How typical is 'Sin City' to its genre?

Sin City consists of the hybrid genre of film noir and comic book which is presented with conventions of each genre throughout the visual text. Film noir is a French term for 'black' film with the style of black and white technique for a typical portrayal of the genre which is presented within the film to depict the contrasts of the world, the black and white world. The iconography in the mise-en-scene is typical of both genres with the use of the motif of trench coats worn by every protagonist introduced is a convention of film noir regarding a role of a detective or an investigator with a sense of crime aspect to solve and is also symbolised as cape as it flaps behind flowing in the wind like a superhero indicating a comic book convention. The use of the raining weather and the occurrence of events during the dawn/ night from the mise-en-scene paints out the typical convention of the film noir genre as the use of the dark setting with heavy rain reflects the cold war atmosphere with the emphasis of a cynical attitude from the protagonists creates a pathetic fallacy.

The use of Propp's theory is displayed when identifying the characters throughout the film presenting the cliché convention of the comic book genre. The hero is presented through the iconography of scars and bruises and is identified as a Hero with the goal of rescuing the princess from the villain/ arch nemesis which is a typical convention of both comic book and film noir. The role of the 'Hero' is displayed as a tragic superhero with a weakness slowly revealed towards the climax such as when the protagonist 'John Hartigan' is discovered to have a heart problem "Doctor's orders. Heart condition, Angina, he calls it." which he chooses to ignore foreshadowing the barriers it could cause in the near future. The portrayal of the role of the princess in the film is in need of a saviour depicting the matter of the gender stereotype presented as the female needs a male to be rescued from in order to survive, this is shown when 'Goldie' and 'Nancy', two contrasting characters where Nancy is presented as a naive, vulnerable child in juxtaposition with Goldie who is sexually objectified, are in need of a hero from the villain.