What's Natural About Killing? Gender, copycat violence and Natural Born Killers

Author: Boyle K.

Source: Journal of Gender Studies, Volume 10, Number 3, 1 November 2001 , pp. 311-321(11)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

With a lawsuit implicating Natural Born Killers in real-world violence still pending, the representation of violence in Oliver Stone's 1994 film remains a controversial issue. This article examines the gendering of violence - both in the film itself and in three of the most infamous 'copycat' cases - and demonstrates that the apparently gender-neutral term 'natural born killers' is used to disguise the normalisation of male violence on- and off-screen. While male violence is normalised, it is argued that representations of female violence emphasise transformation and undercut women's violent subjectivity through a re-positioning of women as erotic objects.

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

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