Genres and Tropes and the “Profiler” Television Series
Genres and Tropes and the “Profiler” Television Series

Summary/Abstract: This article is starts from the issue of genre in general – in literature and film – and how views on genre in modern and contemporary criticism have evolved, especially in the past century. Even if many literary critics consider genre a category of the past, readers continue to look for the genre, identify and typify art according to genre, thus influencing especially the cinema and television industry, which not only reflects such interests, but also enriches the field of generic criticism with new tropes all the time. The illustration of this tendency comes from a very special type of detective story: the profiling story, which has been received with much interest by the public, and has given enough material to many critical views. With the iconic The Silence of the Lambs, the story of how psychology can help detectives in identifying and annihilating serial killers, has developed very much, until today, when the newest series, Mindhunter, comes as a kind of prototype ‘après la letter’. In fact, this series does not ignite the interest in the genre, nor does it give it a list of generic features, but provides the genre with the necessary historical and social context, as well as with the necessary psychological insights, while presenting the most extraordinary cases of serial killers. The series is more artistic than any of the preceding ones, complicated, appealing to the reader’s knowledge of the world and intelligence, as well as to his/her taste.

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