Thriller Genre

Thriller is a genre of television, literature or film that captivates suspense, excitement, tension and elements that appeal to the audience and the narrative.

The ingredients of thrillers:

Martin Rubin published the book 'Thrillers 1999' that expresses how modern thrillers use the technique of the 'Transformed City'. This is where a thriller mainly set in urban and quite safe environments transform into
unsafe places, (transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary).

Northrop Frye describes how thrillers use 'Heroic Romance', this is to use an ordinary person like 'us' and to turn them into a hero. An ordinary person is used as it allows the audience to relate (to the programme, novel or film) and understand why the character is forced to behave in extroardinary ways because of his/her circumstances.
-'Moves the world in which ordinary laws of nature are slightly suspended'
-Enchanted Forest. Normal modern city.

John Cawelti portrayed 'The Exotic', where the modern/normal city is enchanted and contains great mystery.

W H Matthews explains how thrillers use 'Mazes and labyrinths' this originates from Greek mythology, it shows how a hero in a thriller often finds themselves in a predicament, faced with mazes full of twists and dead ends in order to find the villain or a final outcome. This is a metaphor of the narrative, to represent how the audience is faced with puzzles and problem solving.

Pascal Bonitzer presents how thrillers use 'Partial Vision' and how the audience can only see so much, as vital elements are hidden. These blind spots are introduced to create suspense and present unanswered questions for the audience. This stresses how what we do not see is just as important of what we do see.

Lars Ole Saurberg portrays concealment and protraction, how suspense can be used in two different ways, as it can direct the audience in different ways. Concealment deliberately keeps something hidden and Protraction deliberately delays a suspected outcome, for example a planned killing, or a bomb explosion.

Noel Carroll presents 'The question and answer model', this describes how the audience are presented with questions that they are to wait in suspense for the answers, such as 'Who is the killer?', 'Will the hero die?' and 'What is the persons identity?' This presents probability factors of outcomes; something that seems to have a high possibility of happening is less exciting than the battle against the odds in which the audience have without having knowledge of the final outcome. Also the moral factor is the morally right outcome that in captivates and increases the audience's involvement, focus and interest.