Representation of males in Sin City

All of the male protagonist characters in Sin City essentially fit into both the film noir and comic book genre, hence why the film is a hybrid of the two genres.

John, Marv and Dwight all use violence, however they use violence to protect and defend the female characters from the villains. They all work towards good, not valuing themselves in the slightest, as they are prepared to die to protect the women. This is demonstrated when John Hartigan kills himself to protect Nancy. The protagonists all have some form of handicap, which is another film noir convention as they are the unlikely heroes, this can either by physical or mental, and sometimes both handicaps are apparent in one character. Their over-exaggerated violence is a comic book convention, as in the classic film noir films, violence was used, just not to this extent. The protagonists all wear long leather trench coats, which were used in the original film noir films. In Sin City the trench coats act as capes, as when they move the coat flows in the wind, emulating a cape. Before committing acts of violence, the protagonist removes the coat and 'de-capes', as he is about to do wrong.

Jackie Boy, Cardinal Rourke, Senator Rourke and The Yellow Bastard are all arch nemesis' of the protagonists. All are working against the protagonists, whilst abusing their power, which is an element of the film noir genre. An example of this is Rourke Jr's involvement in child exploitation, as he kidnaps Nancy, plans to rape then murder her.