ABSTRACT
Voice, the editorial opinion of the writer about the story he is writing, can be deeply embedded, masked within the genre, or it can be foregrounded, superseding all the narrative elements of the script. In this chapter we will focus upon those genres that, in effect, aid the foregrounding process, thereby highlighting voice above all other narrative intentions. Before proceeding to those genres, it’s important to establish that all genres exhibit voice but that most storytellers exercise voice within the boundaries of genre expectations. For example, if we look at film noir, the genre is all about betrayal. A main character makes a poor relational choice, and instead of being saved by the relationship, he is destroyed by it. The transgressional plot, whether robbery or murder, is for the main character not a transgression but rather a measure of the love he feels for the woman who is to save him.
