Narrative theories.

Todorovs

Todorovs believed that there is a connection between most storylines throughout the film industry. His theory was that each story line has five common conventions these are:

• Equilibrium - the narrative starts and everything is balanced
• Some sort of consequence disrupts the equilibrium
• Then the characters realise the equilibrium is disrupted
• They attempt to resolve this
• It then returns to the equilibrium or a possible new one.

Vladimir Propp's

• The villain (struggles against the hero)
• The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)
• The helper (helps the hero in the quest)
• The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)
• The false hero (perceived as good character in beginning but emerges as evil)
• The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)
• The hero or victim or seeker reacts to the donor and weds the princess.

Stereotypical male and female characters in thrillers.

Women

In thrillers women are often represented as protagonists or victims. It regularly occurs that's the get kidnapped or find themselves in a hard situation. A good example of this would be the action thriller Taken when Kim gets kidnapped from a house in Paris. This genre links slightly to horrors as women can be seen as slightly 'air headed' relying on the typical male protagonist to come to their rescue. However when worst comes to the worst females are considered brave taking on things they've never completed again referring to Taken 2 when Kim takes control in setting off the grenade to help rescue her father. Also, women are portrayed as beautiful making them more so likely to be seen as prey for the male antagonist this also makes the male protagonist more determined to rescue her from whatever consequence she's in.

Men

Men are the more common character in thrillers, taking on the antagonist and protagonist roles. This is done as we associate men with being violent when needed and able to take control in tense situations, so as the audience we expect them to come out triumphant every time. Males are often presented are mentally and physically strong especially the protagonist. Men tend to be less emotional than women. Often known to take more active roles, been more of a team leader than females. Males are considered to be brave and clever, making doing their job and easy task, but will often keep their mysterious vibe up. 'inner demons' are sometimes considered to be battled.  An example would be, Alex Cross’character in "Along Came a Spider" as it's portrayed as mysterious, and highly intelligent.