Research into Thriller Genre: Narrative

Most films follow multiple narratives, one of the most common narratives is linear or non-linear. A linear narrative is when the film goes in chronological order, a non-linear narrative is when it is not in chronological order and can have things such as flashbacks in them. Although thrillers have a mixture of linear and non-linear within their films, they tend to be more linear, this is because if it was all non-linear, then the audience would know what happens at the end before even watching the build up towards it. This would take away the suspense and tension out of many scenes as the audience already knows what has happened to the characters. For example, Eden Lake has a linear narrative, if it was non-linear then the audience would know that both Jenny and Steve die, resulting in a lack of suspense and tension in the film.

 

Another narrative films can be is restricted or unrestricted. Thrillers also tend to be a mixture of these too, however they usually are more restricted. This is because if a thriller film is unrestricted then the audience will know what characters have done what and will know more of what's going to happen, taking away the surprise element of the film. Although thrillers aren't usually unrestricted the whole way through, an unrestricted narrative in some scenes can help create suspense. This is because the audience know information about characters that don't know the information about each other, thus the audience may speculate as to what each of the characters are going to do, creating suspense. For example, Eden Lake had a mixture of restricted and unrestricted narrative. It was restricted when the youths stole the car, the audience only knew as much as the main characters, Jenny and Steve, however other parts of the film were unrestricted such as when Jenny ran on top of the spike, the audience was shown the spike before she stood on it, therefore the audience knew more than Jenny. This created suspense as the audience speculated whether or not she would stand on it.

Films can also be either a closed narrative or an open narrative, thriller films tend to be a mixture of this. A closed narrative is when the film ends and the audience is left with no questions, an open narrative is the complete opposite to this, it's when the film leaves many questions unanswered and allows the audience to speculate their own ending. An open narrative is good to do with trilogies because the unanswered question will be answered in the next film, this keeps an audience engaged and excited to see the next film. Shawshank Redemption is a thriller/drama film and has a closed narrative as Red and Andy are shown reunited at the end, however 28 Days Later, which is a Thriller/Sci-fi/Horror, has an open narrative as the audience doesn't know if the surviving characters were saved or not. This shows that thrillers can have either an open or closed narrative without it really affecting the suspense and tension created throughout the film, however a closed narrative works well with Todorov's Equilibrium Theory.

 

Todorov's Equilibrium theory refers to their being an equilibrium (everything is okay and normal) at the start of the film, then there is a disruption (something goes wrong) and then at the end a new equilibrium (everything is okay again) at the end. This theory works in 5 stages; equilibrium, disruption, recognition of disruption, attempt to repair disruption and new equilibrium. Thrillers tend to follow this narrative, or at least most of it. For example, Eden Lake started off with everything being good and then there was the disruption but no new equilibrium. Shawshank Redemption also followed it mostly, it started off with the disruption which carried on throughout the film until the ending, where everything was good again.

Most thriller films also follow Propp's Characters theory. He proposed that there were eight spheres of action; the villain, the hero, the princess, the donor, the helper, the princesses farther, the dispatcher and the false hero. Thriller films tend to have most of these in their films, however one or two may be missing, but in general, thrillers tend to follow this theory. For example, in 28 Days Later, Jim was the hero, Hannah was the princess, Major West was the false hero and Frank was the farther.

Films can also be either objective or subjective, however most tend to be a mixture. Objective is when the audience observes the characters and what they're doing (they use no POV shots) and subjective is when there is a large amount of POV shots used to put the audience in the characters perspective. Thrillers tend to use a mixture of these. This is because POV shots can be used on vulnerable characters to put the audience in their shoes, this engages the audience into the film a lot more. However objective shots are more to show the audience what is going on, this can create suspense in the scene as the audience watches characters commit their actions, and this is particularly effective when done on the antagonist.

Levi's binary opposition theory is also portrayed in most films, including thrillers. For example, most thriller films have an antagonist and a protagonist, this clearly represents good vs evil. An example of this is in Eden Lake, Jenny and Steve (good) are against the youths (evil), this also represents old vs young. Binary opposites don't just have to be with the characters either, for example, Eden Lake portrayed the city as being safe and the countryside as being dangerous (urban vs rural). This helped build suspense and tension in the film as it used the audience’s common fears, such as urbanoia (being away from civilisation and being isolated). These opposites are particularly effective in thrillers as it makes the good vs bad easily distinguishable for the audience, thus creating more suspense and tension between the two.