Anil's Ghost Analysis

Crime fiction is a diverse and appealing genre. It is its unique capacity to evolve and transcend contextual barriers to suit changing paradigms that has ensured its popularity throughout time. Thematically, crime fiction has motifs such as the restoration of order, good overcoming evil, human nature and the completion of justice. However, it is the subversion of these conventions which exemplify the fluidity of the crime fiction genre, and thus, its diverse and appealing nature. The extent of this can be explored in Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost, Marele Day’s The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender and The Big Sleep, directed by Howard Hawke.
Anil’s Ghost presents a post modern metaphysical detection story, holding an ambiguous perception
The disjointed style of writing and absence of sequential logic sees this post modern text push the boundaries of crime fiction. Ondaatje uses fragmented, layered and shifting voices to create levels within the text – lulled into an aesthetic atmosphere but is shattered by the breaking of the narrative. He also makes use of vivid poetic language “Sleeping in the wards, he could be only one limb of a large creature, linked to others by the tread of noises” and Sinhalenese words such as “bajaj, doya reddha” which add authenticity to the novel, making it more fluid and
The medium of a film combines the paranoid, surveillant investigative eye with a vision of romance. It allowed for the hybrid of a hardboiled fiction and film noir style film which reflects the bleak nihilism of the Post-World War One era in which economic crisis, prohibition and the appearance of a “gangster” underworld, created an atmosphere of social decay. The film epitomises the “dark underbelly of American society”, ultimately depicting a morally ambiguous world that is unsure about the inevitability of justice. Various film techniques such as the use of lighting to portray a dark and shadowy world and the “oil slicked streets” and grimy city setting, satirical remarks and sexual innuendo within the film, emphasis this. However, the Hays Production Code dilutes the darkness of the hardboiled genre to some extent, resorting to the use of euphemisms, symbolism and connotations to portray the illegal and