Gone Girl, directed by David Fincher, is about a man named Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck), who becomes the center of attention and the prime suspect following the disappearance of his wife, Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike), on the day of their fifth wedding anniversary. What makes this storyline so enticing is being able to look back at it and wonder: is Amy or Nick the victim? or: Are both victims from each other's doings? In my personal opinion, I believe that both are at fault of hurting one another that drove them apart, and not for the better, to which Dana Stevens has the same view saying "each successive chapter shows both partners in an ever less flattering light". To start off with Nick, watchers learn that he cheats on Amy with his student, Andie (Emily Ratajkowski), to which Amy states that she, who was once Nick's "cool girl", has moved to find a "newer, younger, bouncier cool girl". Viewers and Flynn learn that "Nick is someone who has skated by on charm and has that as a deflection mechanism. And that’s what crucifies him". There is also the fact of possibility of only being with Amy since she had a trust fund. Not looking good on Nick's end. I did say both are in the wrong, but I also want to state that what Amy does was too malicious, crazy, and delusional. In no way am I saying cheating is okay, but was what Amy did in response to finding out is far from being innocent and sane. Not only does she fake her own death and try to make it look like Nick did it, when her after plan starts disintegrating, she convinces her ex-boyfriend, Desi Collings (Neil Patrick Harris), to hide her. When she sees Nick on a talk show apologizing, she decides to kill Desi, so that she could go back to the man she fell in love with in the first place, and accuse Desi of kidnapping her, letting Nick off the hook for the supposed murder. Yikes. Talk about crazy. While I have not read the book ("Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn), I've had been privy to being able to read books that later was made into a film. Some examples being "The Hunger Games" trilogy by Suzanne Collins, "Divergent" by Veronica Roth, or the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. From there, I was able to see what was and wasn't put from book to film. So, essentially a big question or debate that leaves viewers or movie critics when it comes to this is if the movie was able to do the book justice, did the movie completely went in the wrong direction, or what changes (positive or negative) were made in the movie from the book. With that said, I do like George Raitt's explanation that "Sameness and difference are not binary opposites unless one can hold the criteria of comparison constant" and Thomas Van Parys way of saying that “fidelity is not homogeneous” (when it comes to book to film). Essentially, Fincher and Flynn-who helped with adapting the screenplay for the film, were able to put most of the book's details within the film, to which even reporter Emily Yahr states "it turns out … yeah, it’s pretty much exactly the same as the book. Sure, there were a few small differences, but overall, the crazy conclusion remained the same." One of the small differences Yahr mentioned-that could have made a big impact one's interpretation to those who just read, just saw, or did both- was the last lines of the film to the last lines in the book. In the book, Nick begins to act nice towards Amy, and when she asks why, he replies "Because I feel sorry for you … because every morning you have to wake up and be you.” This lets readers know that Amy was not happy to hear that and that there is cause for her charade to crumble. Viewers for the film don't get to come to that same conclusion/closure since the film ends with Nick saying "What have we done to each other? What will we do?". The film thus leaves the viewers wondering those same questions for both (Nick and Amy) of them as well if Nick will feel or even be safe living under the same roof as Amy. (preferred to start video at 0:24) This film by far has been my favorite so far. Not only did the twist shock me, being that this was my first time watching it, but these type of movies (genre-wise) is right up my alley of favorites to watch. I was definitely on a roller coaster of emotions watching this film. That said, I'd highly recommend this movie to my peers or simply to those who like crazy, unexpected twists, thrillers, or multiple narratives from different characters (their own P.O.V). Thanks for stopping by for my FILM talk!
Below are some places I looked at to make this blog: He Said, She Said - Amy Taubin Dana Stevens' review on Gone Girl 'Gone Girl' : Let's discuss that ending - Emily Yahr Still Lusting After Fidelity? - George Raitt found within Adaptations Now: The Past, Present, and Future of Film and Literature
5 Comments
Adrian Fulgencio
3/8/2019 04:52:27 pm
Victoria,
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Jake Ranieri
3/10/2019 03:38:33 pm
I really enjoyed reading your blog. I really liked how you compared Nick and Amy in being both the victim and the villain. At the end of the film, you don't really know who is who and it was a very climatic ending that left me wanting more of the film. I wanted to know if Nick ended up leaving, or if Amy kills Nick or whatever could have happened. It was frustrating knowing that Amy got her way, as she usually did, and Nick was "fine" going along with her like he usually did.
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Gabe Zawada
3/10/2019 09:15:26 pm
You did well in comparison for several characters within your posts especially giving more insight on their overall relations between one another such as Nick and Amy’s marriage how it could have affected many aspects philosophically towards Amy’s character. I definitely agree within you on how the director sort of masked such a twisted ending by adding in small distractions given in small encounters during several scenes. Your thoughts definitely express the whole emotion behind Amy’s motive on causing Nick to have such remorse when finding her, but it was awesome seeing how it put a turn on yourself as watching the film.
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Andrew Shockey
3/11/2019 03:14:26 pm
I really enjoyed your post I was intrigued when you said that they were both victims of each other. Although throughout the movie the victim card was thrown back and forth but I think the Amy was a victim even before she had met Nick and carried that as baggage into her own relationship which in the end ruined Nick's life. Lets go back when Amy first became a victim and where he problems started, as we learn in the movie Amy was the poster child for her parents book about her and that her character in their book amounted up to do more than she could and she had to play a character that she never truly could. But when it came to relationships she was also able to build a new persona as she admits to Nick, with him she was playing the "cool girl". When your playing someone you are not its hard to maintain that personality because you are not staying true to who you are and the other person is able to sense the uneasiness like Nick did when he began to cheat. Then the cheating pushed her to make it look like he killed her so he would be put in jail and suffer for what he had done. I would not say Amy was not playing someone else if Nick was the only person she had done this to but we also learn that Amy's past ex's got framed for doing bad things as well because things were not working out as Amy imagined that they would. To try to sum this up and not make it go out any longer, yes they both did things that they should not have done but I believe in this senerio Nick is the true victim and is now stuck with someone he does not admire.
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Brian
3/12/2019 10:13:45 am
Thanks for engaging with questions of adaptation in your post, Victoria! The article by Raitt raises some really important issues when it comes to this topic, including the validity of the 'fidelity' idea - that film adaptations have a responsibility to be 'faithful' to their source material. As we'll see as we move forward, that idea is a bit antiquated and ultimately limits discussion rather than opening it up. That's what Raitt is getting at, I think.
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