In this essay, I will show how genre and narrative is established in two crime films. In order to do to this, we conducted a close textual analysis of Oceans Eleven and The Bone Collector.

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Genre and narrative are established in many different ways. In this essay, I will show how genre and narrative is established in two crime films. In order to do to this, we conducted a close textual analysis of ‘Oceans Eleven’ and ‘The Bone Collector’. The conventions used to signify crime genre include law enforces, criminals, action sequences etc… Iconography such as guns, hi tech weaponry, gadgets, police uniform etc… also signify the crime genre. Examples of crime films include, Knockaround Guys (2001), Layer Cake (2004) and I-Robot (2004). The crime genre includes many sub genres. These sub genres include: Heist (Ocean’s Eleven), Crime Thriller (Psycho), Detective (Columbo) etc…

        The crime genre is a mainstream genre that appeals to mainstream and independent users. This is noticeable, as many famous stars are known to star in crime films. These stars include George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts etc… Many other genres mix neatly with this genre. For example, the sci-fi genre or the spy genre. This is the main reason why the crime genre has many sub genres.

        This genre appeals to a mainstream and diverse audience for a variety of reasons. Crime films usually contain plenty of action and include well-known stars. They have a complicated plot, which intrigues the audience. Crime films are usually in the form of generic hybrids. For example I-robot, which is a sci-fi thriller. Very successful crime films include, ‘Ocean’s Eleven’, ‘Bone Collector’ and ‘I-Robot’. Actors that have emerged through memorable roles in crime films are, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Andy Garcia, and Matt Damon etc… These crime films have resulted in actors being typecast. This means that the actors are expected to play a certain role. For example, George Clooney is typecast as a sympathetic criminal.

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        The films that I have analysed are ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ and ‘The Bone Collector’. Ocean’s Eleven was released in 2001 and is a crime-comedy film. Similar films that were released during this year were, ‘Gosford Park’ and ‘Monster Ball’.  The director of ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ is Steven Soderbergh, who has directed and written many films and won many awards. The stars in the film (George Clooney, Brad Pitt) are typecast. George Clooney plays the sympathetic criminal and Brad Pitt plays the carefree criminal. Ocean’s Eleven was a box office success. It is a high concept film. We can tell this because a lot ...

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