The film Sin City is considered to be a hybrid, a film with two genres, these are Film Noir & Comic Book, two unique and obvious genres. There are many conventions within this film to show that these are the genres of the film, such as characters, themes, mis-en-scene and iconography, etc.
Film Noir is a genre that reflects a certain time period, The Cold War. The Cold War was basically a war that involved no violence or killing, it was just a time leading up to another possible war. This made the majority of people, like policeman, very corrupt. This is shown throughout the film Sin City, enabling us to see this is film is Film Noir, for example, about 15 minutes into the film the protagonist John Hartigan is shot and killed by his partner, this shows mistrust, paranoia, and corruption. There is also another scene that shows this when Marv is sleeping with Goldie, and when he awakes she is dead, and the killer has escaped, the police then show up and Marv has been framed for the murder of his own lover, this once again shows the mistrust and corruption of the time it was set.
Like I said before, Sin City is a hybrid, it consists of two genres, Film Noir, and the other one is Comic Book. Comic Book conventions, unlike Film Noir conventions, are very obvious, they include things such as the Classic Propp Characters and extreme usage of special effects and over exaggerated non diegetic/diegetic sound. We more or less know straight away that this is a comic book film, because when John smashes through the door, the door breaks so easily and is propelled across the room, this shows the emphasis on special effects and lack of a reality, which is a huge convention of Comic Book.
In the film there is a non-linear narrative, basically a narrative that doesn't follow a specific order, it isn't chronological. We see this in the film quite distinctly, because at the start of the film, John is murdered, but then about half way through we see him alive again with a villain that another protagonist killed, non-linear is a huge common convention used in Film Noir. Characters in the film also determine what kind of genre the film is, for example, the protagonists in Film Noir films often contain a physical or mental flaw, John has a heart condition, which is a physical flaw & Marv has a mental flaw which he needs to take pills for, he often questions whether what he sees is a reality. Marv is quite a down to earth kind of character, and is very depressed, this reflects the time in which the film was set, and says things such as "Hell is everyday waking up and not knowing why you're here" this shows the kind of character Marv is and also is a convention of Film Noir, as during The Cold War this is how the majority of people felt.
Because of the fact this is a hybrid film, conventions within Sin City are often diluted, for example in typical Comic Book films, the protagonist is the perfect hero, never produces any kind of crime, never kills anyone, just captures the bad guy and arrests them and saves the day, however, in Sin City, this convention is diluted slightly because Film Noir is present, and the protagonists in Film Noir films are cynical, they do good deeds, but often torture their victims and kill innocent people, which brings me onto my next point about the iconography of the film and the characters. The protagonists all wear trench coats, this symbolises a cape, which obviously is a convention of Comic Book, but to show this convention is slightly diluted by Film Noir, when Marv tortures a suspect for information, he takes off the trench coat, to show he's no longer really that stereotypical hero anymore, he is doing bad things, for an overall good result.
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