Thriller

March 28, 2020 Caria Watt

Suspenseful, Nail-Biting and Fast Paced

Thriller (can also be referred to as Psychodrama in some countries) is a genre of literature, film, videogame stories and television programming.

Main elements of this genre that must be present:

The desire for justice and the morality of individuals are the two main points underpinning the entire genre
Suspense, tension and excitement must have a strong presence
Fast paced gritty and rousing, to help keep the adrenaline rush active
Stimulates the viewer’s mood with anticipation, heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and terror
The main plot-line focuses on a mystery that must be solved
Plot is usually driven by a villain, who presents the obstacles that the protagonist must overcome
The main storyline for the protagonist is either a quest or a character that cannot be put down.
Multiple plot twists, cliffhangers and red herrings
All action and characters must be credibly realistic or natural in their representation on screen.
The protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) may battle, themselves and each other, not just on a physical level, but on a mental one as well.
The force(s) of the antagonist’s must initially be cleverer and/or stronger than the protagonist’s.
The protagonist(s) faces death, either his and/or hers or somebody else’s.
Either by accident or their own curiousness, each character is dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve.
One small, but significant, aspect of a thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world.
Narrative is driven by exhilaration and excitement, sometimes subtly and sometimes at a breakneck pace
The film’s narrative construction is dominated by the protagonist’s point of view.
There may be a suspenseful and atmospheric soundtrack for the scenes of suspense.

Thriller and Mystery
Thrillers often overlap with mystery stories but are distinguished by the structure of their plots. In a thriller, the hero must stop the plans of an enemy rather than uncover a crime that has already happened. Mystery thrillers also occur on a much grander scale: the crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder, terrorism, assassination, or the overthrow of governments. Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements in the mystery-thriller genre (e.g. Triangle), unlike in the mystery genre where the story is more downbeat and dramatic (e.g. Changeling).

While a mystery climaxes when the mystery is solved (e.g. Gosford Park), a mystery thriller climaxes when the hero finally defeats the villain (after reveal), saves his own life and often the lives of others (e.g. Oldboy). There is very little violence, menace and threat in mystery/detective films (especially between the villain and other innocent people), whilst the violence is quite intense in thrillers and the villain is more ruthless. In thrillers influenced by film noir and tragedy, the compromised hero is often killed in the process.

While most will associate death with the genre and as being part of the story, a thriller isn’t just about someone being murdered. There is always something bigger and more important at stake behind the murder that may endanger more lives. Where in a mystery the motive for a crime such as insurance fraud can be greed, in a thriller mere money doesn’t come across as believable for all the terrible things the antagonist will do.

Thriller and Crime

Often the two overlap. However, pure crime films/novels focus on a specific crime or set of crimes, and solving the mystery or tracking down the criminal(s), with no or little violence but more drama throughout. Thrillers are usually fiction-based and fast in pace, while crime fiction tend to be more leisurely paced, dramatic and realistic. Generally, violence is also lacking in crime fiction, but this depends on whether the work is based on the mafia, where violence is intense.

Some crime films showcase more on the gangster life, personal drama of the criminals and even their biographical film (e.g. The Godfather). Crime-thrillers, on the other hand, have more threat and suspense in them and may involve espionage (spying), frequent killings and other non-criminal conflicts (e.g. Heat). Unlike crime thrillers, crime films usually offer a more serious, grim and realistic portrayal of the criminal environment, emphasising character development and complex narratives over suspense sequences, chase scenes and violence.

In crime fiction, the hero might be a police officer, or a private eye, who is usually tough and resourceful. He or she is pitted against villains determined to destroy him or her, although, unlike in thrillers, not necessarily other people, the country or the stability of the free world. Unlike in crime fiction, thrillers keep the emphasis away from the gangster, melodrama or the detective in the crime-related plot, and rather focus more on the suspense and danger that is generated.

Common subgenres are psychological thrillers, crime thrillers, erotic thrillers and mystery thrillers. Another common subgenre of thriller is the spy genre which deals with fictional espionage. Successful examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock. The horror, crime and action genres often overlap with the thriller. Thrillers tend to be psychological, threatening, mysterious and at times involve larger-scale villainy such as espionage, terrorism and conspiracy.

In 2001, the American Film Institute in Los Angeles made its definitive selection of the top 100 greatest American “heart-pounding” and “adrenaline-inducing” films of all time. To make the list, the 400 nominated films had to be US-made films, whose thrills have “enlivened and enriched America’s film heritage”. AFI also asked jurors to consider “the total adrenaline-inducing impact of a film’s artistry and craft”.

Suspense is a crucial characteristic of the thriller genre. It gives the viewer a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, uncertainty, anticipation, tension, and anxiety. These develop from unpredictable, mysterious and rousing events during the narrative, which make the viewer or reader think about the outcome of certain actions. It also gives the person the so-called “on-edge” feeling. Suspense builds in order to make those final moments, no matter how short, the most memorable. They are the defining features in a thriller. The suspense in a story keeps the person hooked to reading or watching more until the climax is reached, and the thrill and amusement of being suspended, so to speak, finally come to a close. Suspense is about conflict and the obstacles between the protagonist and his goal.

