A Dig Into What MakesThrillers So Popular

Nowadays there seems to be just about every genre playing in the cinema. From action flicks to comedies or even Sci-fis, Hollywood offers us a continuous platter of options to consume from. But what exactly sets all of these movies apart? what is it that gives one the right to call “Spider man” an action movie Vs. “Mean girls” a chick flick? Well, to start with we can thank code and convictions that are found in the movies.

My favorite genre of movies is the Psychological thriller genre. No, you wont find me hovering over a bowl of pop corn with my girlfriends drooling over Ryan Gosling in the latest romantic comedy. Why? oh don’t worry i’ll explain why. I just love thrillers. I love everything about them, in fact you could say i obsess over them .I enjoy the plot, the twist, and the blood but most of all I enjoy the suspense that these movies create. In psychological thrillers you are always going to have a cliffhanger or a “thrill” that will keep you at your edge. At the beginning of the film you might be confused as to why the characters are saying or doing certain things and that is exactly why I love psychological thrillers. They are like a little workout for your brain. No , not a fast paced walk that watching a action movie may cause, but a nice 10km per hour jog. Psychological thrillers make you think. They make you confused, make you THINK you understand the plot and then they make you think again. Lets take “Shutter Island” for instance. Upon leaving the cinema did you say “gosh Leo is so cute” or did you ponder and think into the psychological aspect of was Leo actually crazy all along or did the people at the hospital make him believe he was crazy. The main focus of psychological thrillers is the character and the inner psychological conflict that the character is battling with. This type of genre usually uses  time disorientation such as  flashbacks, dreams or premonitions in order to give the viewer a better understanding of the characters past. It also uses dark colors and dark lighting causing a mysterious setting not making it a vibrant movie. The music is also dark and eerie  also using silence in order to let you focus on what the character is going through/ thinking. Many of the times the characters have a troubled past or have troubling issues of their own which is something that is usually not portrayed in other types of genres. A psychological thriller is very much a puzzle for the mind. The characters( especially main character) are usually dealing with death or some sort of violence, torture and life itself is usually threatened because the main character is innocent and unsuspecting of the conditions around him/her. There are also many psychotic characters in the film that are dealing with mental issues.

All in all, people love psychological thrillers because things are never what they seem to be and I think that there are enough genres out there where we know exactly what we are going to get as soon as the ticket boy rips off the stub of our “admit I ” ticket. Psychological thrillers have very much mystery involved in them as well as the violence and crime involved in normal thrillers. At the end of the plot, psychological thrillers usually always have a twist that makes you re-think the way you were previously thinking during the whole movie. It is often very normal to watch a movie twice in order  to really understand what is happening. People also enjoy the experience one gets when watching this type of genre because In a way you are also dealing with the psychological issues that the characters are facing as you try and understand the movie. Psychological thrillers are much more emotional and mental rather then physical.There are many psychological thrillers that I absolutely adore but my two favorite would have to be “Shutter Island” and “Side Effects” ( I attached a link to the trailer). Side effects shares many of the codes and conventions that a true psychological thriller has. For example, it has the seemingly happy couple where at the BEGINING of the film we think eveything is just amazing between them. We then go on to see that one of the main characters has deep rooted psychological issues as she is clinically depressed and Her husband is the typical code of this genre ; a character that is innocent yet gets sucked into a darker world. There are many flashbacks that show just how happy the couple once was. No one expects nor understands why she would kill her husband as she seems to be deeply in love. It is also very clear that even less people expect to see her kissing her former psychologist. I mean, who would have known that she murdered some one, pretended to be depressed, and blackmailed her psychologist  just so she could run off with her lesbian lover. A very strange twist indeed. One of the classics in this genre is “American psycho”. A seemingly normal, handsome, and successful man turns unexpectadly “psycho” at night , killing almost evey woman he comes across.  The characters in the film are all lured in my his wall street talk and fortune yet what they cant see is that he is actually a sick man with odd sexual fantasies and taste for blood. the movie , with its special thrilling music and play with death has viewers on the edge as they wait and see the fate of each women that goes to his apartment. The viewers also try and understand the psychological reasoning as to why a man who has it all would perform such disgusting crimes.

