World Mysteries and Thrillers discussion

Very much digging this structural analysis of the Hollywood western, 1930-1970.

The author makes a compelling argument and his effort is recognized as a seminal work of American sociology/culture. This is not fluff.

Anone here familiar with it? I wonder, what if his method were applied to the detective or crime story/movie? Would the results be as lucid? What adaptations would have to be made? Is there an anatomy of the detective story?

I know a bit about the publishing history of these genres; but that is still different--at a farther remove--than their structure. It seems to me that we all oughta be thinking about crime tales the way Wright thinks about westerns.

Thoughts?

It might be helpful if you give people an idea of what's in the book, since, for example, I probably won't read it.

What method?

And what is it about the book that says to you that "we all oughta be thinking about crime tales the way Wright thinks about westerns"? You didn't say what or how he thinks.

Well, I can't really take on the task of summarizing a book like this--it wouldn't come across very clearly via an awkward 'forum post' medium.

Not the least of which reason being: that the author's methodology itself draws on the even more complex theories of sociologists like Claude Levi-Strauss, and narrative theorists like Vladimir Propp. In this instance, (though I rarely recommend it) I can only suggest taking a brief flyer through Wikipedia.

Once you do that, then maybe sift through the two lengthy "Goodreads reviews" of the book (on the book's Goodread's page) where I and another reviewer ('Tristam') dissect the gist of Wright's approach from various angles. Although our back'n'forth is dense, you may absorb enough to chime in successfully.

What I am suggesting someone (or perhaps all of us interested in detective films) do, is what Wright did. That is to try to 'codify' detective films in terms of their functional forms and then identify which of those forms present cultural myths...then, determine whether changes in society invoked concurrent transitions between those myths.

I think it could be done.