Section 1: Background to the Thriller Genre

Thriller Definition:
- Thriller is a loose genre term referring to any film that generates usspense and excitement as a major aspect of it's narrative.

Theories about Thrillers:
- Chesterton - early 20th century writer of thriller stories, argued that thrillers took urban settings and transformed them into exciting locations for dramatic stories.

EXAMPLES:
* Seven
* The Secret Window

Northrop Frye: Heroic Romance
- Frye argued that thrillers were stories that took ordinary people and threw them into extraordinary situations.

EXAMPLES:
* The Negotiator
* Derailed
* The Green Mile
* Die Hard

John Cawelti: The Exotic
- Cawelty argued that thrillers took the element of ordinary life and added exotic element.

EXAMPLE:
* Wanted

W.H Matthews: Mazes and Labryinths
- Matthews writes about how human beings have a facination for a physical puzzle - often seen in mazes and labryinths.
- Thrillers often use the idea of a musterious quest in a confined location that feels like a labryinth.

EXAMPLES:
* Saw
* Labryinth

Pascal Bonitzer: Partial Vision
- Bonitzer discusses how in thrillers the audience is given a partial view of things - with important details being obscured.

EXAMPLE:
* The Sixth Sense

Noel Carroll: Question and Answer
- Carroll argues that thrillers are structured around a series of questions for which the audience is led to want answers.

EXAMPLES:
* Fight Club
* Strangers

Roland Barthes: Enigma Codes
- Barthes analysed all narratives in terms of codes that operate moment by moment.
- Enigma Codes: Moments in a narrative where the audience is led to ask a question.
- In thrillers, enigma codes are very important for telling the story in a suspenseful way.