*Spoilers ahead*
Gone Girl is a book released in 2012 (with a movie adaptation made in 2014) that shows the life of Nick and Amy Dunne when Amy mysteriously goes missing. The story starts with Nick entering his house, realizing that the place appears to have been broken into and that his wife (Amy) is missing. The story goes through a murder mystery that leads to a shocking plot twist.
Amy has faked her death and is framing Nick for her murder.
While this sounds completely crazy, Gillian Flynn wrote Gone Girl in a way that gives Amy a humanized perspective that makes an audience almost support her while watching/reading the story. The audience sees how Amy was willing to do almost everything for Nick, and how she wanted to help him be the best he could be. Nick, on the other hand, was lazy in their relationship and even cheated on Amy with one of his students. This story was written so well that it needs to be read itself for it to be done justice.
The story starts out fully from Nick’s perspective. He enters his house and it is completely destroyed, the door is propped open, and Amy is missing. The audience watches Nick try to solve where his missing wife is, as he increasingly gets accused of murdering her by the police. Later in the story, the audience sees that Amy is alive, and the audience starts to learn about her perspective. She gives a monologue known as the “Cool Girl” monologue. This monologue has been used as an example of how women change themselves to fit the male gaze and to be seen as lovable or respected by men.
“Nick and Amy will be gone. But then we never really existed. Nick loved a girl I was pretending to be. Cool girl. Men always use that, don’t they? As their defining compliment. She’s a Cool girl. Cool girl is hot. Cool girl is game. Cool girl is fun. Cool girl never gets angry at her man.”
Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
While the whole monologue is full of vengeance and can even seem scary or dramatic to certain audiences, this is a large hook for the audience. So, while Amy Dunne is a terrifying mastermind that is definitely not a role model or someone to look up to, why does this monologue encapsulate such a large amount of viewers and incentivize this story as one worth watching or reading?
Simple answer: Amy has a point.
While this does not mean you should frame your husband for your murder, it could cause you to take a closer look at how women do change for their male counterparts in hopes of receiving validation and love from them. The drive to change to fit the male gaze or narrative comes from a patriarchal society and internalized misogyny forced upon women in childhood. Through numerous stories about romance and the “girl gets the guy” rom-com narrative, a skewed view of love is evident in the consumption of male-written media. Many girls watched movies like Grease at a young age and watched Sandy get the guy after changing everything about herself. This leads to the mindset that the only way to achieve a relationship is by going through the long, hard process of destroying the person you are and becoming someone that the man you are pursuing desires.
The monologue has as many fans as it does because Amy is hitting at something that many women experience. Many women have even claimed to feel seen through the character of Amy Dunne; some could even say that Amy Dunne is to women what the Joker is to men. While obviously, her actions are inexcusable and dangerously harmful, she does make a point while discussing the hardships of forcing yourself to become something you are not in an attempt to desperately grasp the love you desire. Her story of rage and anger is told in such a humanizing way that causes the audience to even feel empathy for her as she goes through her evil plan.
Gone Girl is definitely a must-watch or read story. The development of the story is so crazy that watching it or reading it firsthand is the only way to truly understand how well thought out and planned the plot is, and how much of a mastermind Gillian Flynn is. For anyone even slightly interested in thrillers, this one is for you and you NEED to add it to your bookshelf and must-watch list today.