Key Characters in
Thrillers
Vladimir Propp’s Theory
Vladimir Propp developed a
character theory in order to study media texts and productions. Propp’s Theory
indicates that there were 7 character types in the 100 tales he analysed, which
could be applied to other media. These were the following:
The villain (struggles against the
hero)
The donor (prepares the hero or
gives the hero some magical object)
The (magical) helper (helps the
hero in the quest)
The princess (person the hero
marries, often sought for during the narrative)
The false hero (perceived as good
character in beginning but emerges as evil)
The dispatcher (character who
makes the lack known and sends the hero off)
The hero [AKA
victim/seeker/paladin/winner, reacts to the donor, weds the princess)
In Thrillers there is a clear line
between the good and evil characters, there is usually an evil team/character
and a good team/character. Common methods and themes in crime thrillers are
mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings. More common in
mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique. Common
elements in psychological thrillers are mind games, psychological themes,
stalking, confinement/deathtraps, horror-of-personality, and obsession.
Elements such as fringe theories, false accusations and paranoia are common in
paranoid thrillers. Threats to entire countries, spies, espionage,
conspiracies, assassins and electronic surveillance are common in spy
thrillers.
The primary elements of the
thriller genre:
The protagonist(s) faces death,
either his and/or her or somebody else's.
The force(s) of the antagonist's
must initially be cleverer and/or stronger than the protagonist's.
The main storyline for the
protagonist is either a quest or a character that cannot be put down.
The main plotline focuses on a
mystery that must be solved.
The film's narrative construction
is dominated by the protagonist's point of view.
All action and characters must be
credibly realistic or natural in their representation on screen.
The two major themes that underpin
the thriller genre are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals.
One small, but significant, aspect
of a thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially
corrupt world.
The protagonist(s) and antagonist(s)
may battle, themselves and each other, not just on a physical level, but on a
mental one as well.
Either by accident or their own
curiousness, each character is dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation
that they are not prepared to resolve.
Characters usually include
criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims (often on the run), menaced
women, characters with deep dark pasts, psychotic individuals, spree killers,
sociopaths, agents, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, private eyes, people
involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends,
and more. The themes frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy,
pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.
The protagonists are frequently
ordinary citizens unaccustomed to danger, although commonly in crime thrillers,
they may also be "hard men" accustomed to danger such as police
officers and detectives. While protagonists of thrillers have traditionally
been men, women lead characters are increasingly common. In psychological
thrillers, the protagonists are reliant on their mental resources, whether it
be by battling wits with the antagonist or by battling for equilibrium in the
character's own mind. The suspense often comes from two or more characters preying
upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or
by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state.
This character from the thriller
film ‘Gone Girl’ is perceived as bad but turns out to be innocent therefore
making him part of the main plot line. The main plot line of a thriller focuses
on a mystery that must be solved, in this particular case the disappearance of
his wife. As the story unfolds, we find out his wife is a psycho that planned
and faked her own murder.
Grace Blick Produced this.
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