This was originally posted on Snatch zine.
Tonight, in case you hadn’t heard, is the annual film awards, The Golden Globes. Along the nominees is last years controversial yet prized motion picture, Gone Girl – for Best Lead Actress in a Drama (Rosamund Pike), Best Director (David Fincher) as well as Best Screenplay and Best Original Song… In honour of this, and the fact it has some questionable feminist/anti-feminist facets, we are providing you with an in-depth analysis! So here is the 411 on Gone Girl provided by our loyal staff writer, Arian Cross…
A little late with it but I’m finally on the Gone Girl band-wagon adding my two cents of somewhat useless opinions to the greasy mix. But first a warning, do not read ahead if you have not read/ seen Gone Girl – I will ruin it for you. The book was hugely popular and now so is the film. Journalists seem to love it and so there are lots of half-cocked ideas on it floating around cyberspace. Take your pick, Amy is a: misogynist, feminist, psycho-bitch, misandrist, misanthrope, bad role model, good role model – you get the point. I’m going to address Gone Girl in three different ways, the three I see as most central to the film/ book as well as recent discussions on it: the ‘cool girl’ trope; crime being turned into a media spectacle; and the female victim narrative.
Firstly the ‘cool girl’ phenomenon; which I’m going to have to define because people seem to be deeply torn on its meaning. A cool girl (or cool guy – not gender specific) is someone who pretends to like something that someone they are attracted to likes in order to appeal more to them. It’s really that simple. It’s not attacking women who genuinely like sex and drinking and football and other stereotypically male pastimes, it is criticising people who pretend to like things in order to get with someone – and as we know deception is at the heart of Gone Girl and arguably the fatal flaw of both Nick and Amy.
Diary Amy is a ‘cool girl’, real Amy admits that later. For instance Diary Amy talks about ‘dancing monkey’ men who are under the thumb and that she’d never treat Nick that way. But real Amy later says that it’s not keeping men under the thumb it’s expecting respect from them. At Amy’s reveal when we realise she faked it all, she delivers a cool girl monologue and gives examples of what a woman might pretend to be like as she drives past women exemplifying these things. To sum up, a ‘cool girl’ is pretending to be something you’re not to get with someone. It’s not inherently misogynistic, nowhere does it state this is a specifically female occurrence, nor does it generalise that all women are ‘cool girls’. I hope I have cleared that up.
Next to the blurring of boundaries between police and media (I really wanted to say ‘blurred lines’ but I didn’t want to make all you lovely readers vomit over yourselves). A key theme in Gone Girl is the extraordinary impact the public and media have on police proceedings. Flynn herself has stated that this is one of the key agendas of the book. It is perfectly encapsulated in a scene near the end after Amy has returned when there’s an awkward encounter between Nick and Ellen Abbott, since she’d previously fingered him as her killer.
As soon as Amy disappears Nick is scapegoated to give the public someone to hate. Then Nick has to not only navigate through police interrogations, but also the public perception of him which will inextricably have an effect on the police’s view of him. Nick states that he doesn’t reveal his affair with Andie precisely because it will sour the public opinion of him, and jeopardise his case. Despite being a fleeting remark this is an extremely potent piece of evidence for the convergence of police investigations and media in Gone Girl. Nick withholds evidence because he anticipates the public reaction and detrimental effect that will have for him. This is all expanded on when Tanner Bolt enters the frame and there’s discussions of how and when to present the evidence to the police and the media. In fact it is just this that Amy plays on to set up Nick, she knows the public will believe the poor, defenceless, abused, pregnant housewife.
This media scapegoating of Nick leads to serious harassment of himself and his peers. Paparazzi are staged outside his house and bombard anyone who dares enter with photos and questions. Then there’s the likes of Ellen Abbott who stir the pot further and cement the public perception of Nick as guilty (even though he’s innocent!). Regardless of whether Nick had committed this crime or not, surely he should not have been treated this way. I think Flynn is making an important point here about media bullying and harassment, and suggests a divorcing of media and the judicial system.
This leads nicely to the part the public plays in this. Why do they want to be a part of someone else’s nightmare? Why are women trying to chat up Nick when his wife has just gone missing – and he might have done it!? Why are people so determined to punish Nick when there’s no real evidence? Why don’t they trust the police and justice system to resolve the situation? The whole crime provides a voyeuristic, perverse spectacle for them. A perfect example of this is people taking photos at The Bar and turning a supposed murderer into a celebrity. Crime should not be for public consumption and enjoyment. But it is arguable that ubiquitous fictional crime narratives – Gone Girl being one of them – have created this spectacle.
Now to the female victim narrative, where I will explore why Amy is regarded simultaneously as those things I listed above. The female victim narrative in simplistic terms is the constant portrayal or perception of women as primarily victims. This can be in stories from literature, films etc. or just public opinions (ever been told you’re not allowed to go for a walk on your own – in the middle of the day even! – because you’re female so you’re a defenceless little flower who’ll be raped by a big bad man if you dare venture outside without a bodyguard?). I think the female victim narrative is at the centre of Gone Girl. Real Amy manipulates this prevalent stereotype to her own ends, for example when she claims to have been domestically abused by Nick and raped by Desi. Her victimhood isn’t questioned because it’s seen as inescapably true.
Before people jump at my throat, in the fashion of many short-sighted journalists on the topic of Gone Girl, I’m not saying we should doubt victims. Amy is a horrible woman, she lies, deceives, manipulates, makes rape accusations, and murders. She is not representative of all women. That needs to be underlined because some seem to think that because Amy faked a rape that must mean that Flynn/ Fincher are saying all women claiming to be raped have faked it. No. This kind of backlash is only occurring because we’re so used to seeing women in the passive, victim role and when a woman breaks from that to become the antagonistic/ villainous character people appear to become confused. Faked rape accusations are very rare, but so is the representation of that onscreen (to the best of my knowledge). Surely feminism, equality, accurate representations – whatever you want to call it – means female characters should be good and bad?
So I hope this has resolved some questionable issues from Gone Girl. Amy is female and she is not a nice person, but that does not mean all women are not nice people. The same for ‘cool girls’, they’re a specific group of shallow, deceptive women and not representative of all women. Also I hope people will stop and think about the meta-narrative (in the style of Flynn herself): what themes are being explored; how does this challenge conventions; does this fulfil my expectations – etc.
Arian's Film Blog 