Themes and characters

A common occurrence in thrillers is characters being taken as hostages and with a ransom in need. (Hostages, 1896 painting by Jean-Paul Laurens, Musee des Beaux-Arts, Lyon).

In terms of narrative expectations, it may be contrasted with mystery or curiosity and surprise. The objective is to deliver a story with sustained tension, surprise, and a constant sense of impending doom. A thriller aims to keep its audience alert. As described by film director Alfred Hitchcock, an audience experiences suspense when they expect something bad to happen and have (or believe they have) a superior perspective on events in the drama’s hierarchy of knowledge, yet they are powerless to intervene to prevent it from happening.

Suspense in thrillers is often intertwined with hope and fear, which are treated as two emotions aroused in anticipation of the conclusion – the hope that things will turn out all right for the appropriate characters in the story, and the fear that they may not. The second type of suspense is the “…anticipation wherein we either know or else are fairly certain about what is going to happen but are still aroused in anticipation of its actual occurrence.”

Common methods and themes in crime thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings. More common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique. Common elements in psychological thrillers are mind games, psychological themes, stalking, confinement/deathtraps, horror-of-personality, and obsession. Elements such as fringe theories, false accusations and paranoia are common in paranoid thrillers. Threats to entire countries, spies, espionage, conspiracies, assassins and electronic surveillance are common in spy thrillers.

Characters usually include criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims (often on the run), menaced women, characters with deep dark pasts, psychotic individuals, spree killers, sociopaths, agents, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, private eyes, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.

The protagonists are frequently ordinary citizens unaccustomed to danger, although commonly in crime thrillers, they may also be “hard men” accustomed to danger such as police officers and detectives. While protagonists of thrillers have traditionally been men, women lead characters are increasingly common. In psychological thrillers, the protagonists are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with the antagonist or by battling for equilibrium in the character’s own mind. The suspense often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another’s minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other’s mental state.

The protagonist of these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery. No matter what sub-genre a thriller film falls into, it will emphasise the danger that the protagonist faces. The cover-up of important information from the viewer, and fight and chase scenes are common methods in all of the thriller sub-genres, although each sub-genre has its own unique characteristics and methods.

Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces – the threat is sometimes abstract or unseen. An atmosphere of creepy menace and sudden violence, such as crime and murder, characterise thrillers. Thrillers often present the world and society as dark, corrupt, and dangerous, but in Hollywood, they usually feature upbeat endings in which evil is overcome. The tension usually arises when the character(s) is placed in a menacing situation, a mystery, or a trap from which escaping seems impossible. Life is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation.

Thrillers emphasise the puzzle aspect of the plot. There are clues, and the viewer/reader should be able to determine the solution at about the same times as the protagonist. In thrillers, the compelling questions isn’t necessarily who did it, but whether the villain will be caught before committing another crime. Hitchcock’s films often placed an innocent victim (an average, responsible person) into a strange, life-threatening or terrorising situation, in a case of mistaken identity, misidentification or wrongful accusation.

Thrillers take place mostly in ordinary suburbs and cities, although sometimes they may take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or the high seas. These usually tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary heroes are pitted against villains determined to destroy them, their country, or the stability of the free world. Often in a thriller movie, the protagonist is faced with what seem to be insurmountable problems in his mission, carried out against a ticking clock, the stakes are high and although resourceful, they face personal dilemmas along the way forcing them to make sacrifices for others.

Writer Vladimir Nabokov, in his lectures at Cornell University, said: “In an Anglo-Saxon thriller, the villain is generally punished, and the strong silent man generally wins the weak babbling girl, but there is no governmental law in Western countries to ban a story that does not comply with a fond tradition, so that we always hope that the wicked but romantic fellow will escape scot-free and the good but dull chap will be finally snubbed by the moody heroine.”

Thrillers may be defined by the primary mood that they elicit: fearful excitement. In short, if it “thrills”, it is a thriller. As the introduction to a major anthology explains: ” …Thrillers provide such a rich literary feast. There are all kinds. The legal thriller, spy thriller, action-adventure thriller, medical thriller, police thriller, romantic thriller, historical thriller, political thriller, religious thriller, high-tech thriller, military thriller. The list goes on and on, with new variations constantly being invented. In fact, this openness to expansion is one of the genre’s most enduring characteristics. But what gives the variety of thrillers a common ground is the intensity of emotions they create, particularly those of apprehension and exhilaration, of excitement and breathlessness, all designed to generate that all-important thrill. By definition, if a thriller doesn’t thrill, it’s not doing its job. ” -James Patterson, June 2006.

Thriller and Mystery

Thrillers often overlap with mystery stories but are distinguished by the structure of their plots. In a thriller, the hero must stop the plans of an enemy rather than uncover a crime that has already happened. Mystery thrillers also occur on a much grander scale: the crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder, terrorism, assassination, or the overthrow of governments. Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements in the mystery-thriller genre (e.g. Triangle), unlike in the mystery genre where the story is more downbeat and dramatic (e.g. Changeling).

Thriller and Crime

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