Derry defines the suspence thriller as "a crime work which presents a generally murderous antagonism in which the protagonist becomes either an innocent victim or a nonprofessional criminal within a structure that is significantly unmediated by a traditional figure of detection" He came up with a way to systemirize thriller films.
He identifies 6 major sub-types:
1. The thriller of murderous passion:
This is based around a triangular grouping of a wife,lover, or husband. The movie is based upon the murder commited by one or two of the people from the triangle towards one member from the triangle.The criminal motive is usually due to greed or passion however, the movie is mostly focused on the criminal protagonist. Furthermore, an example a movie that consist this is "Niagara" directed by Henry Hathaway (1953).
2. The political thriller: Organised a plot to kill whereby they contain FBI and agencies
3. The thriller of acquired identity
This movie is based upon a protagonist acquisition of an unfirmilar identity. It is organised by the protagonist. The character is given an identity which is not his but it is coming back to catch him from the past.
4. The psychosomatic thriller
The movie is centered around a psychotic effects of a trauma due to the protagonist current involvement in crime and a love affair. The protagonist is always portrayed as the victim. Therefore, it is organised around a phychotic effect of trauma, whereby a victim is suffering. It may contain a love affair whereby something happens to change the relationship. An example of this type of thriller wouldd be "Vertigo".
5. The thriller of moral confrontation
This focuses on characters where one character represents good and innocence another represent evil. The movie usually elaborate qualities which emphasize between the parallels between the victim and the criminal. An example of this type of thriller movie would be "Blue velvet".
6. The innocent on the run thriller.
This is based upon a an innocent victim, who is on the run either from villians or the police or both, he has coincidentally entered into the "dark" side where by it is not part of his usual life routine. The protagonist is the victim who is wrongly accused of killing his wife an example of this thriller movie is "The fugitive".
Having Derry catergorize these thrillers can be very helpful however, there are problems associated with his theory because now days modern suspense thriller usually consist of hybrids and are constantly changing and evolving at the same time.
No comments:
Post a Comment