Thrillers are a genre of literature, film, video gaming and television programming that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements. The primary subgenre is psychological thrillers. After the assassination of President Kennedy, political thriller and paranoid thriller films became very popular. The brightest examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock.

Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods such as; a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, suspense, excitement, tension, terror. Literary devices such as red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively. The cover-up of important information from the viewer and fight/chase scenes are common methods in all of the thriller subgenres, although each subgenre has its own characteristics and methods.

Common methods in ''crime thrillers'' are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings. More common in ''mystery thrillers'' are investigations and the whodunit technique. Common elements in ''psychological thrillers'' are mind games, psychological themes, stalking, confinement/deathtraps, horror-of-personality, and obsession. Elements such as fringe theories, false accusations, paranoia, and sometimes action are common in ''paranoid thrillers''.

A genuine, standalone thriller is a film that provide thrills and keeps the audience cliff-hanging at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the character(s) is placed in a menacing situation, a mystery, or a trap from which escaping seems impossible. Life is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces - the threat is sometimes abstract or unseen. Thrillers with a crime-related plot mostly keep the attention away from the criminal or the detective, where they focus more on the suspense and danger that is generated.

"Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as an early prototype of the thriller." A thriller is villain-driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles that the hero must overcome.

Characteristics

Setting, characters and story

An atmosphere of creepy menace and sudden violence, crime and murder characterise thrillers. They mostly are adrenaline rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. Thrillers often present the world and society as dark, corrupt and dangerous. Characters in thrillers include criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims (often on the run), menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, private eyes, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes of thrillers frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.

Thrillers mostly take place in ordinary suburbs/cities. Though sometimes, they may take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or the high seas. The heroes in most thrillers are frequently ordinary citizens unaccustomed to danger. However, more common in crime thrillers, they may also be "hard men" accustomed to danger, like police officers and detectives. While such heroes have traditionally been men, women lead characters have become increasingly common.

Hitchcock's films often placed an innocent victim (an average, responsible person) into a strange, life-threatening or terrorizing situation, in a case of mistaken identity, misidentification or wrongful accusation.

Thriller and mystery

Thrillers often overlap with mystery stories but are distinguished by the structure of their plots. In a thriller, the hero must stop the plans of an enemy rather than uncover a crime that has already happened. While a murder mystery would be spoiled by a premature disclosure of the murderer's identity, in a thriller the identity of a murderer or other villain is typically known all along. Thrillers also occur on a much grander scale: the crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder, terrorism, assassination, or the overthrow of governments. Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements in the genre. While a mystery climaxes when the mystery is solved, a thriller climaxes when the hero finally defeating the villain, saving his own life and often the lives of others. In thrillers influenced by film noir and tragedy, the compromised hero is often killed in the process. However, there are thriller films that have the characteristics of a mystery, such as the climax of a mystery being solved and the defeating of the villain seem to be common.

Definition of thriller

Thrillers may be defined by the primary mood that they elicit: fearful excitement. In short, if it "thrills", it is a thriller. As the introduction to a major anthology explains,

Writer Vladimir Nabokov, in his lectures at Cornell University, said that "In an Anglo-Saxon thriller, the villain is generally punished, and the strong silent man generally wins the weak babbling girl, but there is no governmental law in Western countries to ban a story that does not comply with a fond tradition, so that we always hope that the wicked but romantic fellow will escape scot-free and the good but dull chap will be finally snubbed by the moody heroine."

History in film

Early thrillers, 1920s-1940s

Alfred Hitchcock helped to shape the modern-day thriller genre, beginning with his early silent film ''The Lodger'' (1926), a suspenseful Jack the Ripper story, followed by his next thriller ''Blackmail'' (1929), his first sound film (though also released in a silent version).

The chilling German film ''M'' (1931) directed by Fritz Lang, starred Peter Lorre (in his first film role) as a criminal deviant - a child killer. The film's story was based on the life of serial killer Peter Kurten (known as the 'Vampire of Düsseldorf').

Notable examples of Hitchcock's early British suspense-thriller films include ''The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1934), his first spy-chase/romantic thriller, ''The 39 Steps'' (1935) with Robert Donat handcuffed to Madeleine Carroll and ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938). Hitchcock continued to perfect his recognizable brand of suspense-thriller, producing ''Foreign Correspondent'' (1940), the haunting Oscar-nominated ''Rebecca'' (1940) which is about the unusual romance between a young woman (Joan Fontaine) and an emotionally-distant rich widower (Laurence Olivier) - overshadowed by a vindictive housekeeper (Judith Anderson), ''Suspicion'' (1941) about a woman in peril from her own husband (Cary Grant), ''Saboteur'' (1942) and ''Shadow of a Doubt'' (1943), which was Hitchcock's own personal favorite and based upon the actual case of a 1920s serial killer known as ''The Merry Widow Murderer''.

Director George Cukor's psychological thriller ''Gaslight'' (1944) featured a scheming husband (Charles Boyer) plotting to make his innocent young wife (Ingrid Bergman) go insane, in order to acquire her inheritance. The film noir, ''Laura'' (1944) was about a thrilling murder investigation made by a police detective (Dana Andrews), with suspects including an columnist (Clifton Webb) and a fiancee (Vincent Price).

