Section 1: The Thriller Genre

The Definition of Thriller in the Film Studies Dictionary is “Thriller is a loose genre term and referring to any film that generates suspense and excitement as a major aspect of its narrative”. This definition was helped by the following people.

G. K. Chesterton:
G.K Chesterton felt he had to defend the genre. He determined that it was a modern genre. Chesterton was a 20th Century writer of thriller stories. He’s said that a thriller took an urban setting and transformed them in to exciting locations for a dramatic storyline. A film which uses this definition is ‘I Am Legend’ where a city which would have been habitable to humans is taken over by a virus which wipes out mankind in New York, one man is left on his own to fight for himself.

Northrop Frye:
Northrop Frye built upon Chesterton critique. Frye said that thrillers were stories that would take and ordinary person and put them in to an extraordinary situation. An example of this is in the film ‘Phone Booth’, where a man who answers a ringing phone in the middle of the street is put in to a series of event which are framed on him. After all of this he has to convince the police it wasn’t him.

W.H. Matthews:
Matthews wrote in his stories about humans being interested in physical puzzles, this often results in mazes and labyrinths. This is evident in the Saw movies where humans a put into situations where they have to either save someone else or save themselves.
John Cawelti:
Cawelti believed that thrillers took a element of ordinary life and added an exotic element to it. James Bond films add an exotic element to them; you see this in these films where the work he does is very glamorous and he gets to drive around in Aston martins, as well as having a license to kill.

Pascal Bonitzer:
Bonitzer believes that in a thriller the audience is given a partial view of things- with important detail being obscured. An example of that is where a character in a thriller has been hit and the audience had his point of view, but its blurred.

Noel Carroll:
Carroll argued that a thriller was structured around Questions and Answers throughout the film, such as will he die or won’t he? Will the villain finally win? Such films use questions and answer as ‘Saw 1’ where a person is captured and has to make certain decisions whether to kill another person to save his life? Or will he finally solve the puzzle before he is killed.

Roland Barthes:
Barthes analysed all narratives in terms of codes that operate moment by moment, these are called Enigma codes which are narratives where the audience is led to ask a question. Enigma codes are very important for telling the story in a suspenseful was, it also gives away clues so the audience knows whats going to happen next. such as the film 'Next' where 'Liz Cooper' the girl 'Cris Johnson' meets in the Diner was to be used as bate.