What is a Thriller?

What is a Thriller?

Genre is a form of categorization in which media texts are sorted based on common stylistic conventions and narrative. We can use this idea to extract relative information on conventions of Thrillers. Such conventions of a genre are the: characters, locations, narrative, use of technical codes and semiotics. The main convention across all types of thriller is to give the audience ‘thrills’ and excitement by increasing adrenaline levels. The director does this buy building on tension; as a result the audience is left ‘on the edge of their seats’ usually leaving them wanting more.

 

It is rare to find a text singularly categorized as a Thriller this can be due to disputes over the classification as a genre, but more commonly because there are a large number of sub genres. Sub genres are hybrids between two types of genre. In the case of Thrillers there is a large amount. Some examples are: action-thrillers, horror-thrillers, crime-thrillers, medical-thrillers, sci-fi thrillers, disaster-thrillers, supernatural-thrillers and psychological thrillers. Each type of hybrid has its own set of conventions, which slightly differ (additional conventions common to the other half of the hybrid). When it comes to analysing Thriller extracts I will choice from a wide range of sub genres.

 

Common conventions of thrillers include:

 

Narrative- Present in all forms of Thrillers is the general narrative. This consists of the protagonist disrupting and preventing the antagonist’s plans. Usually the narrative is complex with lots of ‘twists’ in the plot. These intrigue both the protagonist and the audience of the text. For example “The Village”⁽⁶⁾ such ‘twists’ effectively create tension and help the audience engage. In addition the protagonist is usually ‘brought to there knees’ by the antagonist by exploiting their flaws. A thriller climaxes when the hero, often saving the lives of others, eventually defeats the villain. Initially the protagonist is put into peril. The survival of the protagonist isn’t guaranteed. The previous general narrative is found in the films “I am Legend”⁽⁷⁾ and “The Hills Have Eyes 2”⁽⁸⁾

 

Characters- In Thrillers the protagonist is usually seen as a ‘hard man’ (or women!) from this I mean a character who is used to danger and conflict such as an army officer, law enforcement officer or a spy.  Such as the ATF agent in “Déjà vu”⁽¹⁾ similarly the protagonist usually has a background of deadly skills and training. For example the EX-CIA agent in “Taken”⁽²⁾ other common protagonists include ‘every day’ people caught up in a serious danger. For example the character of Neo in “The Matrix”⁽³⁾, such protagonists are put into dangerous situations where the audience fear for their lives this tension is then heightened by the director’s use of technical codes and semiotics.

 

                          Opposing the protagonist is the antagonist. Common antagonist roles include assassins and terrorists. For example the renegade general in “The Rock”⁽⁴⁾ who captures the famous American landmark of Alcatraz and holds San Francisco hostage with nuclear weapons. However other common characters include psychotic individuals such as the character of Jigsaw in the film “Saw”⁽⁵⁾ such characters are more common to the genre of Horror of which closely links to thrillers.

 

Locations- Due to the large amount of subgenres the location is dependent on the other half of the hybrid. For example the audience would expect a medical-thriller to be set in a Hospital! As a result there isn’t one general location of thrillers. Locations can range from cities, to deep space, to abandoned warehouses to exotic locations. I believe location has some effect on the tension created in the text however the majority of tension and ‘thrills’ is created through the use of technical codes and semiotics. 

 

Technical Codes – Each technical code (camera, sound, editing and mise-en-scene) can be used to create different effects on the audience. Tension is successfully and effectively created when all are used together. The master at creating tension was Alfred Hitchcock. The renowned shower scene in the film “Physco”⁽⁹⁾ this is an excellent example when all technical codes are used to effectively to build tension and increase audience engagement. I plan to look closer at the technical codes when I analyse extracts from thrillers.  

Bibliography

1.    Tony Scott, 2006

2.    Pierre More, 2008

3.    Andy & Larry Wachowski, 1999

4.    Michael Bay, 1996

5.    James Wan, 2004

6.    M. Night Shyamalan, 2004

7.    Francis Lawrence, 2007

8.    Martin Weisz, 2007

9.    Alfred Hitchcock, 1960