In ''The Spiral Staircase'' (1946), a mute domestic servant (Dorothy McGuire) in a house was terrorized by a serial murderer, thinking she was the next victim. In a thriller starring Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth titled ''The Lady From Shanghai'' (1948), a woman, her crippled lawyer/husband and his partner, and an Irish sailor ended up involved in a murder scheme. In ''Sorry, Wrong Number'' (1948), an invalid woman (Barbara Stanwyck) overheard a murder plot on the phone - against herself. ''The Third Man'' (1949), told the story of a writer (Joseph Cotten) in post-World War II Vienna who found out that his old friend (Orson Welles), a black marketeer, was not dead after all.

1950s-1960s

In the 1950s, Hitchcock added technicolor to his thrillers, now with exotic locales and glamorous stars. He reached the zenith of his career with a succession of classic films such as, ''Strangers on a Train'' (1951) which is about two train passengers: tennis pro Guy (Farley Granger) and Bruno (Robert Walker) who staged a battle of wits and traded murders with each other, ''Dial M For Murder'' (1954) with Ray Milland as a villainous husband who attempts to murder his wealthy wife (Grace Kelly), ''Rear Window'' (1954) which is about man (James Stewart) being convinced that his neighbour is a killer, ''To Catch a Thief'' (1955), a lightweight thriller set in South of France and ''Vertigo'' (1958), with James Stewart as a retired police detective who becomes obsessed with the disturbed enigmatic 'wife' (Kim Novak) of an old friend.

Non-Hitchcock thriller of the 50's include, the film-noirish ''Niagara'' (1953) by Henry Hathaway, with Marilyn Monroe as the trashy femme fatale who schemes to kill her unstable husband (Joseph Cotten), director Robert Aldrich's violent and fast-paced film ''Kiss Me Deadly'' (1955) featured Ralph Meeker as a hard-nosed detective having fears of a nuclear apocalypse, ''The Night of the Hunter'' (1955), director Charles Laughton's only film, with Robert Mitchum playing a Bible-thumping, homicidal preacher victimizing two young children with a secret about the location of stolen money. Orson Welles' unique crime thriller, ''Touch of Evil'' (1958) with a pre-Psycho Janet Leigh as a terrorized wife, Charlton Heston as a Mexican-American narcotics agent, and the director himself as an evil border-town cop. Director Michael Powell's tense ''Peeping Tom'' (1960), with Carl Boehm as a psychopathic cameraman - the film was released prior to Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).

After Hitchcock's classic films of the 1950s, he produced the shocking and engrossing thriller ''Psycho (film)'' (1960) about a loner mother-fixated motel owner and taxidermist.

J. Lee Thompson's ''Cape Fear'' (1962) with Robert Mitchum had a menacing ex-con seeking revenge at an attorney (Gregory Peck) and his family, director Stanley Donen's stylish, romantic thriller ''Charade'' (1963), which had numerous plot twists, identity-changes, and a search for hidden loot that stars the pair of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn on location in Paris. Roman Polanski's first film in English, the frightening and surrealistic ''Repulsion'' (1965) - with Catherine Deneuve as a young woman who goes increasingly mad. A famous thriller of its release date was ''Wait Until Dark'' (1967) by director Terence Young with Audrey Hepburn as a victimized blind woman in her Manhattan apartment and Alan Arkin as the evil and sadistic con man searching for drugs (hidden in a doll).

1970s and 1980s

The decade saw a violent start in the thriller genre, with ''Frenzy'' (1972), Hitchcock's first British film in almost two decades, being given an R rating for its vicious and explicit strangulation scene. Steven Spielberg's low-budget early TV movie ''Duel'' (1971), which got a cult following, was about road rage between a hapless traveling salesman (Dennis Weaver) and the unseen, relentless driver of a truck. One of the first films about a fan being disturbingly obsessed with their idol was Clint Eastwood's directorial debut film, ''Play Misty for Me'' (1971), about a California disc jockey pursued by a disturbed female listener (Jessica Walter). John Boorman's ''Deliverance'' (1972) followed the perilous fate of four Southern businessmen during a weekend's trip. Director Nicolas Roeg's edgy, puzzling and macabre ''Don't Look Now'' (1973), a tale of despair in Venice, with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as a couple grieving the drowning death of their daughter.

In Francis Ford Coppola's tense character study/thriller, ''The Conversation'' (1974), a bugging-device expert (Gene Hackman) systematically uncovered a covert murder while he himself was being spied upon. Directed by Irvin Kershner, ''The Eyes of Laura Mars'' (1978) was yet another stalker themed thriller, starring Faye Dunaway as the title character - a stalked photographer.

Director Brian De Palma's earliest, heavily-stylistic films (often with reconstructed scenes from other films) are particularly reminiscent of Hitchcock's tense thrillers, with themes of guilt, voyeurism, paranoia and obsession. Similar plot elements include killing off a main character early on, switching points of view, and dream-like sequences.

