Examples of Character types in Thrillers

Protagonists: Leonard Shelby

One example of a protagonist in a thriller is the character “Leonard Shelby” portrayed by Guy Pearce. As a character Leonard Shelby is radically different from the norm in the sense that it is not just the audience that is constantly questioning what is happening but so is the protagonist. This is due to a condition that he has called anterograde amnesia. This condition is caused by a extermely traumatic event (in this case an injury to him, and his wifes rape and murder) and causes the protaganist to become unable to generate new memories. This is the characters biggest flaw, essetianlty making it imossible for him to trust anyone (this helps to add elements of tension and mystery). In order to overcome this obstical he creates a system of notes. These come in the form of notes writen by him, tatto’s and polaroid photos. This allows for a much more interesting story arc.
The film events unfold in two different narratives, one that statrs at the films end in colour and plays in revese chronological order and one that starts at the films beginning in black and white stock which is told in the correct chronological order. Leonard lives in a real world an is grounded by his very human traits. Guilt and obbsesion are his biggest character traits, guilt for the death of his wife and obbsesion to find her killer.