Genre Codes and Conventions essay

Crime Drama, being a genre that shares codes and convention of the Crime Thriller and Drama could be classed as a sub-genre. However, it has certain aspects that make it unique and thus its own genre. The genre is constantly evolving as its two surrogate genres codes and conventions change. It is this, the codes and convention associated and the film found within this genre that appealed to me and caused me to base my film around them.

 

The pacing of Crime Dramas is often slow, fluctuating in action, with short bursts throughout and then action of higher intensity as the plot reaches its climax. Often the violence is used to ensure the audience does not believe that the lifestyle portrayed is good by adding a sense of realism. It also ensures that the characters on screen who are typically gangsters are kept out-side of typical morality. An example would be the concluding scene in Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino, were the gangsters end up shooting each other over the innocence of Mr Orange (Tim Roth). This shows a perverse form of morality: Mr White being on the side of good (protecting Mr Orange) and Eddie and Joe being on the side of evil (they want to kill Mr Orange) in filmic terms. However, no gangster is particularly better than the other, as in an earlier scene we see Mr White shoots two police officers. Thus the Mexican standoff scene is a sort of justice, a convention often played with in a genre that portrays characters outside the laws of morality.

 

 

The Square off between Mr White (Harvey Keitel), Nice Guy Eddie (Chris Penn) and Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney) – Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992)

Characters in Crime Drama often create a hardened criminal facade that they display to their friends among the gang. However, Crime Dramas use multidimensional characters to add a human element and give the audience a method of connecting to the character not as a gangster but as a human. An example in Reservoir Dogs would be were Mr White takes pity on Mr Orange and becomes a surrogate father to him. He even goes as far as telling him his real name which Joe (the head of the bank robbery operation) bans them from doing so. This allows us to connect with Mr White essentially making him the protagonist of the film and the one gangster we connect with even though he is a cop killer. Another example would be in Casino by Martin Scorsese were Sam Rothstein (Robert De Niro) falls in love with Ginger (Sharon Stone). The affection he shows towards her is not what we expect from a meticulous criminal and thus allows the audience to connect with him on the grounds of similar emotions. It this focus on characters as gangsters and characters as people that is a convention of the Crime Drama genre. 

Sam Rothstein (Robert De Niro) showing his affection towards Ginger (Sharon Stone) through jewels in Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995), not what we expect from a high flying gangster.

Crime Drama also focuses on the family contrasted to organised crime’s “family”. It explores how they are portrayed and how one affects the other. An example of this would be in Goodfellas, (Martin Scorsese) were Harry Hill and his wife, descend into an erratic world of drug abuse. As Harry’s family falls apart so does his other “family” and vice versa. The juxtaposition of events show that Harry does not differentiate between the two and his private family becomes a part of his business family as shown with the over dub of Karen (his wife) explaining the mob was the only friends they had and that it had become normal to see them on a regular basis.

The protagonists often tend to be aspiring gangsters, constantly trying to strive for more money and a better life. The plots often centre around the rise and fall of these gangsters showing them succeed and then come undone and end up in a worse position than previously e.g. dead. The films often portray comic sequences to make the characters more endearing to the audience. An example would be in Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino) were Vincent and Jules discuss the ethics of throwing a man out of a window on the suspicion of giving the boss’s wife a foot massage before killing a group of young adults working for Marsellus Wallace (the boss).

 

 

 

 

 

 Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) discussing the connotations of a foot massage in Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)

Crime Dramas also show characters with human flaws such as greed or misunderstanding, making them believable characters and allowing the audience to connect with them upon these common grounds. At the same time greed is also often a theme explored in crime dramas and is often the downfall of many characters. An example can be found in Casino by Martin Scorsese, were Nicky wants a “piece of the action” and ends up bringing the attention of the FBI on the casinos which the mob bosses make the majority of their money. This leads to Nicky’s death at the end of the film as wells as the taking of another man’s wife. Another example would be in Jacky Brown (Quentin Tarantino, 1997) were greed is one of the main themes of the film.

In my film I plan to use the majority of the codes and conventions of Crime Drama. The audience will be able to connect with the protagonist due to the way his relationship is shown with his girlfriend and how he tries to keep his brother out of trouble. These loyalties to other characters make him the more appealing than the rest of the group. The other main characters also have traits that allow the audience to relate to for example, Gino’s gambling problem and Fadge’s drug problem. Each character has his or her own short comings that make them fallible and more human when perform inhumane tasks. Comedy is delivered through dialogue; for example in the opening scene, Irish states how burgers are the height of Capitalism, clearly inspired by Tarantino.

The portrayal of morality is also present within my film. Jacky must perform the tasks set in order to support his brother and pay off the debt to Joe. Though he does pay for the atrocities he has caused with his life he dies trying to avenge his brother, a play on the ideology of “an eye for an eye”. None of the characters in the film go unpunished and as a result the convention of a twisted morality is present.

 

There is little action within my film (again conforming to the genre codes and conventions) and what action occurs, is quick but emphasised when contrasted to the rest of the film except from that of the climax of the plot. The effect being the reality of the harsh and brutal world the characters live in is never far away and the casual way in which the violence is portrayed shows how desensitised the gang is.

 

I have tried to incorporate all codes and conventions into my film with a few exceptions such as the contrasting family conventions will not be covered to a suitable degree but will still be present. I have taken inspiration from the films and directors mentioned in terms of story and plot structure (e.g. I have followed Tarantino’s non chronological plot structure) and filming techniques to attempt to create a good Crime Drama that fulfils its codes and conventions in order to appeal to my target audience and make it a success.  

Callum Ahmed