JM Genre Analysis - Thriller

Films in the genre of 'Thriller' are those that contain a great deal of tension and suspense and promote intensity throughout the narrative.. There is more information on the conventions of the Thriller genre in my previous post entitled 'The Thriller Genre', but the main points are that there is often many twists in the plot, and the tension builds greater towards the climax of the film. Most often in the Thriller genre you will see one main protagonist and an opposing antagonist whose conflict is the basis of the narrative. There are often many stock characters who will state their allegiances to either the protagonist or antagonist and subsequently aid them in the conflict.

Thriller Sub-categories
There are many sub-categories in the Thriller genre, that can be used to refine the conventions of certain films. It can be said that some films fall into more than one of these sub-catergories; creating sub-category 'hybrids' if you must. The sub-categories mentioned below are the most pre-dominant and common sub-categories of Thriller.

Action Thriller:
In this sub-category there is often a large amount of violence and an obvious antagonist. There is often a lot of guns, explosions and an elaborate setting and sequence of events to allow the action to take place.

e.g. The Bourne Identity (Liman, 2002)

Crime Thriller:
In this sub-category the audience is often given a suspenseful account of successful or failed crimes. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects and central topics of these films include murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and 'double-crossing'.

e.g. Seven (Fincher, 1995)

Disaster Thriller:
In this sub-category the main conflict is provided in the form of a natural disaster such as an earthquake or hurricane, or a man-made disaster such as a nuclear disaster. It is common to find in this genre that the actual disaster itself replaces the traditional antagonist.

e.g. Deep Impact (Leder, 1998)

Psychological Thriller:
In this sub-category the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist is mainly mental and emotional rather than physical, until the unltimately violent climax.

e.g. Memento (Nolan, 2000)

Sci-Fi Thriller:
In this sub-category we see the usual conventions of the Science Fiction genre crossed with the thrills of the Thriller genre. The usual narrative of 'Sci-Fi' would be ficticious, but unlike the Fantasy genre the events are usually possible within the laws of nature.

e.g. 28 Days Later (Boyle, 2002)

Conventions of a Thriller
The main protagonist of a Thriller film is usually portrayed as either being a hero or 'anti-hero'. The 'anti-hero' will often appear in Thrillers that are based on Crime, the 'anit-hero' usually breaking the law in order to acheive their goals, although as the narrative postions them as the protagonist we sympathise with them. An example of this would be Clint Eastwood in 'Dirty Harry'(Siegel, 1971).



Although these characters are often portayed by a male, there can sometimes be females playing these roles.

Once again the anatagonist of a Thriller will usually be played by a man. This is because more often then not the antagonist ina thriller film is a villain, and men are seen as the more sgressive and menacing sex. Their motive would usually be a profit of some sort, which is usually obtain through illegal acts. Another popular situation is for the villain to be mentally ill or looking for revenge. An example of a villain in a thriller is Heath Ledger in 'The Dark Knight' (Nolan, 2008)



Thrillers can be located in a range of locations, mainly the outskirts of a city or on derilict land in order to help create tension and mystery in the narrative. The main locations of Thrillers would be the 'hideout' for the antagonist, a place in which the protagonist aims to go, in order to confront the antagonist.

Connotations of colour in Thriller is centred around the colour red, which connotes death and blood. It can also connote danger when seen, or could be used as a warning to characters. Black is another common colour in the Thriller genre and is used in order to heighten a sense of mystery.

Iconography of the Thriller genre will often be centred around weapons and other object that are use to commit crime. For example guns and knives. Infact the iconic use of a 'Smith & Wesson Model 29' in the film 'Dirty Harry' (Siegel, 1971) caused a huge rise in demand for the gun amongst American gun owners. Other iconography of Thrillers is anything that relates to death, such as blood.