How far do the American films you have studies for this topic depend on well established narrative and/or genre conventions

Badlands rounds along the typical narrative for a 'lovers on the lam' genre as well as Natural born killers. Both couples are in love and the family is the obstacle that they have to over come, so they kill them and go on the run.

But these films do not convey the conventions in the same way, for example in Badlands Kit is shown to have all the dominance in the murder of holly's father by showing him in mainly low angles, also Holly stays away from the two men. Where as in Natural born killers Mallory gets involved in the murder of both her parents, this is because of Mallory being raped by her father and her mother not helping her. Also in the murder scene in Natural born killers is more fast pace and there is a lot of things going on to explain the situation, for example while Mallory is sleeping her bed sheets have smiley faces on them but when she stands up the walls have sad faces on them which shows that she is happier in a fantasy life which suggest her naivety. In Badlands Kit spends more time talking to Holly's father about taking her away and then shoots him and then ttys to look cool, like James dean by get a cigarette out and leaning against a fridge, Holly wants to help her Father and is naive about his death. Badlands don't conform to the convention of having a dysfunctional family in the way that the father doesn't do anything to harm Holly but he is a single parent, Holly's mother died 10 years before. Also the Father killed Holly's dog as punishment. Where as in Natural born killers Mallory's parents are more dysfunctional because the father raped Mallory and the mother died help also the mother look ill and was lying in bed. The way Mallory's father reacts to things is really violent because he swears and insults people. This is reflected in the show he was watching before Mallory appeared.

The opening scenes to both films are very different in the fact that in Badlands it shows that Kit is a dustbin man and is picking up rubbish and daring his friend to eat a died dog, this shows that he is beneath people and he isn't living the American dream like he wants to, he walks through the street the shots getting smaller and closer as he gets closer to Holly. Where as in Natural born killers the opening scene is more violent and shows how media creates a more violent life style for us. This is shown through different filming methods such as cartoon, 8mm and 16mm film. Also a lot of their actions are like a video game, this is where it shows that this film is a satire. Where as in Badlands it is more realistic and linear. This is a reflection on how we live our lives, in the 1958 people's lives who shielded from violence and life could be described as slow where as in 1994 with media and video games life speed up and violence was more seen and accepted in the eyes of the audience. The couple in Natural born killers were seen as murderers and cop killers were as in Badland Kit is shown as a celebrity through him giving away personal items to the surrounding people and answering their questions. Another thing that Badlands did differntly to Natural born killers is that they had Holly doing a voice over explaining their story but it sounds impersonal as if she is reading a fairytale, this voice over is consistant all the way through the film.