History of crime genre

Crime and Gangster Films are developed around the sinister actions of criminals or gangsters, particularly bankrobbers, underworld figures, or ruthless hoodlums who operate outside the law, stealing and violently murdering their way through life. In the 1940s, a new type of crime thriller emerged, more dark and cynical - see the section on film-noir for further examples of crime films. Criminal and gangster films are often categorized as post-war film noir or detective-mystery films - because of underlying similarities between these cinematic forms.

Criminal/gangster films date back to the early days of film during the silent era. One of the first to mark the start of the gangster/crime genre was D. W. Griffith's The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) about organized crime. It wasn't the first gangster movie ever made, but it was the first significant gangster film that has survived. There were other one-reel 'gangster' films before Griffith's film, such as Biograph's The Moonshiners (1904), Edwin S. Porter's and Wallace McCutcheon's primitive chase film A Desperate Encounter Between Burglars And Police (1905), and McCutcheon's docu-melodrama kidnapping story The Black Hand (1906), but their importance or availability have been problematic.

It wasn't until the sound era and the 1930s that gangster films truly became an entertaining, popular way to attract viewers to the theatres, who were interested in the lawlessness and violence on-screen. The events of the Prohibition Era (until 1933) such as bootlegging and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929, the existence of real-life gangsters (e.g., Al Capone) and the rise of contemporary organized crime and escalation of urban violence helped to encourage this genre. Many of the sensationalist plots of the early gangster films were taken from the day's newspaper headlines. The allied rackets of bootlegging, gambling and prostitution brought these mobsters to folk hero status, and audiences during that time vicariously participated in the gangster's rise to power and wealth - on the big screen. They vicariously experienced the gangster's satisfaction with flaunting the system and feeling the thrill of violence. Movies flaunted the archetypal exploits of swaggering, cruel, wily, tough, and law-defying bootleggers and urban gangsters.

The talkies era accounted for the rise of crime films, because these films couldn't come to life without sound (machine gun fire, screeching brakes, screams, chases through city streets and squealing car tires). The perfection of sound technology and mobile cameras also aided their spread. The first "100% all-talking" picture and, of course, the first sound gangster film was The Lights of New York (1928) - it enhanced the urban crime dramas of the time with crackling dialogue and exciting sound effects of squealing getaway car tires and gunshots. Rouben Mamoulian's City Streets (1931) from a story penned by Dashiell Hammett was reportedly Al Capone's favorite film, starring Gary Cooper and Sylvia Sydney as two lovers trapped by gangland connections. And Tay Garnett's violent Bad Company (1931) was the first picture to feature the gangland massacre on St. Valentine's Day.

Other highly dramatic films in the crime genre are actually a subgenre - the prison crime film. These are focused on the regimented setting for criminals - the prison and life behind bars. Prison films have portrayed the tremendous impact prison life has on prisoners as well as on wardens and guards. They are often populated by vindictive wardens, innocent men wrongly imprisoned, or stool-pigeons. Themes have also included methods of evasion, attempts to escape or prove innocence, social consciousness and concern about the prison system, and the death-row experience.

As stated earlier, as the decade of the 40s and the post-war period emerged, crime films became darker, more brutal, violent, and cynical -- many crime/gangster films were actually film noirs. After World War II, gangsters were often businessmen who represented large and corrupt corporations (often anonymous). The first film to illustrate changes in the character of gangsters after WWII was Byron Haskin's I Walk Alone (1948). Burt Lancaster took the role of Frankie Madison, an ex-con who faced a changed world and a double-cross by his partner after his release from 14 years in prison. He learned that Noll 'Dink' Turner (Kirk Douglas) was now a pseudo-legitimate and respectable, high-flying Manhattan night-club owner/racketeer, unwilling to share in bootlegging profits from an earlier promise (Turner: "This is big business. We deal with banks, lawyers, and a Dunn and Bradstreet rating. The world's spun right past you, Frank.")

1970s films showed the untiring, violent and abusive counter tactics of detectives fighting crime including William Friedkin's The French Connection (1971), with two narcotics detectives (Gene Hackman as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle and Roy Scheider as Buddy Russo) facing an international narcotics smuggling ring. [Two semi-sequels or follow-up films also emphasized tough and violent police tactics: director Phil D'Antoni's The Seven-Ups (1973), with Scheider in the lead role as a tough NYC police department investigator, and Badge 373 (1973), with Robert Duvall as an avenging cop.] Director John Frankenheimer's official sequel French Connection II (1975) resumed the tracking of drug dealers in Marseilles by Doyle.

In the early 90s, young screenwriter Quentin Tarantino made his debut film as writer and director. He turned toward directing his own scripts set in the unusual, volatile world of the criminal element. His own directorial debut for a feature film, after having others direct his scripts for True Romance (1993) and Natural Born Killers (1994), was for the ultra-violent crime thriller Reservoir Dogs (1992) - in which six thieving strangers were assembled to conduct a diamont heist that unraveled rapidly in the aftermath. Afterwards, he perfected his mix of humor and ultra-violence in the popular, critically-acclaimed film Pulp Fiction (1994), a complex interweaving of three crime stories.

