Crime - Conventions and Conveyance

Crime - Conventions and Conveyance

"The skill of a master crime writer lies not in being able to rework the conventions of the genre but in saying something meaningful while doing it"

Crime fiction could be defined as a genre that deals with crime and detection, but in reality, like most literature, it is a statement made to the reader about the world that existed beyond the pages of the book. Through certain conventions that have changed over time, crime writers have been trying to convey these statements to the reader and as matters of concern changed throughout the course of history, so have writers changed their writing methods to effectively project their messages. Four texts by composers spanning nearly half a century are excellent examples of the interlinked relationship between a changing convention and its message. These texts are Rear Window (1954) directed by Alfred Hitchcock, The Skull Beneath The Skin (1982) written by P.D James, The Bone Collector (1997) written by Jeffrey Deaver, and Minority Report (2002) directed by Stephen Spielberg. These texts share both similar messages conveyed through different conventions, and this essay will explore the relationship between the two.

The nature of crime fiction is that there is a crime, and a hero is given the task of uncovering the secrets involved in the crime including perpetrators, motives and the nature of the crime itself. However, as society changes through time, what the audience values in a novel changes and accordingly, importance is transferred between the different factors of the crime and its detection in order to satisfy the needs of the audience. To achieve this, there are two major factors of the conventions of crime writing that have been changed by composers – the nature of the crime, and the detection process involved.
In the film Rear Window, there is no ‘crime’, instead there is the possibility of a crime and the direction of the plot is to actually prove the crime existed. There is no real gathering of...