His films include, the psycho-thriller ''Sisters'' (1973), a story of murderous Siamese twins, with music from Hitchcock's frequent and favorite collaborator, composer Bernard Herrmann, ''Obsession'' (1976) which was somewhat inspired by Vertigo, ''Dressed to Kill'' (1980), the assassination thriller ''Blow Out'' (1981) told about a sound-effects man who witnessed the 'accidental' killing of the governor and the erotic ''Body Double'' (1984) which was about a struggling B-movie actor who became involved in a tale of intrigue and mystery involving his erotic next-door 'body double' neighbor.

The decade ended with Phillip Noyce's ''Dead Calm (film)'' (1989), a psychological thriller with Nicole Kidman, who must fight for her life on a yacht against a crazed castaway (Billy Zane). This thriller had elements of obsession and trapped protagonists who must find a way to escape the clutches of the villain - these devices influenced a number of thrillers in the following years, the early 90's.

1990's to present

Thrillers of this decade were mainly psychological ones that dealt with obsession, domestic violence, revenge, mentally ill characters and the protagonist's goal of escape.

Thrillers with those elements include, director Rob Reiner's ''Misery'' (1990), based on the book by Stephen King, with Kathy Bates as an unbalanced fan named Annie who terrorizes, in her care, an incapacitated author named Paul (James Caan); in one horrifying scene, she 'hobbles' his ankles so that he can't escape, a battered wife who left her sadistic husband to find a better life was vengefully pursued in ''Sleeping with the Enemy'' (1991), Curtis Hanson's ''The Hand That Rocks the Cradle'' (1992), with Rebecca De Mornay as a nanny intent on seeking revenge against her dead obstetrician husband's patient (Annabella Sciorra), ''Unlawful Entry'' (1992) with Ray Liotta as cop being obsessed with a woman he saved, Barbet Schroeder's suspenseful ''Single White Female'' (1992), with Bridget Fonda and her obsessed roommate-from-hell Jennifer Jason Leigh, Harold Becker's ''Malice'' (1993) with Alec Baldwin and Nicole Kidman, and lastly Anthony Minghella's psychological thriller ''The Talented Mr. Ripley'' (1999) with Matt Damon being obsessed with, and then assuming the identity of, Jude Law.

However, despite how common the obsession theme was in this decade, there was another popular theme of the thriller genre - detectives/FBI agents hunting down a serial killer. The famous was Jonathan Demme's highly-acclaimed Best Picture-winning crime thriller ''The Silence of the Lambs'' (1991) where a young FBI agent Jodie Foster in a psychological war against a cannibalistic psychiatrist named Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), while tracking down transgender serial killer Buffalo Bill and David Fincher's crime thriller ''Se7en'' (1995), which was about the search for a serial killer who re-enacts the seven deadly sins.

Until today, thrillers do borrow themes and elements from those in the past decades. However, to cut the repetitiveness, there are a number of recent thrillers that maintain the aspects of the horror genre; having more gore/sadistic violence, brutality, terror and body counts. The recent thrillers which took this approach include ''Eden Lake'' (2008), ''The Last House on the Left'' (2009), ''P2'' (2007), ''Captivity'' (2007) and ''Funny Games'' (2008). Even action scenes have gotten more elaborate in the thrillers of the past 10 years. Thrillers such as ''Joy Ride'' (2001), ''Unknown'' (2011), ''Hostage'' (2005), ''Cellular'' (2006), ''A History of Violence'' (2005) and ''Firewall'' (2006) had some action scenes.

Sub-genres

The thriller genre can include the following sub-genres, which may include elements of other genres:

Conspiracy thriller: In which the hero/heroine confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only he/she recognizes. ''The Chancellor Manuscript'' and ''The Aquitaine Progression'' by Robert Ludlum fall into this category, as do films such as ''Awake'', ''Snake Eyes'', ''Edge of Darkness'', ''Absolute Power'', ''Marathon Man'', ''In the Line of Fire'', ''Capricorn One'', and ''JFK''. Crime thriller: This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasise action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include serial killers/murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, heists and double-crosses. Some examples of crime thrillers involving murderers include, ''Seven'', ''No Country for Old Men'', ''Silence of the Lambs'', ''Untraceable'', ''Mindhunters'', ''Kiss the Girls'', ''Along Came a Spider'' and ''Copycat''. Examples of crime thrillers involving heists or robberies includes ''The Asphalt Jungle'', ''The Score'', ''Rififi'', ''Ocean's 11'', ''Entrapment'', ''The Killing'' and ''Reservoir Dogs''. Erotic thriller: In which it consists of erotica and thriller. It has become popular since the 1980s and the rise of VCR market penetration. The genre includes such films as ''Basic Instinct'', ''Chloe'', ''Color of Night'', ''Dressed to Kill'', ''Eyes Wide Shut'', ''In the Cut'', ''Lust, Caution'' and ''Single White Female''. Legal thriller: In which the lawyer-heroes/heroines confront enemies outside, as well as inside, the courtroom and are in danger of losing not only their cases but their lives. ''The Runaway Jury'' by John Grisham is a well known example of the type. Other examples include ''The Client'', ''Fracture'', ''A Time to Kill'', ''Primal Fear'', ''A Few Good Men'', ''Presumed Innocent'' and ''The Juror''. Political thriller: In which the hero/heroine must ensure the stability of the government that employs him. The success of ''Seven Days in May'' (1962) by Fletcher Knebel, ''The Day of the Jackal'' (1971) by Frederick Forsyth, and ''The Manchurian Candidate'' (1959) by Richard Condon established this sub-genre. Examples include, ''The Sentinel'', ''Topaz'', ''Notorious'', ''The Man Who Knew Too Much'', ''The Interpreter'', ''Proof of Life'', ''State of Play'' and ''The Ghost Writer''. Psychological thriller: In which (until the often violent resolution) the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. Characters, either by accident or their own curiousness, are dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve. Characters are not reliant on physical strength to overcome their brutish enemies, but rather are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with a formidable opponent or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind. The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state. The Alfred Hitchcock films ''Suspicion'', ''Shadow of a Doubt'', and ''Strangers on a Train'' and David Lynch's bizarre and influential ''Blue Velvet'' are notable examples of the type, as are ''The Talented Mr. Ripley'', ''The Machinist'', ''Don't Say A Word'', ''House of 9'', ''Trapped'', ''Flightplan'', ''Shutter Island'', ''Secret Window'', ''Identity'', ''Red Eye'', ''Phone Booth'', ''Psycho'', ''The River Wild'', ''Nick of Time'', ''P2'', ''Breakdown'', ''Panic Room'', ''Misery'', ''Cape Fear'', ''The Collector'', ''Frailty'', ''The Good Son'' and ''Funny Games''.

