Funny Moaning Mimetic/Ludic: a Mismatched Couple?

A tension characterizes the history of the genre between play and seriousness, between playfulness and mimetics. However, if seriousness and mimeticism tend to dominate since the hard-boiled thriller, Eastern thrillers do not neglect play and playfulness. This is manifested by situations of païdia and ludus, by writing games, by self-reference, and by various forms of narrative virtuosity.