| Natural Born Motives The following is a fake transcript between a 19-year-old girl accused of shamelessly murdering two individuals on a road trip gone bad in the year 1995. Even if this event didn’t take place exactly as I depict, I’m sure there is some truth in their words: It’s six o’clock in the evening as Sarah sits down for a little legal negotiations with her lawyers about the murders she’s accused of being involved in and in one instance accused of being the gunman for. Sarah sits cross-legged on a comfy lay-z-boy in her spacious parents house as she appreciates the fact that her rich political parents have paid her astronomical bail and even if only for a brief few months she is in fact, a free woman. Her lawyers are a group of five, highly trained, highly paid professionals who’s legal wranglings have no doubt set many an Armani suit wearing clientele of murderers, rapists and child molesters back onto the streets where they will never have to worry about facing the consequences of their previous, or in some cases, ongoing actions. They are strictly in this for the money, though many are southern Baptist and go to church with their family every Sunday morning. There are hypocritical, bottom feeding leeches and they are determined to find a way that Sarah will not be acquitted of the murders. “So… how can I get out of this? This is totally going to affect everything in my life! What about the Edmunds New Years Eve Party? I totally don’t want to miss that cause’ I’m in jail,” Sarah pouts as she reaches over and grabs a nail file off the kitchen table. “To be perfectly honest Sarah, that’s not really something you should be concerned about. If all things go as planned you won’t even be prosecuted,” One of the suited minions mummers soothingly with a lecherous smile on his slightly haggard twenty-eight year old face, “Now, who can we blame for these murders besides you?” “I already told you guys,” Sarah snaps at them shrilly, “Ben made me do it all! It’s like he could control my mind.” “We need something else,” A frigid looking yet motherly-toned female pressures. “I don’t know,” Sarah answers in an indifferent tone, she’s grown bored with these people already, maybe daddy can conjure up a more exciting team of lawyers. “You don’t think me blaming Ben for everything will work?” She asks this incredulously like she can’t believe what the answer will be. “He made me get out of the car- and I swear to God he made me take a gun into that store. It’s his fault I shot that lady, he’s the one that gave me the gun.” A no nonsense lawyer in his mid forties takes off his glasses as he finishes reading the paperwork on the case. “No one’s going to buy that story Young Lady. The court is going to say he may have given you the gun and made you get out of the car but what made you actually pull the trigger if Ben was outside?” “Yeah… They probably would ask that wouldn’t they,” She sounded disappointed and continuously smacked her gum during the impending silence. “You know, Ben and I saw this movie a little while ago about how this couple saw demons in almost every single person they came in contact with and killed them, even though the demons weren’t really there, they were just normal people.” The team of lawyers suddenly sat up a little straighter, renewed by a sudden jolt of inspiration. The youngest, the twenty-eight year old, licked his thin greedy lips and persisted, “This could be quite helpful, please go on.” “I don’t remember all of it cause Ben and I get kind of stoned and it was sort of long and stuff…” Her voice trailed off but then continued after she saw the exasperation in the lawyers faces, “Okay, this couple goes on a road trip and kills like fifty-two people in the south. It first started with her parents but then they were seeing demons all over the place. Then because they were killing all these people they got famous and everyone knew who they were and I think this media journalist tried to help them escape and then they kill him. It’s a pretty awesome movie.” Sarah let her movie review sink in for a minute and then continued, “Do you think people would believe I shot her because she’s a demon?” The middle-aged lawyer waved his hand dismissively, “What was the name of this movie, Sarah?” He’d ultimately ask. “Natural Born Killers.” And thus, let the finger pointing and the Natural Born Motives begin. I can see both points to this argument about the influence movies have on the people who watch them/ On one hand you have two impressionable young adults seemingly inspired by a sensationally violent movie. On the other hand, there are millions of impressionable minds like convicted murderers Sarah and Ben, who saw Natural Born Killers and were not inspired to gun down innocent people. I think Natural Born Killers is an obvious scapegoat for these two murderers. Yes I do feel for Mr., Grisham but I feel that he is a bit of a hypocrite himself considering he’s blasting Oliver Stone for glorifying graphic violence when I seem to recall a few of John Grisham’s novels depicting not only murders but gratuitous violence and sexual abuse to youngsters. With Grisham’s theory, anybody who writes a story or directs a movie that may or may not have inspired the reader/viewer to commit a crime is held almost as much responsible as the person who actually perpetrated the crime! I’d like to see how John Grisham would feel if someone read one of his novels, raped someone and then said it was because “The Pelican Brief” inspired them. Or a CEO executive sues Mr. Grisham because his affair has cost him millions of dollars in alimony and child support because of the affair he says he would have never had if it weren’t for seeing, “The Firm.” If John Grisham’s theory were to ever go into effect Grisham would be held responsible since he put the idea in an otherwise “normal person’s” head and he would be forced to pay millions in compensation because if not for that story, John Grisham believes the individual would never have committed the crime. It’s complete malarkey! In some ways it’s hard to believe John Grisham was ever a successful lawyer. You can’t pin freedom of speech and expressing yourself artistically for the murders of two people! It just seems most lawyers are greedy leeches who will try and protect their smarmy clients with backwards defense claims, rotten and obviously made up alibis along with phony witnesses and shaky evidence. I have great respect for the minority lawyer who cares about his client and is passionate about his job. He is not driven by dollar signs but the battle of right versus wrong. He enjoys being intellectually stimulated and plunges head first into every case always with his eyes wide open and ears sharply tuned to what is being said and done around him. Lawyers like that I fear are few and far between. I feel terrible about what happened to the two victims and very much feel for the pain John Grisham was obviously feeling when he decided to point fingers at Oliver Stone, but no matter what you do or where you look, the blame lies with only the two individuals who committed the crime. Oliver Stone did not “inspire” future murderers. He simply made a movie. A movie that shows how two emotionally battered and mentally unstable people latched onto each other and took turns killing all the “demons” in their lives. The demons were represented by real people in their warped minds and in killing off so many people, they ultimately became media darlings and neo-celebrities in today’s one track minded, sniper obsessed, COPS watching, Jerry Springer supporting, reality TV viewing audience who would rather watch these big terrible things happen and then point fingers about it later. We are a society with in insatiable appetite for the next big story… No matter how horrible it is. |