Emily Hemmings
Crime Genre Research.
Crime Genre
Emily Hemmings
What is Crime genre?
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalises crimes, their
detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished
from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction
or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are,
blurred.
It has several sub-genres, including detective fiction (such as the
whodunit), legal thriller, courtroom drama and hard-boiled
fiction.
Crime Genre Script writing.
c
This is very useful as it gets into the mind
Of the script writer that develops crime
Films and into what is the key aspects they wish
To include throughout the film and trailers.
The link to this YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=Djd1CpDQ3Q0
Hybrid genre’s alongside Horror.
There is now such a huge variety within the genre, it
also has several sub-genres, including detective fiction
(including the classic whodunnit), legal thriller,
courtroom drama, hard-boiled fiction, Police
Procedurals, Private Eye, Suspense, Thrillers and any
other sub-genre in which a committed crime is the
leading motivator of the plot. Indeed There are novels
where the hero is the criminal not the detective.
All one can with any certainty is that the label "crime
fiction" is a resilient convenience for those who use it,
not an exact term.
The evolution of the print mass media in Britain and
America in the latter half of the 19th century was
crucial in popularising crime fiction and related genres.
History Of Crime genre.
Crime fiction generally started in 1841 with the publication of Edgar
Allan Poe's story 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue'. From there it
gradually spread over the United States, Great Britain and France. By
the turn of the century crime fiction was generally acknowledged as a
new and special kind of literature.
Here is a table of Crime genre 1990-2008 I have made:
The god Father The Green Mile Gangs of New York Sin City Lord Of War Dark Knight
1990.
1999
2002
2005
2005
2008
The Shaw shank
1994
Memento
2000
Kill Bill
2004
The Departed
2006
The position of the most famous crime fiction author in this brief history
must surely be Arthur Conan Doyle 1880 - 1920 (a medical practitioner
from Edinburgh) who invented Sherlock Holmes. The Sherlock Holmes
mysteries are said to have been singularly responsible for the huge
popularity in this 'locked room mysteries' genre. The evolution of locked
room mysteries was one of the landmarks in the history of crime fiction.
Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories first appeared in serial
form in the monthly Strand magazine in Britain. The series quickly
attracted a wide and passionate following on both sides of the Atlantic,
and when Doyle killed off Holmes in The Final Problem, the public
outcry was so great and the publishing offers for more stories so
attractive that he was reluctantly forced to resurrect him.
.
Arthur Doyle.
Crime Genre Examples.
• Fargo - A car salesmen from Minnesota is in
debt, so he hires two men to kidnap his
wife in order to collect her ransom money.
• The Silence of the Lambs - An FBI agent
develops a relationship with the notorious
serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lector, to gain
Lector’s assistance in the hunt for another
serial killer.
• Reservoir Dogs - An unacquainted group of
professional criminals is brought together
for a diamond robbery that goes amiss.
Crime Thriller Genre.
Crime-Thriller film is a sub-genre that incorporates the
suspenseful aspects of a thriller with a crime film plot. This subgenre's plot usually centres on a serial killer, murderer, robbery
or manhunt. As opposed to traditional crime films, the storyline
focuses both around the criminal and the protagonist. CrimeThrillers use both action and psychological aspects to build
tension and suspense.
Examples: The Usual Suspects, The Fugitive, Jagged Edge
Crime- Mob/Gangster
Mob/Gangster films are a sub-genre of crime films that centre
on organized crime or the mafia. Often the plot revolves around
the rise and fall of an organized crime leader. Many Gangster
films explore the destructive nature of organized crime, while
others attempt to show the humanity of the individual
characters.
Examples: Goodfellas, Scarface, The Departed
Crime Film Noir Genre
Film-Noir is not simply a genre, but rather a term for a distinct,
stylistic type of crime drama that was popular throughout the
1940s and 1950s. Film-Noir is characterized by a black-and-white
visual style and stark lighting effects. The main character is
usually a cynical hero. Film-Noir relies on a narrative voice and
various flashbacks to explain the intricate plot.
Examples: Sunset Boulevard, The Maltese Falcon, Sweet Smell of
Success.
Crime Neo-Noir Genre
Neo-Noir refers to modern film that takes on the characteristics
of Film-Noir. Modern updates are made within Neo-Noir in terms
of media and visual elements. Neo-Noir films also update
themes and content to fit with current society.
Examples: Chinatown, Sin City, L.A. Confidential.
Crime Genre Narratives
(Post modern theories.)
• Narratives that question whether modern progress is for the ‘
good’ of society. A critique of mass production. E.g. Blade
Runner.
• Narratives themes that challenge conventional film narratives.
