Comparison Essay

What are the traits between Frank Capra's America and Oliver Stone's America? America is said to be strong willed, enterprising, materialistic, nationalistic, and stubborn; But would any of these really encompass the true nature of the American society. Some would say yes, and some no. The idea of the American society is a widely debated subject and from my viewing of 1940's movie It's a Wonderful Life by Frank Capra, one that has been around for some time. Natural Born Killers, a 1990's movie by Oliver Stone, is a much more modern movie that also comments on the inherent values of the American Society but in a far different way than Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. For movies directed and shot decades apart, surprisingly, there were two major aspects of the movies that coincided and played major roles in the basis for each director's beliefs and in how people chose to live their lives in society. Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life and Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers both use the themes of media and a sense of "something missing" in America as a means of influencing the American society. …