Sin City

How Typical is Sin City to its genre(s)?

Sin City is a hybrid of two main genre's, these are Film Noir and Comic book. At times Sin City can be very typical to its genre, and portray the classic Film Noir and Comic book conventions however they can sometimes be diluted. For example, a typical Film Noir convention is that the protagonist would wear a trench coat, and in the film Sin City, protagonist John Hartigan, Marv and Dwight all wear trench coats. This is a typical noir convention, and the audience is able to recognise this. However the trench coat can also be seen as a hybrid. For example, in the scene where Marv is running down the street, and his leather coat is flapping in the wind behind him, it could represent a ,'cape' which be a typical comic book convention. Therefore, just by Mise en scene, and the item of a coat, it shows that the film is typical to both it's genres.

Another typical Noir convention is non-linear narrative. For example, one moment it's the scene with John being killed, and then suddenly jumps to a new character, Marv. Its in no particular order, and this helps create theme of mis-trust and paranoia. This is because the audience is questioning what's going on in the film, wondering whats happening and it helps build tension. Which once again mis-trust and paranoia is another typical convention of a film noir.

Another typical noir convention is the characters within the film. These characters include: the Protagonists (John Hartigan, Marv and Dwight), the Corrupts cops (Senator Roarke, Cardinal Roarke and Bob) and lastly the Femme Fatals (Goldiem Shelley, Gail and Nancy). These characters are very important within the film as they make up the storyline. A typical Noir Protagonist is willing to put themselves before others, this quote that the character Hartigan says shows this; "an old man dies, a little girl lives" why is a typical noir personality trait. He would rather save someone else's life rather then their own. A typical Femme fatal trait would be, using their femminity in order to manipulate the male protagonists, this usually ends up with them ending up into trouble. This is shown in the scene where Cecile tries to take matters in her own hands, to save both her and \marv, however ends up being killed herself. This represents women characters in the film as being naïve, as she tries to do right however doesn't realise that the cops are corrupt and ends up dead. Therefore emphaises the fact that women need the men in order too look after them and keep them safe, because without them (i.e. Cecile not having Marv) they end up in trouble.