Bonnie and Clyde and GenreGangster Movies

Genre Conventions: Setting

Typical Gangster Movie:Big city, Prohibition, hideouts, day vs. night, relat. with copsBonnie and Clyde:Rural Texas, outside, small towns, cars, motels, Depression, day

Genre Conventions: Presentation

Typical Gangster Movie:Focus on people (as opposed to setting), dark and smoky, muted colorsBonnie and Clyde:Day, earthy colors, shots of landscapes, closeups, quick editing, jump cuts, “foggy mountain breakdown” music, humor

Genre Conventions: Character Types

Typical Gangster Movie:Godfather, mother, trigger happy guy, new guy to gang who works his way up, antihero, prostitutes, mob wife, moll/girlfriend, familyBonnie and Clyde:Couple, family, antihero, outlaws

Genre Conventions: StarsTypical Gangster Movie:

Bonnie and Clyde:

Genre Conventions: Story Formula

Typical Gangster Movie:Rags Riches Destruction

Bonnie and Clyde:Rags Better Rags Destruction

Genre Conventions: Conflicts Addressed

Typical Gangster Movie:• Rule of law vs. survival of the fittest• Due process vs. taking the law into your own hands• Gangsters vs. cops• Gangsters vs. gangsters

Bonnie and Clyde:• Rebellion vs. authority• Bonnie vs. Blanche

Genre Conventions: Themes

Typical Gangster Movie:Success, power & corruption, greed, loyalty, crime doesn’t pay

Bonnie and Clyde:

“Social problems are condensed and displaced from the social to the personal.” - Bill Nichols, Engaging Cinema

“The fact that the story is set 35 years ago doesn't mean a thing. It had to be set sometime. But it was made now and it's about us.”- Roger Ebert (1967)