Movie Convention Research: Knives Out

 Knives Out is a recent addition to the Murder Mystery genre. Mixing together the cliche and new forms of film conventions. The main character, Marta, is an immigrant who works for a wealthy family. Although the family claims they care about her, they turn on her when they find out that the head of the family has been murdered. The detective on the case, Benoit Blanc, knows that this case doesn't sit right with him. Through a series of flashbacks and clues, the audience learns that there was a mix-up with the medicine doses that Marta supposedly gave to him. The man Marta takes care of, Harlan, takes it upon himself to perform an act of selflessness and ends his life. This is to ensure that Marta and her family is not deported back to her home country. In the end, Blanc finds out that one of the less senior members of the family, Ransom, switched the medicine in the bottles. This would mean that Marta really did give Harlan the right medicine and doses, but the difference in labels made it seem like Marta overdosed Harlan. This type of twist ending is part of the fun of murder mysteries. The movie made it appear as if Ransom was Marta's greatest ally when really, he was using her as a cover. Motive is also a reoccurring theme in these movies. Through a series of interviews conducted by Blanc, the audience perceives anyone and everyone to be a suspect in the case. Since we are looking at this movie from Blanc's and Marta's perspectives, we never even consider Ransom as wanting to kill his grandfather. Another crucial element for the audience watching any murder mystery is thinking outside of the box. The first time I watched these movies, I had only a small inkling that Ransom could have anything to do with the case. Re-watching it, I couldn't believe how obviously the clues were hidden in plain sight. These movies all build up to the "Ah ha!" moment where all the puzzle pieces go together. To conclude, the genre of murder mystery movies exist to challenge the human mind and how we look at people.

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