Crime GenreEmily Hemmings

Emily Hemmings Crime Genre Research.

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 The link to this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djd1CpDQ3Q0

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 wishTo include throughout the film and trailers.

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 Memento Kill Bill The Departed 1994 2000 2004 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 sub-genre'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. Crime-Thrillers 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 mass-market 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 trailers.

/

Narrative Structures of Crime trailers

mCrime films and trailers in this genre often highlight the life of crime 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=yGFCvg_KjOQ

• .

Postmodern opinion on crime genre/fiction.

Dystopia Genre.

Dystopia Genre Research.

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 Eighty-four (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.