Rape and Revenge films: Out of the sub-genres of exploitation film, this focuses more on the thriller elements such as suspense, tension, some action and fast-pacing rather than scares and the supernatural. Some famous rape and revenge films are ''The Last House on the Left'', ''Irréversible'', ''Thriller - A Cruel Picture'', ''Baise-moi'' and ''I Spit on Your Grave''.

Supernatural thriller: In which the film brings in an otherworldly element mixed with tension, suspense and plot twists. Sometimes the hero and/or villain has some psychic ability. Examples include, ''Lady in the Water'', ''Fallen'', ''Frequency'', ''Knowing'', ''In Dreams'', ''Flatliners'', ''Jacob's Ladder'', ''The Skeleton Key'', ''What Lies Beneath'', ''Unbreakable'', ''The Gift'', and ''The Dead Zone''.

Although most thrillers are formed in some combination of the above, there are some however that are formed with other genres, which commonly are the horror genre, spy genre (i.e. espionage), science fiction, action and the adventure genre.

Examples

Fiction and literature

Ancient epic poems such as the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', Homer's ''Odyssey'' and the ''Mahābhārata'' use similar narrative techniques as modern thrillers. In the ''Odyssey'', the hero Odysseus makes a perilous voyage home after the Trojan War, battling extraordinary hardships in order to be reunited with his wife Penelope. He has to contend with villains such as the Cyclops, a one-eyed giant, and the Sirens, whose sweet singing lures sailors to their doom. In most cases, Odysseus uses cunning instead of brute force to overcome his adversaries.

"The Three Apples", a tale in the ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (''Arabian Nights''), is the earliest known murder mystery and suspense thriller with multiple plot twists and detective fiction elements. In this tale, a fisherman discovers a heavy locked chest along the Tigris river and he sells it to the Abbasid Caliph, Harun al-Rashid, who then has the chest broken open only to find inside it the dead body of a young woman who was cut into pieces. Harun orders his vizier, Ja'far ibn Yahya, to solve the crime and find the murderer within three days. This whodunit mystery may be considered an archetype for detective fiction.

''The Thirty-Nine Steps'' is an early thriller by John Buchan, in which an innocent man becomes the prime suspect in a murder case and finds himself on the run from both the police and enemy spies.

Novelists closely associated with the genre include Eric Ambler, Sydney Bauer, Ted Bell, Dan Brown, Lincoln Child, Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Michael Crichton, Nelson DeMille, Ian Fleming, Ken Follett, Frederick Forsyth, Graham Greene, John Grisham, Robert Ludlum, Alistair MacLean, Andy McNab, David Morrell, James Phelan, Douglas Preston, and Matthew Reilly.

