2. When Did the Thriller Genre Begin?
The Thriller genre first became popular in the 1920’s, with
iconic director Alfred Hitchcock releasing his third silent film
‘The Lodger’ which is a thriller. Over the next few decades
the genre became more popular and became a iconic genre
in the 1960’s when hitchcock released the film
‘Psycho’, often named ‘The Best Thriller of All Time”.
3. What Started the Main Theme of Thriller?
(Influence)
Since the genre first became popularised in the 1960’s, the
main theme is obviously blood which links to the use of red to
promote thrillers. What started this as an iconic theme was
most likely Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’, which was highly
controversial at the time of its release for the amount of
blood used in the film which had never been seen before.
Hitchcock’s use of intense music to create suspense is also a
main influence for many of thrillers which were created
afterwards.
4. Success and Change Within the Horror
Genre During the 1950's the genre of thriller films
began to take off, with big stars such as
Marilyn Monroe being cast in them.
Starring in Henry Hathaway's 1953 thriller
Niagra, Monroe played the part of a femme
fatale who plans to murder her psychotic
husband.
The 1970's saw the creation of Hitchcock's
first British film in 20 years, which received
a rated "R" certification due to an extreme
strangulation scene. Steven Spielberg also
directed a low budget TV film during this
era which appealed to a specific target
audience and gained a cult-like following.
The 1990's/2000’s saw the rise of female
villains in psychological thrillers which
hadn’t been a regular occurrence since
Sigourney Weaver in the Alien series.
Kathy Bates won an Oscar for her role as
‘Annie Wilkes’ in Misery, a manipulative
nurse who has two sides to her personality.
5. Iconography
Typically in Thriller films, colours of the characters’
clothes will draw comparison with their personality:
villains appear in dark colours, the innocent ones or
victims will normally wear light. However this cliché was
contradicted in the 1990’s when some of the most
popular villains were often portrayed as nice at
first, wearing colourful clothes. Examples of this would
be Annie Wilkes in Misery and the ‘Nanny’ in The Hand
That Rocks the Cradle’. Occasionally a vivid or shocking
colour will be used (mostly red) to indicate their sharp
personality or foreshadow that some bloody. Red is also
usually worn by females (or femme fatales) to show that
they are sexy or attractive.
Props used in thrillers are normally weapons
such as guns, knives or random objects if the
villain or victim can’t get hold of any such as
bricks or heavy furniture. Also fake blood is a
main prop.
6. Setting
The typical setting for a typical Thriller is a city with dark, grey colours with
bad weather (not to be confused with Film Noir) however within the film there
will probably be more in depth settings such as ‘Black Swan’ which centres
around a ballet studio and a stage a lot of the time. Thrillers can also be set
in small villages or a house in the middle of nowhere which represents the
lonliness of the villain or victim. The colours are normally dull such as black
or grey but sometimes there might be red to represent blood, like in We
Need to Talk About Kevin.
7. Characters
Something thriller films are critisized for a lot of the time is for the cliché
characters. Characters of thriller films tend to involve those who have a negative
label. The most popular ones are convicts, criminals, stalkers, innocent
victims, prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark
passed, psychotic individuals (normally associated with therapists), police
officers, escaped convicts, people involved in an unhealthy relationship, and also
people with caring jobs who aren't so caring e.g. evil nurses – Nurse Ratched.
8. Themes
Within the thriller genre there are many themes; one of the most popular
being the action genre, which include lots of violence such as fighting and
killing, also guns and explosions.
Another popular theme is psychological, which focuses on the characters
through mental and emotional state.
Another popular theme is crime. This normally focuses on investigators trying
to solve a case, normally a murder, but with an element of the action genre
mixed in.
Sometimes thrillers will have hidden themes in them which aren’t so obvious
to pick out at first. For examples, some thrillers have elements of topics such
as homosexuality, gender identity and life difficulties such as loneliness and
depression but they are not obvious at first.
9. Narrative
A lot of the time in Thriller films the narrative is structured so that we know more
than the victim. It is also structured so that information is hidden and not
revealed until the end. It’s a technique to ‘keep you guessing’.
Todorov’s Theory of Narrative
He suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages: A
state of equilibrium so for example in Collateral you see Max’s everyday life
as a taxi driver. Then a disruption of the equilibrium by some type of action or
happening. A recognition that there has been a disruption. An attempt to
repair the disruption, so in classic thriller the films the Protagonist has to fight
of the antagonist for the reinstatement of the equilibrium.
