The Role and Depiction of Violence in Frank Miller’s “Sin City That Yellow Bastard”

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies – Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Bayreuth, course: Graphic Narratives, language: English, abstract: Sin City. The graphic novels as well as the film adaptations are well known for their harsh aesthetics, explicit images and ruthless depiction of sex & violence. But violence in Sin City is more than a superficial effect. It is a narrative and significant device. This term paper explores in detail the role and depiction of violence in Frank Miller’s Sin City: That Yellow Bastard. (Note: This work is helpful for both, people who want to learn about the graphic novels as well as for those who are interested in Rodriguez’ movies) Frank Miller’s critically acclaimed comic book series Sin City clearly pushes the borders of the sayable and displayable. The website for popculture complex.com features Sin City in its “The 40 Most Violent Comics Ever” article. According to the Parents Guide To Movies2, the film adaption of Sin City matches all criteria of mature content to an extraordinary extent: sex and nudity, violence and gore, profanity, alcohol and smoking as well as intense fighting scenes. And so does the comic itself. Nevertheless, Frank Miller was awarded several times with the Eisner Award – the most important American award for comic artists. This paper will deal with the 4th volume of the Sin City-series: That Yellow Bastard. I chose this volume, as I consider it representative of the whole series. In accordance, the Sin City film adaption, directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, featured many scenes of That Yellow Bastard volume. The graphic novel comes up with a unique noir, black-and-white style, roughness and an unadorned depiction of the characters’ dirty traits – his tendency towards violence.