 

 

Beauty is in The Eye of Photoshop

It is very obvious what kind of women the magazine companies such as Elle, Vogue and Vanity Fair are portraying on the covers of their magazines. Beautiful, flawless women or so we think. It is extremely rare to come across a magazine , even one that is not focused on the beauty industry and see a volumptuous woman on the cover let alone a face with acne or crooked teeth or “natural” features. The problem with this is that the women that are on these covers are actually not real women at all. They have been severlely altered to make them more attractive to the consumer. After all, who wants to buy a picture of an everyday woman that we get to see everywhere for free anyway.

The article by Jezebel featuring Lena Dunham’s shoot for Vogue shows us just how the beauty industry works. The unaltered image was pretty much perfect to begin with. In the images of Dunham we see a attractive woman who could benefit from some lighting but not any altering, yet Vogue still has managed to find a way to change the photo and make her look even more “attractive”. The hips have been pulled in along with making her neck look longer and a different jawline. All these things are what vogue thinks is necesary to be found attractive. The second article on Lena Dunham by the New York Times,  is explaining to us what exactly went on in the minds of the people when they saw the unretouched photos. The article goes on to explain that Dunham was barely retouched and that compared to the other magazine photoshoots, covers and etc, this one is actually quite “real” . Vogue is being defended

What is actually real about a image composed of three different images all taken at a different time and then blended to produce a natural look like the one with a piegon on the head? Personally, I do agree with Jezebels article. I do not think that the images of Dunham had to be altered. What we can see from the unretouched photos is a beautiful young woman who is already naturally pretty and does not need photoshop to suck in one inch of her stomache in order to recreate a divine godess fit for the cover of vogue. I can understand the opion of the The New York Times and how compared to other models , she does seem quite natural. But the thing is, what are we comparing the image to? We should not be comparing that image to one of a model who has been altered every way shape and form. Instead,we should be comparing Dunham’s image to that of a natural woman with curves and under eye circles vs someone that is not real. And when we do that, it is clear that the image should not have been altered to begin with.

The other magazine under attack is Elle’s cover with Melissa McCarthy. Here, the magazine shows a plus size woman on the front cover of a world famous magazine. So whats the catch? she’s fully clothed. Not just fully clothed, but as the article states, “she could hide her Mike and Molly co-star Billy Gardel underneath”.  Slate goes on to say that the magazine also decided to cover her face with a large amount of hair in oder to cover the roundness of her cheeks. Poor, Melissa. Its almost as if Elle wishes they had Harry Potter’s disappearing cloak so that they could dress Melissa with that and make her disappear. The article by the Huffington post explains to us what Elle was thinking when they decided to cover up McCarthy’s curves with an unflattering potato sack. According to Elle magazine, Melissa chose the outfit herself with help from fashion stylists and was very happy with the results. They also go on to mention just how luxurious and pretty the jacket actually is almost as if they want McCarthy to feel honored for wearing such an fashionable item.

I think that McCarthy should have had a more figure flaunting clothing article to wear for the cover and not the shapeless potato sack that she was given. I understand that sometimes women who are bigger look worse if they are wearing something body hugging but I would have suggested a dress perhaps that was more revealing in terms of legs or arms. I think that it seems like Elle is embarrassed of her figure and just wants to hide it as much as they can.

All in all, I guess I do not agree with the Fashion/ Magazine industry and how they only portray extremely skinny and attractive woman and if they do not fit their mold they make them that way through photoshop. This way of thinking must make many girls feel horribly self conscience. I know that when I go to the make up counters of Clinique, Lancome, etc and see how my face looks in the mirror versus how the models look in the adverts I feel ugly. very ugly. And its not that I am ugly in any way but when you see these ” fake ” images of perfect woman , you really cant help but to look into the mirror and compare. My personal trainer at the gym told me that he gets so many girls who come up to him with magazine cut outs and say that they want to look like those girls in the magazine. “Impossible, he says”. Even celebrities do not look like that, it is all thanks to photoshop. So, I wish we lived in a society where images where actually real and not where guys look at woman on the front cover and think that that is the kind of girl that they should date. It is not going to happen and is just making society live in a shallow and unrealistic world.