Notable contributors to the thriller genre

Writers

Eric Ambler

Desmond Bagley

Peter Benchley

William Bernhardt

Dan Brown

Raymond Chandler

Douglas Preston

Lee Child

Tom Clancy

Mary Higgins Clark

Michael Connelly

Robin Cook

Michael Crichton

Clive Cussler

Jeffery Deaver

Ted Dekker

Joy Fielding

Ian Fleming

Ken Follett

Frederick Forsyth

W.E.B. Griffin

John Grisham

Dashiell Hammett

John le Carré

John Lutz

Alistair Maclean

Perri O'Shaughnessy

Richard North Patterson

Edgar Allan Poe

R.L. Stine

Craig Thomas

Scott Turow

Mary Willis Walker

Directors

Jon Amiel

Bryan Bertino

John Boorman

D.J. Caruso

Henri-Georges Clouzot

Joel and Ethan Coen

Jonathan Demme

Brian De Palma

David Fincher

Gary Fleder

James Foley

John Frankenheimer

William Friedkin

Robert Harmon

Mary Harron

Alfred Hitchcock

Gregory Hoblit

Stephen Hopkins

John Huston

Neil Jordan

Philip Kaufman

Stanley Kubrick

Adrian Lyne

John McTiernan

Dick Maas

Michael Mann

Christopher Nolan

Phillip Noyce

Alan J. Pakula

Wolfgang Petersen

Roman Polanski

Sydney Pollack

Carol Reed

Joel Schumacher

Martin Scorsese

Ridley Scott

Tony Scott

M. Night Shyamalan

Steven Soderbergh

Steven Spielberg

Quentin Tarantino

Tom Tykwer

Orson Welles

Billy Wilder

Peter Jackson

Television

There have been at least two television series called simply ''Thriller'', one made in the U.S. in the 1960s and one made in the UK in the 1970s. Although in no way linked, both series consisted of one-off dramas, each utilising the familiar motifs of the genre.

''24'' is a fast-paced television series with a premise inspired by the War on Terror. Each season takes place over the course of twenty-four hours, with each episode happening in "real time". Featuring a split-screen technique and a ticking onscreen clock, ''24'' follows the exploits of federal agent Jack Bauer as he races to foil terrorist threats.

''Lost'', which deals with the survivors of a plane crash, sees the castaways on the island forced to deal with a monstrous being that appears as a cloud of black smoke, a conspiracy of "Others" who have kidnapped or killed their fellow castaways at various points, a shadowy past of the island itself that they are trying to understand, polar bears, and the fight against these and other elements as they struggle simply to stay alive and get out of the island.

''Prison Break'' follows Michael Scofield, an engineer who has himself incarcerated in a maximum-security prison in order to break out his brother, who is on death row for a crime he did not commit. In the first season Michael must deal with the hazards of prison life, the other inmates and prison staff, and executing his elaborate escape plan, while outside the prison Michael's allies investigate the conspiracy that led to Lincoln being framed. In the second season, Michael, his brother and several other inmates escape the prison and must evade the nationwide manhunt for their re-capture, as well as those who want them dead.

Other examples include, Dexter, Criminal Minds, Without a Trace, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The 4400, Medium, Numb3rs, The Twilight Zone and The X-Files.

See also

Adventure novel

International Thriller Writers

Spy film

Mystery film

Horror film

Action film

Crime film

References

External links

A Century of Thrillers: 200 Books From 1890 to 1990 by David L. Vineyard.

A Choice of Thrillers by Mike Ripley.

Category:Literary genres Category:Film genres Category:Television genres

ar:إثارة (أدب) an:Cine d'intriga az:Triller (film janrı) be-x-old:Трылер bg:Трилър ca:Thriller cs:Thriller da:Thriller de:Thriller et:Thriller es:Suspense (género) eo:Trilero eu:Thriller fa:دلهره‌آور (ژانر) fo:Nøtrisøga fr:Thriller (genre) ko:스릴러 hr:Triler id:Cerita seru it:Film thriller he:מותחן (ז'אנר) lt:Trileris hu:Thriller (műfaj) nl:Thriller (genre) ja:スリラー no:Thriller pl:Dreszczowiec pt:Thriller (gênero) ro:Thriller (gen) ru:Триллер sk:Triler fi:Trilleri sv:Thriller (genre) uk:Трилер zh:驚悚 (類型)

Coordinates	43°36′49″N116°12′12″N
alt	A mid-twenties African American man wearing a sequined military jacket and dark sunglasses. He is walking while waving his right hand, which is adorned with a white glove. His left hand is bare.
background	solo_singer
birth name	Michael Joseph Jackson
alias	Michael Joe Jackson, MJ, King of Pop
birth date	August 29, 1958
birth place	Gary, Indiana, U.S.
death date	June 25, 2009
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
instrument	vocals, guitar, drums, percussion, keyboards
genre	R&B, pop, rock, soul, dance, funk, disco, new jack swing
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, composer, dancer, choreographer, record producer, actor, businessman, philanthropist
years active	1964–2009
label	Motown, Epic, Legacy
associated acts	The Jackson 5
relatives	Janet Jackson (sister)
website	130pxMichael Jackson's signature }}

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5, then the Jacksons in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop and rock artists.

Jackson's 1982 album ''Thriller'' is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including ''Off the Wall'' (1979), ''Bad'' (1987), ''Dangerous'' (1991), and ''HIStory'' (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.

Life and career

Early life and The Jackson 5 (1958–1975)

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the eighth of ten children in an African American working-class family who lived in a small 3-room house in Gary, Indiana, an industrial city near Chicago. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, was a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy. A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly after birth.

Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Year-End for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist. Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt ''Off the Wall'' should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.

''Thriller'' and ''Motown 25'' (1982–83)

In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows. The album topped the ''Billboard'' 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It," and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." ''Thriller'' was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work. Thanks to the ''Bad'' album, Bruce Swedien and Humberto Gatica won one Grammy in 1988 for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and Michael Jackson won one Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Leave Me Alone" in 1989. ''HIStory'' received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. However, the sales for ''Invincible'' were lower than those of his previous releases, due in part to a lack of promotion, no supporting world tour and the label dispute. The album also came out at a bad time for the music industry in general. Jackson rehearsed in Los Angeles in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of choreographer Kenny Ortega. Most of these rehearsals took place at the Staples Center, which was owned by AEG. With ''Thriller'', Christopher Connelly of ''Rolling Stone'' commented that Jackson developed his long association with the subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted this is evident on the songs "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers. In "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossip and the media. "Beat It" decried gang violence in an homage to ''West Side Story'', and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey. He also observed that the title track "Thriller" began Jackson's interest with the theme of the supernatural, a topic he revisited in subsequent years. In 1985, Jackson co-wrote the charity anthem "We Are the World"; humanitarian themes later became a recurring theme in his lyrics and public persona.