It may be argued that the best genre match for 'serial killer' films is the horror genre or thriller films category, but they could also be categorized within this area of crime films. Early horror films (including the Dracula and Frankenstein cycles), various pieces of Gothic literature and accounts of real-life killers have all been sources of inspiration for these films. They are noted as cinematic productions that feature a psychopathic, mass murderer/killer (not known as a 'serial killer' until the 1980s) on a homicidal spree. Within the last decade or two, most horror films with a mass murderer have deteriorated into slasher films or erotic dramas/mysteries, characterized by random killings by a maniacal individual.

Analysis of 3 crime posters of denotations to be studied for my assignment

Textual analysis of the first scene of Crime films

1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The opening clip of this film shows the audience a male character sitting in a car, waiting for someone at night, listening to the radio. He slowly begins to pull a gun out of his glove compartment.

The use of dim lighting is used at the beginning of the opening scene, creating an atmosphere of mystery to the audience as a male character sits in a car in silence. The use of non-digective sounds of an old 1950's era song has been used to create a date in which the film has been set in. Ironically, the 1950's is probably the most popular era of crime films, especially as film noir and gangster films are predominantly set in this time period and were created at this date in time. Slow shots used of the character revealing a gun and a bottle of alcohol suggests to the audience that he is waiting in the car for someone he knows and that this character is going to be central to the plot, committing the crime. The opening scene being set in a car suggests that the character is trapped into a situation, he has no freedom and has no choice but to commit the crime.

2. Sin City (2005)

The film opens with two characters in a passionate embrace on a balcony overlooking New-York City. As they kiss, the audience are shown the female character being killed by the male and he holds her as she dies.

A film noir effect has been visually used here. The use of black and white is predominant to the film as well as in the opening scene the use of Red, which the female is wearing on her lips and her dress. This suggests to the audience sex, passion and love and emphasises the relationship between the male and female in the scene as they kiss. The use of narrative gives the audience a sense of the male characters point of view, he seemed to love this woman after mentioning her held the woman until she had died. It creates an atmosphere of sympathy. Slow shots are used in this clip also; this can emphasise the fact that men are more powerful than women as he is narrating as well as being the murderer in this scene.

3. Goodfellas (1990)

The film begins with 3 male characters traveling in a car whilst a woman is in the boot tied up. As she makes noise the men stop the car, and stab and shoot the female character.

The image of a car driving fast in a dark setting and red tail lighting suggests danger to the audience.3 Italian men are sat in the car, which is a convention of crime films (Italian mafia, mobs etc) The car is black and white, symbolising a possibility of good and evil, there is more black on the car suggesting that Evil has overtaken good. A digective sound coming from the boot of the car suggests that someone is inside and creates an atmosphere of suspicion as the audience see the men pull out a knife and gun and open the boot. The use of the red tail-light now shone all over their body is symbolic to blood.

Target audience of crime films

Crime drama has become one of the most popular genres of film in society today, dating back to the early 1900's. They appeal to their audience by dealing with themes and issues the viewers are aware of through their engagement with news and current affairs, such as murders and love affairs. Just as important as the themes and issues it deals with are the values and attitudes presented and the view of the world it offers. The ideologies presented usually reflect those of their target audience. The target audience for crime drama is usually teenagers to adults. Men are normally the target audience of crime films because for decades the main characters are more commonly played by masculine characters rather than feminine. However, the appeal has changed over the years with women beginning to take an interest in the genre as society is more forthcoming and forward in its right to equality and women and men treated equally so they are more knowledgeable and independent today then 40 years ago per say. Women have also had a common role in crime films as glamourous and feminine, making sexual advances and seducing men, such as films like James Bond.

Typical conventions of crime films

Analysis of crime films

BBFC Guidelines For Age Groups!

Guidelines for a film being rated 15 Certificate (as noted by BBFC)

Discrimination:

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory

language or behaviour.

Drugs:

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not

promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily

accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example,

aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror:

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic

or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour:

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and

self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be

copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language:

There may be frequent use of strong language (for example,

‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be

acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated

use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity:

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without

strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a

non-sexual or educational context.

Theme:

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is

appropriate for 15 year olds.

Violence:

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction

of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to

be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also

unlikely to be acceptable.

There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence

but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and

have a strong contextual justification.

The film “Gran Torino” has been rated a 15 based on these guidelines

Guidelines for a film to be rated an 18 certificate (As noted by BBFC)

In line with the consistent findings of the BBFC’s public

consultations and The Human Rights Act 1998, at ‘18’ the

BBFC’s guideline concerns will not normally override

the principle that adults should be free to choose their

own entertainment. Exceptions are most likely in the

following areas:

• where the material is in breach of the criminal law,

or has been created through the commission of a

criminal offence

• where material or treatment appears to the BBFC to

risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour,

to society – for example, any detailed portrayal of

violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use,

which may cause harm to public health or morals.

This may include portrayals of sexual or sexualised

violence which might, for example, eroticise or

endorse sexual assault

• where there are more explicit images of sexual

activity which cannot be justified by context. Such

images may be appropriate in ‘R18’ works, and in

‘sex works’ (see below) would normally be confined

to that category.

In the case of video works (including video games),

which may be more accessible to younger viewers,

intervention may be more frequent than for cinema films.

Films such as “The Godfather” and “Goodfellas” have been rated 18