how we watch a gangster film from any time period. One of the aspects of genre that is apparent from Warshow's discussion is that a genre is defined by the inclusion of certain elements of character, action, and theme setting out the parameters of what Warshow calls the "classical" style, but at the same time an enterprising filmmaker can twist the conventions of a genre and so produce a hybrid, or an expanded or revisionist form of the genre. What is produced then is perfectly recognizable in terms of its roots while also being clearly identifiable as something more.
Warshow emphasizes the importance of guns in the gangster film, indicating that the genre centers first on an objectification of violence and second on the character of the man serving as the hero. Warshow says of the first,
Guns as physical objects, and the postures associated with their use, from the visual and emotional center of both types of films. I suppose this reflects the importance of guns in the fantasy life of Americans; but that is a less illuminating point than it
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