My chosen text Sin City has several Genre's, the overriding ones being Horror, Comic and Film Nior. These genre's within the film are used very typically in that they are all as you would expect. The Horror is portrayed through the gore and overall sinister plot, the Comic is foreshadowed through the use of black and white high contrast pictures with 'splashes' of colour, and finally Film Nior is furthermore shown through the high contrast black and white imagery and miserable urban settings.
Film Nior is the overriding theme within the film, and its obvious of this through the conventions used. Film Nior allows the film to be distored, skewed and uncomfortable to look at, to ultimately put the viewer at unease. This is created through the genre conventions used. For example, the urban settings set the scene allowing it to be seen as a typical 'rough' area; reinforced through the violence. The weather furthermore portrays the mood of the particular scene through the use of pathetic fallacy, overall adding to that tense, gloomy atmosphere.
The camera angles used are also typical of the Film Nior genre. Extreme close ups are used to reinforce facial expression and in contrast 'deep focus' is used to show the setting of the scene. The extreme closeup thus restricts the viewers sight around the scene, putting them on edge and tense. This can also relate to the 'Horror' genre as it creates a sense of being unaware and alone. Dutch Tilts are also used in the film, once again very typical of the Film Nior genre. These are used to create 'awkward' angles to look at, thus again create the sense of unease to the viewer.
Certain characters within the film are also typical of Film Nior. Police are portrayed as 'corrupt' making them a 'false hero' such as Bob for shooting his partner. This is shown through and supports Propps Character theory as we also see heros through Hartigan and princesses through Nancy.
Film Nior overall is very typically portrayed within the film. The voice overs, melonchony downbeat music, and non-linear editing furthermore contribute to the genre.
Horror is also a very big genre within Sin City; it once again is very typically used however through a comic style. This is shown through the over the top gore. The torture scenes are very typically 'horror' however the gore is very comicy and less typical. The gore is genrally very bright colours and seem to 'splash' overall creating very humourous scenes.
Film Nior can be incorpirated within the Horror genre. For example through the voice overs; the deep voices of the male protagonist create a very sinister feel, as a deep voice give connatations of power and authority. This is typical of males within the film as they hold the dominance over women. Secondly the pathetic fallacy of thunder and lighting furthermore create an overall sinister and horror atmophere. The weather works great with the black and white high contrast imagery as it creates shadows which typical of horror films create an overall tense feeling for the viewer.
Finally the genre of Comic is very typical in the film. The comic theme holds the film together and keeps it to what its intial aim was to be. Intertexuality is obvious in the Comic genre through the mentions to Superman and Lancelot. This comic book theme is furthermore portrayed through the over the top jumping off of buildings, dramatic sound effects, and very bright splash of colours.
In conslusion these 3 genres within the film overall allow it to become Postmodern and the film is thus very typical of its chosen Genres.
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