous in the 50s and was a teenage icon to many young men like Kit. The mise-en-scene makes it obvious that Kit is actively trying to impersonate his hero, both in wearing similar clothes to striking the same 'crucifix' post that James Dean is famous for. It is also clear that he enjoys being recognised as being similar to his hero, n it is mentioned by one of the arresting cops during the ending of the film, his attitude suggests he is pleased by the similarity being noticed. The theme of celebrity and mass media influence is taken to its logical, extreme conclusion in natural born killers, almost everything the characters in natural born killers do is shown to be influenced in some way by mass media, Mallory's father, is influenced to commit violence by the boxing match he is watching on tv. Mallory herself, in the opening scene, is influenced by the violent music playing on the jukebox before the killing kicks off. The discourse of the real world media at the time when natural born killers was released was heavily focused on media influenced crime, and it is this that led to many who saw the film heavily misinterpreting the message to one which glorified violence, rather than condemning and satirising it.