In ''Bad'', Jackson's concept of the predatory lover can be seen on the rock song "Dirty Diana". The lead single "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" is a traditional love ballad, while "Man in the Mirror" is an anthemic ballad of confession and resolution. "Smooth Criminal" was an evocation of bloody assault, rape and likely murder. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine states that ''Dangerous'' presents Jackson as a very paradoxical individual. He comments the album is more diverse than his previous ''Bad'', as it appeals to an urban audience while also attracting the middle class with anthems like "Heal the World". The first half of the record is dedicated to new jack swing, including songs like "Jam" and "Remember the Time". The album is Jackson's first where social ills become a primary theme; "Why You Wanna Trip on Me", for example, protests against world hunger, AIDS, homelessness and drugs. ''Dangerous'' contains sexually charged efforts such as the multifaceted love song, "In the Closet". The title track continues the theme of the predatory lover and compulsive desire. The second half includes introspective, pop-gospel anthems such as "Will You Be There", "Heal the World" and "Keep the Faith"; these songs show Jackson opening up about various personal struggles and worries. In the ballad "Gone Too Soon", Jackson gives tribute to his friend Ryan White and the plight of those with AIDS.

''HIStory'' creates an atmosphere of paranoia. Its content focuses on the hardships and public struggles Jackson went through just prior to its production. In the new jack swing-funk-rock efforts "Scream" and "Tabloid Junkie", along with the R&B ballad "You Are Not Alone", Jackson retaliates against the injustice and isolation he feels, and directs much of his anger at the media. In the introspective ballad "Stranger in Moscow", Jackson laments over his "fall from grace", while songs like "Earth Song", "Childhood", "Little Susie" and "Smile" are all operatic pop pieces. In the track "D.S.", Jackson launched a verbal attack against Tom Sneddon. He describes Sneddon as an antisocial, white supremacist who wanted to "get my ass, dead or alive". Of the song, Sneddon said, "I have not—shall we say—done him the honor of listening to it, but I've been told that it ends with the sound of a gunshot". ''Invincible'' found Jackson working heavily with producer Rodney Jerkins. It is a record made up of urban soul like "Cry" and "The Lost Children", ballads such as "Speechless", "Break of Dawn" and "Butterflies" and mixes hip-hop, pop and R&B in "2000 Watts", "Heartbreaker" and "Invincible".

Vocal style

Jackson sang from childhood, and over time his voice and vocal style changed noticeably. Between 1971 and 1975, Jackson's voice descended from boy soprano to high tenor. Jackson first used a technique called the "vocal hiccup" in 1973, starting with the song "It's Too Late to Change the Time" from The Jackson 5's ''G.I.T.: Get It Together'' album. Jackson did not use the hiccup technique— somewhat like a gulping for air or gasping— fully until the recording of ''Off the Wall'': it can be seen in full force in the "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" promotional video. With the arrival of ''Off the Wall'' in the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well regarded. At the time, ''Rolling Stone'' compared his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder. Their analysis was also that "Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinarily beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly". 1982 saw the release of ''Thriller'', and ''Rolling Stone'' was of the opinion that Jackson was then singing in a "fully adult voice" that was "tinged by sadness".

A distinctive deliberate mispronunciation of "come on", used frequently by Jackson, occasionally spelled "cha'mone" or "shamone", is also a staple in impressions and caricatures of him. The turn of the 1990s saw the release of the introspective album ''Dangerous''. ''The New York Times'' noted that on some tracks, "he gulps for breath, his voice quivers with anxiety or drops to a desperate whisper, hissing through clenched teeth" and he had a "wretched tone". When singing of brotherhood or self-esteem the musician would return to "smooth" vocals. When commenting on ''Invincible'', ''Rolling Stone'' were of the opinion that—at the age of 43—Jackson still performed "exquisitely voiced rhythm tracks and vibrating vocal harmonies". Nelson George summed up Jackson's vocals by stating "The grace, the aggression, the growling, the natural boyishness, the falsetto, the smoothness—that combination of elements mark him as a major vocalist".

