The crime film is a genre where the element of crime is key the films plot. Researchers of the genre, such as Nicole Hahn Rafter and Thomas Leitch noted the difficulty in defining the genre, saying it would be impractical to call every film in which a crime produces the central dramatic situation. Various interpretations of the crime film include Carlos Clarens described the crime film as a symbolic representation of crime, law and society while Leitch said they present defining subjects as part of a culture which normalizes a place where crime is both shockingly disruptive and also completely
The crime film is a genre where the element of crime is key the films plot. Researchers of the genre, such as Nicole Hahn Rafter and Thomas Leitch noted the difficulty in defining the genre, saying it would be impractical to call every film in which a crime produces the central dramatic situation. Various interpretations of the crime film include Carlos Clarens described the crime film as a symbolic representation of crime, law and society while Leitch said they present defining subjects as part of a culture which normalizes a place where crime is both shockingly disruptive and also completely
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The crime film is a genre where the element of crime is key the films plot. Researchers of the genre, such as Nicole Hahn Rafter and Thomas Leitch noted the difficulty in defining the genre, saying it would be impractical to call every film in which a crime produces the central dramatic situation. Various interpretations of the crime film include Carlos Clarens described the crime film as a symbolic representation of crime, law and society while Leitch said they present defining subjects as part of a culture which normalizes a place where crime is both shockingly disruptive and also completely normal, while Rafter said the films in the genre are ones that are defined by plots that focus on crime and their consequences.
Crime film had been popular since the dawn of the sound era of film. While crime films featuring criminal gangs existed since the silent film period generally involved American productions that contained criminals who were described by Alain Silver and James Ursini as being "constrained by a strong moral code" and prior to Little Caesar (1931), were essentially romance films. European films of the period explored the mystique of criminal figures, such as in film serials like Fantômas. Early gangster films of the 1930s borrowed from pulp magazines and newspaper articles about real life gangsters. These films were under pressure from public interest groups such and led to gangster films by the end of the decade that were grew less straightforward and more conflicted in their actions which influenced crime films of the next two decades. The level of amped-up violence only returned in the 1960s. Films showcasing more direct violent characters would continue into the 1990s ranging from films about serial killers and rogue cops.
The crime genre includes various sub-genres, including the gangster film, heist film and prison films.
The definition of what constitutes a crime film is not straightforward. Criminologist Nicole Hahn Rafter in her book Shots in the Mirror: Crime Films and Society (2006) found that film scholars had a traditional reluctance to examine the topic of crime films in their entirety due to complex nature of the topic. Carlos Clarens in his book Crime Movies (1980), described the crime film as a symbolic representation of criminals, law, and society. Clarens continued that they describe what is culturally and morally abnormal and differ from thriller films which he wrote as being more concerned with psychological and private situations. Thomas Schatz in Hollywood Genres: Formulas, Filmmaking, and the Studio System (1981) does not refer to the concept of crime film as a genre, and says that "such seemingly similar "urban crime" formulas" such as the gangster film and detective film were their own unique forms. Thomas Leitch, author of Crime Films (2004) stated that the crime film presents their defining subject as a crime culture that normalizes a place where crime is both shockingly disruptive and completely normal. Rafter suggested the best way to skirt complexities of various films that may be defined as crime films as works that focus primarily on crime and its consequences, and that they should be viewed as a category that encompasses a number genres, ranging from caper films, detective films, gangster films, cop and prison films and courtroom dramas. She said that like drama and romance film, they are umbrella terms that cover several smaller more coherent groups.
The criminal acts in every film in the genre represents a larger critique of either social or institutional order from the perspective of a character or from the film's narrative at large. The films also depend on the audience ambivalence towards crime. Master criminals are portrayed as immoral but glamorous while maverick police officers break the law to capture criminals. Leitch defined this as a critical to the film as the films are about the continual breakdown and re-establishment of borders among criminals, crime solvers and victims, concluding that "this paradox is at the heart of all crime films." Rafter echoed these statements, saying crime films should be defined on the basis of their relationship with society.
Leitch writes that crime films reinforce popular social beliefs of their audience, such as the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the law is above individuals, and that crime does not pay. The genre also generally has endings that confirm the moral absolutes that an innocent victim, a menacing criminal, and detective and their own morals that inspire them by questioning their heroic or pathetic status, their moral authority of the justice system, or by presenting innocent characters who seem guilty and vice versa.
Crime films includes all films that focus on any of the three parties to a crime: criminal, victims, and avengers and explores what one party's relation to the other two. This allows the crime film to encompass films as wide as Wall Street (1987); caper films like The Asphalt Jungle (1950); and prison films ranging from Brute Force (1947) to The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Crime films are not definable by their mise-en-scene such as the Western film as they lack both the instantly recognizable or the unique intent of other genres such as parody films.
Leitch and Rafter both write that it would be impractical to call every film in which a crime produces the central dramatic situation a crime film. Leitch gave an example that most Westerns from The Great Train Robbery (1903) to Unforgiven (1992) often have narratives about crime and punishment, but are not generally described as crime films. Films with crime-and-punishment themes like Winchester 73 (1950) and Rancho Notorious (1952) are classified as Westerns rather than crime films because their setting takes precedence over their story. Alain Silver and James Ursini argued in A Companion to Crime Fiction (2020) that "unquestionably most Western films are crime films" but that their overriding generic identific
