STUDIES AND RESEARCH

Conspiracy as a Genre

Although conspiracy novel and film belong to the wide opus of the so-called crime literature or detective film, this new form in the field of the thematic of crime refuses to be clearly defined, so that it is difficult to say whether it actually is a ’distinct’ genre and if it has any visible, distinguishing determinants. If we wish to differentiate the activities that focus on espionage within the field of a thematically and formally very wide area of crime novel and film, we should begin with an essential element of these works — a conspiracy — also an important distinguishing element in comparison with other familiar forms whose essential constituent is an investigation, a threat or action.

What does a novel or a film of conspiracy represent in the context of genres? It contains elements of the crime novel since the activator is always a crime, however, the novel or the film of conspiracy also includes some other elements of familiar genres: action, emphasis on the representation of events as in a gangster movie or an adventure literary or film work, emphasis on the threat as in a thriller, or insistence on detection as in works of detection.

They usually include an overdose of sentimentality and melancholic loneliness, ’a game of coincidences’, which could account for a melodrama, whereas when the conspiracy becomes almost too extraordinary we can even discern the elements of science-fiction. If such works also include historical figures and offer a somewhat detailed description of historical and political events, we could also find the elements of historical, as well as the poetics of a documentary novel or film.

However, the emphasis on the conspiracy of global character with visions of general distrust, loneliness, and alienation resulting in the loss of identity, rather clearly delimit this group of works — in novels and films alike. In cases where these elements are not sufficient keys for making a distinction from other genres, the work of conspiracy appears as being in between genres, or as a border area in which several genres collide. At the same time, we could question the legitimacy of the term in between genres since many works are characterized by elements that belong to other genres as well, so that we could treat all works as being in between genres.

Nevertheless, in the case of a work of conspiracy, the mixture of elements of various familiar genres is more than obvious. A growing influence of politics in the world, the awareness of the global character of events and the role of alternative organisations, as well as the myth about the influence of espionage, often has introduced the theme of conspiracy in familiar genres giving them a distinctive mark. This can be observed in a number of Hitchcock’s and Lang’s films in which this material served as a background, but also as a motivator in detective films, thrillers, and even adventure movies.

On the other hand, although this may not be so evident — since the genre of conspiracy is of recent origin — typical elements of the work of conspiracy have enriched and changed the constituting elements of the above-mentioned genres both in the sense of context and form.

Ante Peterlić