12th February 2010 - Character and Characteristics of Thriller Research

This blog is a bit late, but i thought it should be uploaded as it shows some extra research i did into the Thriller genre. Not only did i watch and write about the openings of Monster and Bourne Ultimatum, but i also researched the characters and characteristics that can be found in a thriller:

Characters

Characters in thrillers include convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims (often on the run), prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, fugitives, private eyes, drifters, duplicitous individuals, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more.

The heroes in most thrillers are frequently "hard men" accustomed to danger: law enforcement officers, spies, soldiers, seamen or aviators. However, they may also be ordinary citizens drawn into danger by accident. While such heroes have traditionally been men, women lead characters have become increasingly common.

Women are often the victims and are seen to be weak while the killers or villain are often men. The Villain is either doing what he does for : Revenge, Love, Loss, Mental Issues or self identity.

Characteristics

Thrillers are often hybrids - there are suspense-thrillers, action- or adventure- thrillers, sci-fi thrillers (such as Alien (1979)), crime-caper thrillers (such as The French Connection (1971)), western-thrillers (such as High Noon (1952)), film-noir thrillers (such as Double Indemnity (1944)), even romantic comedy-thrillers (such as Safety Last (1923)).

The themes of thrillers frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.