Music videos and choreography

Referred to as the King of Music Videos, Steve Huey of Allmusic observed how Jackson transformed the music video into an art form and a promotional tool through complex story lines, dance routines, special effects and famous cameo appearances; simultaneously breaking down racial barriers. Before ''Thriller'', Jackson struggled to receive coverage on MTV, allegedly because he was African American. Pressure from CBS Records persuaded MTV to start showing "Billie Jean" and later "Beat It", leading to a lengthy partnership with Jackson, also helping other black music artists gain recognition. MTV employees deny any racism in their coverage, or pressure to change their stance. MTV maintains that they played rock music, regardless of race. The popularity of his videos on MTV helped to put the relatively young channel "on the map"; MTV's focus shifted in favor of pop and R&B. His performance on ''Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever'' changed the scope of live stage show; "That Jackson lip-synced 'Billie Jean' is, in itself, not extraordinary, but the fact that it did not change the impact of the performance is extraordinary; whether the performance was live or lip-synced made no difference to the audience" thus creating an era in which artists re-create the spectacle of music video imagery on stage. Short films like ''Thriller'' largely remained unique to Jackson, while the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has frequently been imitated. The choreography in ''Thriller'' has become a part of global pop culture, replicated everywhere from Indian films to prisons in the Philippines. The ''Thriller'' short film marked an increase in scale for music videos, and has been named the most successful music video ever by the ''Guinness World Records''.

In the 19-minute music video for "Bad"—directed by Martin Scorsese—Jackson began using sexual imagery and choreography not previously seen in his work. He occasionally grabbed or touched his chest, torso and crotch. When asked by Oprah in the 1993 interview about why he grabbed his crotch, he replied, "I think it happens subliminally" and he described it as something that was not planned, but rather, as something that was compelled by the music. "Bad" garnered a mixed reception from both fans and critics; ''Time'' magazine described it as "infamous". The video also featured Wesley Snipes; in the future Jackson's videos would often feature famous cameo roles.

}} ;Bibliography

George, Nelson (2004). ''Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection'' booklet. Sony BMG.

Further reading

External links

Michael Jackson Live: Best Pics – slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Michael Jackson at MTV

FBI file on Michael Jackson

Category:1958 births Category:2009 deaths Category:African American dancers Category:African American male singers Category:African American record producers Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:American beatboxers Category:American businesspeople Category:American child singers Category:American choreographers Category:American dance musicians Category:American dancers Category:American disco musicians Category:American male singers Category:American boogie musicians Category:American pop singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American rock singers Category:American soul singers Category:American tenors Category:American vegetarians Category:Boy sopranos Category:Brit Award winners Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Category:Drug-related deaths in California Category:English-language singers Category:Epic Records artists Category:Expatriates in Bahrain Category:Former Jehovah's Witnesses Category:Grammy Award winners Michael Jackson Category:Manslaughter victims Category:Motown artists Category:Musicians from Indiana Category:People acquitted of sex crimes Category:People from Gary, Indiana Category:People from Santa Barbara County, California Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters from Indiana Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Michael Jackson Category:World Music Awards winners Category:People charged with child sexual abuse Category:Grammy Legend Award

af:Michael Jackson als:Michael Jackson am:ማይክል ጃክሰን ar:مايكل جاكسون an:Michael Jackson roa-rup:Michael Jackson az:Maykl Cekson bn:মাইকেল জ্যাকসন zh-min-nan:Michael Jackson be:Майкл Джэксан be-x-old:Майкл Джэксан bcl:Michael Jackson bar:Michael Jackson bo:མའེ་ཁོའོ་ཅས་ཁ་ཤུན། bs:Michael Jackson br:Michael Jackson bg:Майкъл Джаксън ca:Michael Jackson ceb:Michael Jackson cs:Michael Jackson cbk-zam:Michael Jackson cy:Michael Jackson da:Michael Jackson de:Michael Jackson et:Michael Jackson el:Μάικλ Τζάκσον eml:Michael Jackson es:Michael Jackson eo:Michael Jackson eu:Michael Jackson fa:مایکل جکسون fo:Michael Jackson fr:Michael Jackson fy:Michael Jackson ga:Michael Jackson gv:Michael Jackson gl:Michael Jackson gan:麥可·傑克遜 glk:مایکل جکسون gu:માઇકલ જેકસન hak:Michael Jackson ko:마이클 잭슨 hy:Մայքլ Ջեքսոն hi:माइकल जैक्सन hsb:Michael Jackson hr:Michael Jackson io:Michael Jackson ilo:Michael Jackson id:Michael Jackson ia:Michael Jackson ie:Michael Jackson zu:Michael Jackson is:Michael Jackson it:Michael Jackson he:מייקל ג'קסון jv:Michael Jackson kn:ಮೈಖೇಲ್ ಜ್ಯಾಕ್ಸನ್ ka:მაიკლ ჯექსონი kk:Майкл Джексон rw:Michael Jackson sw:Michael Jackson kv:Джексон Майкл Джозеф ht:Michael Jackson ku:Michael Jackson lad:Michael Jackson la:Michael Jackson lv:Maikls Džeksons lb:Michael Jackson lt:Michael Jackson li:Michael Jackson lmo:Michael Jackson hu:Michael Jackson mk:Мајкл Џексон mg:Michael Jackson ml:മൈക്ക്‌ൾ ജാക്സൺ mt:Michael Jackson mr:मायकेल जॅक्सन arz:مايكل چاكسون mzn:مایکل جکسون ms:Michael Jackson mn:Майкл Жэксон my:မိုက်ကယ်လ် ဂျက်ဆင် nah:Michael Jackson nl:Michael Jackson nds-nl:Michael Jackson ne:माइकल ज्याक्सन new:माइकल ज्याक्सन ja:マイケル・ジャクソン no:Michael Jackson nn:Michael Jackson nov:Michael Jackson oc:Michael Jackson mhr:Джексон, Майкл uz:Michael Jackson pag:Michael Jackson pnb:مائیکل جیکسن pap:Michael Jackson ps:مايکل جېکسن pms:Michael Jackson tpi:Michael Jackson nds:Michael Jackson (Singer) pl:Michael Jackson pt:Michael Jackson kaa:Michael Jackson ro:Michael Jackson qu:Michael Jackson ru:Джексон, Майкл sah:Майкл Джексон se:Michael Jackson sco:Michael Jackson sq:Michael Jackson scn:Michael Jackson si:මයිකල් ජැක්සන් simple:Michael Jackson sk:Michael Jackson sl:Michael Jackson szl:Michael Jackson so:Michael Jackson ckb:مایکڵ جاکسن sr:Мајкл Џексон sh:Michael Jackson su:Michael Jackson fi:Michael Jackson sv:Michael Jackson tl:Michael Jackson ta:மைக்கல் ஜாக்சன் tt:Майкл Джексон te:మైకల్ జాక్సన్ th:ไมเคิล แจ็กสัน tg:Майкл Ҷексон tr:Michael Jackson uk:Майкл Джексон ur:مائیکل جیکسن ug:مايكېل جېكسۇن vi:Michael Jackson vls:Michael Jackson (zanger) war:Michael Jackson wuu:米口 积克森 yi:מייקל זשעקסאן yo:Michael Jackson zh-yue:米高積臣 diq:Michael Jackson bat-smg:Maiklos Džeksuons zh:迈克尔·杰克逊

