Reel Women: How ‘Gone Girl’ Defies the Strong Female Character
Gillian Flynn's 'Gone Girl' was a divisive novel upon release in 2012, analyzed and picked apart, often scrutinized and questioned for its depiction of central character Amy Dunne -- was she a "strong female character" or a strong enough female character, and just what the hell does that phrase even mean anymore? It's almost derogatory now. There was perhaps no one better to adapt Flynn's pulpy work than David Fincher, whose film version hits theaters this week and faithfully adapts Flynn's story, serving as an indictment of media vultures and the toxicity of marriage. But it goes one (and even more) further than that, hitting on something imperative to Flynn's novel: how we want to perceive Amy, and how we feel about her as a character when that perception is challenged.