(Anti Heroes, unclear/mixed representations) E.g. Pulp Fiction.
• Non-Linear narratives – challenge the 3 act conventions by
disrupting the chronology of the narrative sequence. E.g. Pulp
Fiction, Kill Bill.
• Anti-Narratives – Disruption of the narrative. E.g. Freeze
frame in Sherlock Holmes. Also Meta –referencing
,
Like television, postmodern movies and films are a mainstay of massmarket American culture. The range of independent films to big budget
Hollywood blockbusters all exhibit (and build off of) many of the
Postmodern motifs shared by other art forms. Below you will find a
description of the most significant themes and examples of related moves:
Narrative Structures
of Crime
trailersof Crime trailers.
Narrative
Structures
/
Crime films and trailers in this genre
often highlight the life of crime
m figure or
a crimes victim. They also glorify the
rise and fall of a particular criminal,
gang, bank robber, murderer or law
breakers in a personal power of struggle
and conflict with law and order figures.
Rivalry with other criminals in gangster
warfare is often a significant plot
characteristic. Crime plots also include
questions such as how the criminal will
apprehended by the police, private
eyes, special agents of lawful
authorities or mysterious such as who
stole the valued object.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG
FCvg_KjOQ
• .
Postmodern opinion on crime genre/fiction.
Dystopia Genre Research.
Dystopia Genre.
Dystopia Historical Timeline.
Pre-war
1920’s
Fear of mass production,
totalitarianism, modernist
critique, Big Brother style
scenarios.
Eg. Metropolis (1927)
Post-war
1950’s
Cold War fears, Nuclear
Armageddon, Fear of invasion,
Post apocalyptic ideas.
Eg. Planet of the Apes (1968)
70/80s
70-80’s
Fears of technological
advancements, genetic
modification, computer and
robotic power, authoritarian
states
Eg. Blade Runner (1982), The
Terminator (1984)
90’s
90-2013
Fears of cloning, genetics,
dystopic themes, environmental
disaster, using postmodern ideas
of Hybrid genres and pastiche.
Eg. 28 Days Later (2002), District
9 (2009)
;
Nineteenth-century Dystopias
The utopia reached its greatest popularity in the
nineteenth century. As the proud confidence of the
nineteenth century crumbled when faced with the
horrors of the twentieth, the utopian impulse has
faltered, and dystopia has grown to be the more vital
and relevant of the two genres. Dystopia began to
evolve as a separate literary genre late in the
nineteenth century as writers published anti-utopian
"answers" and "replies" attacking utopian works.
Edward Bellamy's highly popular socialistic utopia
Looking Backward (1888) incited such direct refutations
as Richard Michaelis's Looking Further Forward (1890)
and Conrad Wilbrandt's Mr East's Experiences in Mr
Bellamy's World (1891).
Twentieth-Century Dystopias
The twentieth century itself lent strength and scope
to the development of dystopian fiction, as horrific
events and movements rendered the utopian ideal
increasingly absurd and made it possible for
dystopias to posit terrible fictive societies. The most
powerful dystopias from this period firmly
cemented the genre as independent from utopia
and remain relevant to the present day: Yevgeny
Zamyatin's We (1920), Aldous Huxley's Brave New
World (1932) and George Orwell's Nineteen Eightyfour (1949).
Research On Dystopia Films
These are typical Dystopia films that I will
evaluate:
• Cloud Atlas (2012)
• Gamer (2009)
• Brazil (1989)
Cloud Atlas (15)
Everything is connected: an 1849
diary of an ocean voyage across
the Pacific; letters from a
composer to his lover; a thriller
about a murder at a nuclear
power plant; a farce about a
publisher in a nursing home; a
rebellious clone in futuristic
Korea; and the tale of a tribe
living in post-apocalyptic Hawaii,
far in the future.
Came out in 2012.
Gamer (18)
Set in a future-world where
humans can control other
humans in mass-scale,
multi-player online gaming
environments, a star player
from a game called
"Slayers" looks to regain his
independence while taking
down the game's
mastermind.
Came out in 2009.
Brazil (15)
Sam Lowry is a harried technocrat in a
futuristic society that is needlessly
convoluted and inefficient. He dreams
of a life where he can fly away from
technology and overpowering
bureaucracy, and spend eternity with
the woman of his dreams. While
trying to rectify the wrongful arrest of
one Harry Buttle, Lowry meets the
woman he is always chasing in his
dreams, Jill Layton. Meanwhile, the
bureaucracy has fingered him
responsible for a rash of terrorist
bombings, and both Sam and Jill's lives
are put in danger.
Came out in 1989.