How typical are your chosen texts of their genre?

Each of my three texts, Sin City, Fish Tank and District 9 show typical conventions throughout which are clearly associated with their intended genres. However in Sin City and District 9 we see an essence of postmodernism with the use of a hybrid genre.

To start, Sin City is presented as a hybrid genre. Throughout we see themes of comic book and horror alongside Noir. Sin City presents the typical conventions expected of Noir such as the rainy streets, Jazz music, dark scenes and a story evolving around two main cynical protagonists. In this case they are Hartigan and Marv. Throughout Sin City we see essences of mistrust, depression and paranoia presented through the characters. This could be addressed as a result of the post WWII time it is set in and the typical personality expected of male protagonists in the Noir genre. An example of mistrust is during Hartigans part. As he is trying to save Nancy we see the idea of 'good cop, bad cop' being addressed as Hartigan is shot in the back by his colleague. In this instance we see a clear link to Propp with the Hero trying to save the princess but gets stopped by the false hero, thus proving Sin City's hybrid nature with the use of the 'comic book' style hero, princess and villain structure. Another way these themes are addressed to us are through voice overs, which are also another typical noir convention. The story is being told to us directly through voice overs whilst getting supported by the actions on screen. Hartigan and Marvs voices are very dark and depressed, like they somewhat know that their inevitable demise is coming, and a clear example of this depression is when Marv says "Hell is waking up every goddam day and not knowing why you are still here". The use of voice overs, in turn, gives us a direct insight as to what the characters are thinking and tell us about their personality.

In terms of how the male protagonists are presented to us, they typically appear strong with a strong sense of authority, however with a constant underlying weakness usually linked to a girl. It is typical of film noir to have the main protagonists lifes influenced by the actions of a femme fatale, which commonly leads to their demise. In Marv's case it is Goldie and in Hartigans case it is Nancy. There is a clear link to this during Marv's death scene. We see the camera zoom into Marv's eye where we see Goldie lying in her death bed, where Marv's disequilibrium began. This clearly links the death of Goldie to the death of Marv, proving her to be a femme fatale. Throughout Sin City the use of colors are also quite common, contradicting traditional Noir black and white. This postmodernist technique is used commonly to highlight certain features around ones nature, quite commonly with the women we see. The common use of red on women, in particular Goldie, suggests seductiveness, sexuality, blood, danger and death, supporting the femme fatale theme.

District 9 is also a hybrid genre. As well as being typically a science fiction film, we also see a documentary style coming through too. The typical Si Fi conventions are shown through the aliens, the space ships and the human to alien transformation. These conventions are all shown to us through a hand held camera, adding to the documentary style approach given and making it seem as if the events shown are real. In addition, the close relationship Wikkus has to the camera supports this. He is constantly looking, speaking and referring back to the camera during the scenes where there is a hand held camera filming him. This is contradicting to other similar science fiction films such as 'The Fly' where there is no hybrid approach and it is purely science fiction. However, the Si Fi aspect of both District 9 and The Fly are very comparable as both films include a transformation of some sort. Typically of Si Fi, District 9 follows a pattern of Equilibrium, disequilibrium, the recognition of this disequilibrium with an attempt to restore it. In this case the equilibrium is not restored for wikkus, but it is restored for Christopher, who is an alien wikkus worked with to try and get the spaceship working. The idea of a human and alien working together is a clear example of the hybrid nature of District 9 as that type of cooperation isn't a typical feature of Science fiction.

Fish Tank however is not a hybrid. It is strictly a social realist film. Throughout Fish Tank typical themes such as dystopia, underage sex and violence are addressed throughout. To show those themes Cinematography and mise en scene plays a big part throughout Fish Tank. The natural lighting, the ragged old clothes, the digetic sound of traffic in the distance and the rough council estate are all typical conventions of the social realist genre. The use of a hand held camera is also used commonly throughout to express the uneven, gritty nature of a social realist film and poverty in Britain. To support this we have Mia throughout, showing what is expected of the main character in a social realist film. Throughout Fish Tank we see Mia walking around quite fast, like she has somewhere to go, like she is of some importance, when really she is stuck in this continuous, dysfunctional cycle. To build on this idea, when looking at Mia's mum and little sister, we can see a chain. Mia is very much like her mother with a very violent nature and we can see this coming through in Mia's little sister too. Much like Mia and her mum, Mia's little sister, Tyler, also uses bad language to address people and is very aggressive. Thus the 'passing down of personalities' we see adds to the idea of a dysfunctional cycle with no way out. To support this, the fact that the characters in fish tank are unknown actors and actresses adds to the realism of the film, as they appear to be ordinary people. Further more the use of language in Fish Tank is very foul and informal. With the extensive use of the word c*nt among other swear words, it seems as if using bad language has became part of their natural dialect, giving another clear portrayal of the gritty nature of British poverty and social realism.

To conclude, each text holds various classic conventions that make it typical of their genre, some however do mix with other genres to create a more postmodern viewing, attracting a wider, more modern audience.