''Girlie men'' is a pejorative term that is notably used by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to characterize opponents in the state legislature of California over the state budget.

History of the phrase

Schwarzenegger borrowed the term from a series of ''Saturday Night Live'' sketches in which Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon played bodybuilders named Hans and Franz, large men with Austrian accents. The two characters, for obvious comic reasons, were characterized as cousins of Schwarzenegger. The inverted usage provides an element of irony to the comedy and the term, as well.

Schwarzenegger's usage

The term was first used by Schwarzenegger in the 1988 Presidential election, accompanied by then Vice President George H.W. Bush. He was shown attacking Bush's opponents, saying “They all look like a bunch of girlie men, right?" He repeated it in the 1992 election, then campaigning for President Bush, again applying it to the Democratic candidates, as seen in the 1992 documentary ''Feed'' by Kevin Rafferty and James Ridgeway. He used the phrase again on July 17, 2004, where he stated "[i]f they don't have the guts to come up here in front of you and say, 'I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers ...' if they don't have the guts, I call them girlie men." He would use the term twice in the speech.

Schwarzenegger would later use the term at the 2004 Republican National Convention, where he implored the audience not to be pessimistic about the economy, saying "Don't be economic girlie men."

Schwarzenegger received some criticism from various gay rights and feminist groups. California State Senator Sheila Kuehl, who is a member of the legislature's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus, claimed that the governor had resorted to "blatant homophobia," stating that the phrase "uses an image that is associated with gay men in an insulting way, and it was supposed to be an insult. That's very troubling that he would use such a homophobic way of trying to put down legislative leadership." Jeff Bissiri, the Log Cabin Republicans' California Director, responded to Kuehl's statements on behalf of Schwarzenegger, stating that "the Governor’s use of the term ‘girlie man’ was not a slur aimed at the gay and lesbian community and Senator Kuehl knows that...Where was her outrage when the Bustamante campaign referred to candidate Schwarzenegger as a ‘sissy’ for not agreeing to an endless series of debates?"

Other public uses

The term, popularized initially by the ''Saturday Night Live'' sketch, received new life following Schwarzenegger's usage. ''New York Times'' opinion columnist Maureen Dowd quoted a Democratic insider who claimed that 2004 Presidential candidate John Kerry had "turned into a girlie man."

Jack Kemp, former Republican Congressman and Vice Presidential Nominee, used the phrase in criticizing Democratic economic policies in his column "Don't be economic girlie-men."

Linguistic analysis

In an article in the journal ''American Speech'', linguist Edwin Battistella analyzes the development of the expression from ironic mockery of body-building culture to an overt connotation of weakness and a covert connotation of effeminacy. He writes:

:In all this usage, girly-man is implicitly contrasted with such terms as :he-man, macho-man, or manly man. These terms bring together images of :physique, strength, courage, and will in an image of comic-book manliness. :The controlling male stereotype is that of the muscular action-hero male as :manly and of other men (non–weight lifters, nonmacho straight men, gays) :as lacking courage, strength, and decisiveness. As critics of the usage pointed :out, referring to someone as a girly-man requires adopting this stereotype as :an instrument of either humor or derogation. And it further entails adopting :the complementary stereotype that women are not so strong or decisive :as men.

Contrasting the expression "girly girl" with "girly man," Battistella suggests that in the former the adjective intensifies the stereotype present in the noun, while in the while the latter the adjective is negate components of the stereotype to produce a range of derisive meanings.

References

Category:Arnold Schwarzenegger Category:Pejorative terms for people Category:Saturday Night Live catch-phrases