“Kill or be killed” is one of the most cited laws of nature. The movie “Natural Born Killers” analyzes the ways of destroying nature, referring to the natural environment and the concept of human nature as commonly understood. The characters and their deeds can be understood as a link in nature’s chain, which proves to be fatal for the rest of its inhabitants.  The organization of life is clear—those who respect the plant and animal world are those who are closest to it. When Mickey (Woody Harrelson) kills an Indian shaman (Russell Means), it is only then that he feels as if he has committed a moral transgression. To be more precise, the killing of the shaman who patiently awaits his death and manages to be friends with the poison snake, i.e. accepting the demon embodied by Mickey, is in his own eyes a continuation of life which Mickey considers sacred. This murder is just one in a series of enraged outbursts of violence whose most popular perpetrators are Mickey and Mallory (Juliette Lewis), and it takes place in the very middle of the movie. After that, their situation changes considerably. Namely, after Mickey’s conscious regret he is arrested by the police along with Mallory, and a discussion about the origin of evil in people becomes the focus of the movie until its end. In this way a separating line can be drawn within the events of the movie which problematizes violence.

Whether violence is relativized ad infinitum or whether there is a moral limit is up to the viewer to decide. At this point it is worth mentioning the exceptionally dynamic change of frames and recourse in the way the characters are filmed. From the very beginning of the movie, the adventures of the protagonists are devoted to death or their primary aphrodisiac. It is intersected with frames of American landscapes, infinitely long highways, organisms at states of decay, advertisements, and popular personalities from the world of politics and art—especially Richard Nixon, a synonym for presidential lies and a social reality which is not “real” at all. Mickey and Mallory are the most impressive characters in the movie who make no attempt to hide. They literally do not hide their deeds because they find pleasure in their disclosure and further public recounts, but it is evident that they do want to conceal their exact location. On top of it all, they attempt to escape society through their never-ending journey across America, in a car which has been stylistically set up in a movie studio, perhaps to emphasize the multiple roles of society in providing and preparing their lust to kill. The two of them rarely get off the highway in order to explore nature, which indicates that they cannot escape from society’s influences no matter how much they try. An example of this is a scene of the wilderness next to a river, which is cut through by an industrial bridge. It is a scene in which Mickey declares his liberation from the socially created ritual of marriage, and instead makes up his own rules and declares Mallory and himself as a wedded couple. Therefore, it seems as a subtle commentary by the movie’s director that Mickey and Mallory, although being moral transgressors, are still located in a certain social context because that is where social values are made and exist.

Life outside of a social context is defined as an empty wish in the movie, but also as Mickey and Mallory’s primary desire. In my opinion, nature is usually placed in contrast with the conventionally understood material creation—which can be seen from the movie at first glance. For instance, the criticism of the negative influences of the media, the culture of fast food, and the tendency to be blinded by sensationalism is clearly present throughout the movie without question. One scene involving Mickey as he prepares to rape one of his numerous victims in a hotel room, while concurrently watching and criticizing a scene from the movie “Scarface”, is what the majority of viewers take notice of at first. I would say that the criticism dives even further into a question that examines the possibility of evil being born in nature and serving as a subtext for everything that has been defined by language, which has been devised with the help of the imagination, and which has been constructed with tools. Each example of the accidental elements that serve as a subtext to nature is what motivates Mickey and Mallory’s deeds. It is important to emphasize that the movie makes it difficult to discern the entangled place of the onset of violence in the world, since it seems that this term is practically overflowing from context to context. On a symbolic level, scenes with blood flowing or spilling or spraying on the products of human culture which are limited, sorted, named, etc., serve to remind us that violence is a moment that does not necessarily lead to destruction. For example, in the scene of the prison’s material and moral destruction, Mallory advises Mickey that they die by doing what they love most—to kill, in order to die and become free. It is evident that Mallory often leans metaphorically towards a space that is beyond where she actually is, and it most often involves mystical landscapes such as skies with angels and a death that would mean a new life for them both. The most obvious reason for this is her experience with sexual, physical, and mental abuse from her own father. Her desire to always be in another place is likely her desire to suppress her trauma. Mallory responds to violence with direct violence of her own, thereby remaining trapped in a dimension that is overwhelmed by the events she has previously experienced and continues to be exposed to, living in a period where it is possible to make violence glamorous enough so that its effects are diminished, forgotten, or erased with the carefully controlled materials that people expose themselves to through their own or others’ volitions. A memorable scene involves a pause during Mickey’s interview in prison. Here, Mickey entertains the surrounding police officers and media representatives with anecdotes and jokes that suggest a minimization of violence. The very act of familiarizing with a mass murderer can be considered as an excuse or ignorance of the crimes that had just taken place recently. In other words, we can assume that intensive violence negates the examples of violence that have already taken place, thereby making violence disappear from the expected human behavior which is characterized in the movie.

Mickey and Mallory justify their life events through the childhood traumas they lived through, which represents a generalization of a murderer’s profile. At the same time, it also prejudices the future moral makeup of all the victims who have experienced the same things. On the other hand, detective Jack’s (Tom Sizemore) hypocritical character explains his interest for these crimes in a similar manner. Perceiving himself as a defective organism that can do nothing else but go down the whirlpool, he understands why Mickey and Mallory are coldblooded killers, and places himself on the same level with them. In addition, a news reporter Wayne (Robert Downey Jr.) defends Mickey and Mallory’s importance, because he sees them as a version of Adam and Eve that committed the first sin out of ignorance. In line with this, the reporter believes that nobody is born evil, but that it is rather a trait that is learned. This character, as a metaphor for the media, even finds himself on the side of the killers during the prison riot. The message is very clear, but the analysis goes even deeper. The changing angles of the camera within a single scene reflect the numerous perspectives on a single issue. In this way, murder ceases to be taboo because it has been caught on camera. In addition, the frame with a “Coca-Cola” commercial asserts that what is good and pleasant is good and pleasant for everyone. Mickey and Mallory are examples that this is not the case. Why this is not the case is something that will never be truly understood, and will be left open for future discussions, which is why this movie remains timelessly relevant.

Author: Lemana Filandra
September 5, 2019