Stereotypical Representations in the Thriller genre

In the thriller genre, there are many different representations of gender and ethnicity such as culture, gender, heterosexual and many other stereotyped representations.

Cultural bias is a very common stereotype in the Thriller genre. In the film 'Se7en' (1995), Morgan Freeman played a smart, intellectual, senior, detective. This had always been represented as a 'white' actors role but his role as Detective Somerset was different. Hollywood has always been a white centric company and the black ethnicity usually plays the minor roles in films.

Gender bias is also a very common stereotype in the Thriller genre. In this genre, females have  played the victim role, or the femme fatale, which portrays that women should not be trusted. For example, Jodie Foster played FBI agent Clarice Starling in 'Silence of the Lambs' (1991).

Heterosexual bias is not as much of a common stereotype as cultural or gender bias. Having a homosexual protagonist is almost entirely rare even in liberal Hollywood. The idea of a leading male detective, in a film, being openly gay is unheard of.