Research and summaries of the Thriller genre
Uses and Gratifications Theory (PIES)
Personal Identity - finding reinforcement for personal values, finding models of behaviour, identifying with another (in media), gaining insight into ones self.
Information - finding out about relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings, society and the world, seeking advice on practical matters or opinion and decision choices, satisfying curiosity and general interest, learning, self-education, gaining a sense of security through knowledge.
Entertainment - escapism, being diverted from problems, relaxing, emotional release, aesthetic/cultural/sexual pleasure, filling time.
Social Interaction and Integration - gaining insight into circumstances of others; social empathy, identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging, finding a basis for conversation and social interaction, having a substitute for real life companionship, helping carry out social roles, enabling one to connect with family, friends and society.
Why do people watch thrillers?
Using the uses and gratifications theory we are able to see that thrillers are watched for entertainment, information, social interaction; integration and personal values, therefore are a popular genre.
People watch thrillers most importantly to be entertained and thrilled - this relates to escapism, and emotional release because you get so into the film that you forget about your own problems in life and escape into it, feeling the emotions expressed within the story. Thrillers are not particularly relaxing films as they create a lot of suspense so people wouldn't watch in order to relax. Like all films, thrillers are sometimes watched to fill time also.
People may watch a thriller film to gain an insight into others' circumstances and identify with others. Maybe someone they know is in a similar situation. They are also watched for social interaction and a basis for conversation. For example films are involved in social gatherings like trips to the cinema and film nights - this then creates a basis for conversation afterward. A thriller film in particular can generate conversation because thrillers are not only action-packed but take a lot of thought to work out. The psychological aspect of a thriller film aids conversation because people like to boast about working out the ending before their friends.
A further reason why people watch thrillers is to find models of behaviour. This is because there is usually a clear difference between good and evil in this genre which could influence people to act heroically by identifying with that certain character. In addition, a person may be able to gain insight into them by seeing similarities between a character and themselves.
Lastly, people may want to watch a thriller for information purposes. There generally isn't a great deal a person can learn from a thriller but occasionally historical or social events are explored. For example the event of global warming is explored in many thrillers like 'The Day After Tomorrow'. Society around the world can be explored as thrillers can involve a lot of travelling, therefore seeing different parts of the world's differences. You can learn a lot about human behaviour by self-educating and gain security through this knowledge.
In 2009, out of the 503 total films released in the UK, 31 were thrillers, taking 4% of the year’s box office earnings with £42,578,104. The most popular thrillers were Angels and Demons, Harry Brown and Knowing. I think that one of the main reasons that thrillers took a relatively small percentage of the total box office earnings is because not that many people (in terms of all cinema goers) watch thrillers.
One of the main thriller subgenres is psychological. These types of films are often quite hard to understand, and usually feature more dialogue and storyline than action and excitement; meaning that most young people aged 12-18 (who are the most frequent cinema goers) would probably not enjoy these films.
Another reason that some people do not watch thrillers in the cinema is because they can’t. Many modern thrillers feature violence or other things (such as explicit language), which means they have an age restriction of 15 or 18. This automatically cuts a significant amount of potential viewers for these films, as it is illegal for people under the required age to see them. Also, most types of thrillers tend to appeal more to men than women, while other the other way around, although this is not as true for thrillers as for some genres (such as action Sci-Fi for men, and romance/drama for women).
