In Defense of “Distracting” Editing: Hyperstylization in Midnight Cowboy, Natural Born Killers, and House of 1000 Corpses
On the surface, the films Midnight Cowboy, Natural Born Killers, and House of 1000 Corpses may seem to have little in common. Midnight Cowboy is the story of a down-and-out Texan who moves to New York in order to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a gigolo and ends up in a much worse situation than where he started. Natural Born Killers follows a spree of murders committed by a deranged young couple. House of 1000 Corpses is about two teenage couples being abducted and tortured by a family that practices bizarre occult rituals. However, all three films are renowned for their unique, high-energy, and sometimes distracting editing styles. And while the very much non-natural editing utilized in these films has been a point of criticism, the hyperstylization is essential for the functions of each narrative. Viewing together, the films reveal both shared techniques and distinct purposes behind their editing styles.
In Midnight Cowboy, though shot in color, the film inserts black-and-white scenes to represent the protagonist Joe Buck’s youth. As the character is impacted by the effects of past trauma, the film cuts from rich color to stark black and white. The more mundane and the more horrific of Joe’s memories are given this same treatment, and memories of young childhood and near adulthood play back-to-back with one another. The rapid-fire succession of these scenes places the viewer directly inside Joe’s mind, making these editing choices feel strangely natural. The contrast between the styling of Joe’s memory and his present situation underscores one of the main themes of the film: the disparities between Texas and New York City. The vastly different visual style highlights the geographic as well as temporal distance between the character’s past and present while also suggesting a cultural gap between urban and rural America.
If John Schlesinger’s method of conveying memory in Midnight Cowboy is through a concise visual language of color palette and lens selection, Oliver Stone’s method in Natural Born Killers is entirely different. As Natural Born Killers unfolds, the audience is told that the killer couple became who they are because of traumatic childhoods. We are then given a glimpse into the childhood of the film’s antiheroine, Mallory Knox. It is one of the most jarring elements of a film that is already full of them – Mallory’s childhood is shot like a classic sitcom. The aesthetic is stilted and unnatural, with a laugh track following references to incestuous sexual abuse, and comedy-style camera work in conjunction with threats of physical violence. This segment of the film is even given a title card: the words “I Love Mallory” are contained in the shape of a heart, clearly in reference to the long-running sitcom I Love Lucy. Like the flashback structure in Midnight Cowboy, the insertion of non-linear elements reaffirms the film’s core thesis. In Natural Born Killers, that is an exploration of the relationship between crime and pop culture, a message that the film doesn’t just hit you over the head with, but nearly bludgeons you to death with.
For both Oliver Stone and Rob Zombie, the musician-turned-director responsible for House of 1000 Corpses, disorientation (and reorientation) seems to be the goal of their chaotic visual styles. House of 1000 Corpses opens with a TV advertisement for what we discover to be a small local business – a combination gas station/fried chicken restaurant/“Museum of Monsters and Madmen”. This is the first of many breaks from the main narrative. Others include the film's opening credits sequence, which essentially functions as a music video for Zombie’s song “House of 1000 Corpses”, home movie-style footage where the film’s villains explain their murderous philosophy, and random shots that invert the film’s colors. Like Schlesinger and Stone before him, Zombie’s cuts between the actual narrative of the movie and these hyperstylized moments are fast and chaotic. This, combined with the more immersive elements of in-universe storytelling, plunges the viewer into the mayhem of Zombie’s world. In certain segments, filmed on 16mm hand-held cameras, there is an almost juvenile zooming in and out, implicating the audience in the chaos. It is as though we are directly involved in the main characters’ crimes.
In the case of all three of these films, the hyperstylized editing is essential to the narratives themselves. Coloring, quick cuts, cartoon segments, music choice, and an almost inexhaustible list of other editing techniques contribute to the frenetic, intoxicating joy of three of my favorite recent viewings. Despite this, the editing of each of the films has been a point of contention in the decades following their releases. Midnight Cowboy, the first and only X-rated film to win the Academy Award for best picture, is a critically acclaimed classic and (for the most part) quite beloved. Natural Born Killers and House of 1000 Corpses are much more divisive films. In an article for Esquire Singapore, Ryan D’Agostino writes that “there is an argument to be made that Natural Born Killers is the most misunderstood mainstream movie ever released,” and you would be hard-pressed to find two people who totally agree on the merit of Zombie’s directorial debut. And although the editing in this trio has been described as “abrasive,” “frustrating,” “sickening,” and “distracting,” I can’t help but find it to be a celebration of the cinematic medium.