EXAMPLES OF THRILLER MOTIFS

'The Woman in Black' is " regarded almost as a classic of Victorian ghost story-telling. " (Empire Online), and concerns a young lawyer (Daniel Radcliffe as the protagonist) and his journey to an eerie village plagued with the deaths of infants due to the ghost of a highly disturbed young woman who took her life nearby.The theme of dolls/children in the Gothic horror thriller 'The Woman in Black' is a reoccurring motif. 

This concept is used to scare and shock the audience as the innocence and vunerability of children is used as a manipulation throughout the film. 

The camera often focuses on dolls with close up shots just before a jump scare, so that these dolls, instead of merely being reminders of childhood create suspense and heighten the tension. The stillness of the dolls and their fixed expression can also be used to cause this tension, leaving the audience on the edge of their seat as in several scenes toys move, a conventional feature of the horror-thriller subgenre.

Children also play a pivotal part in the plot, and are used as another tool to scare the audience. The antagonist in the film, the woman in black, kills children and the audience are aware of this so every scene including a child in it will again put them on edge, making it seem even more suspenseful. These children are often part of a rather gruesome situation and on more than one situation, they come to a gruesome end. For example, one little girl drinks lye and dies shortly after, with her death being gory and uncomfortable for audiences to watch, especially those who are squeamish. 

(taken from brianvsmovies.blogspot)

Another example is the protagonist (Arthur Kipps) son's own fate, in this way it also acts as an omen. The absence of this motif also drives some of the characters into madness, including the woman in black herself (she was unable to keep her own child so committed suicide) and the main protagonist's friend, whose son's death causes her to spiral into madness, substituting her dogs as children and keeping relics of her son all around her house, showing her to be trapped in time and a a disturbed frame of mind, just like the ghost(Miss Janet Drablow), the lack of children in their lives causes both of them to go insane. In this way, without the motif of children, the plot would not be able to be carried out in the way it has been, as they cause disruptions, hauntings, disturbances and grievances, constantly bringing the audience closer to noticing the woman in black's presence.

As children are seen to most of the audience as vunerable and helpless, this makes the audience find this reoccuring theme very distressing and uncomfortable, one of the key aims of anyone directing a piece of this sub genre.

This motif can be found in other films, such as Rosemary's Baby by Roman Polanski. The motif of children in this film is used in a different way, as the baby does not appear as vunerable at all, and is instead demonised, being seen as the devil incarnate, causing an unbelievable amount of suffering to the mother (Mia Farrow). 

This is just as disturbing to the audience as it shows the baby, something that is normally adored and cherished, as a menacing, destructive force, or (depending on interpretation) an innocent being that has been possessed by something much darker, again causing distress, leaving many of the audience worried for both the child and mother, the connection between mother and child/maternal relationships being manipulated and twisted allows directors to create some of the most perturbing and unsettling cinematic pieces.

 

When considering the importance of motifs, I think they are vital to any thriller. As a group, we have come to the decision that we should include a subtle motif in our own work, that the audience can identify with. When considering this, we also need to think carefully when filming to make sure the motif is consistent throughout.