Gone Girl - How Amy Dunne Manipulated Everyone

Aaah yes, Ben Affleck and his miserable marriages.

IMO what made Gone Girl a hit story-wise is how it touched on an aspect of relationships most people don't cover... putting on masks during a relationship. What happens when you're so tired of showing your best self during those early years. What happens when you start to get comfortable, and your true self starts to come out, flaws and all.

I will never get tired of Gone Girl breakdowns, one of the best adaptations of all time

Just finished the book. The movie was a fantastic adaptation, and Rosamund Pike truly brought this character to life. Probably the scariest believable character I've encountered in fiction

The characterization of Amy Dunne, combined with the brilliant performance from Rosamund Pink, makes this one of the most well realized characters in recent memory. Her "Cool Girl" voiceover monologue shows her fatal flaw: her need to be the perfect wife to Nick, as well as the ideal person to everyone else.

It's worth mentioning that Amy found a new interest in Nick when he was able to seduce the media in his one-on-one interview. The one she was watching avidly while eating ice cream next to Desi, furthering the point made in this video about Amy not caring about the truth.

12:01 “She impregnates herself” is a statement that perfectly describes Amy. If possible, she would have cloned herself— the Real Amy, not the Amazing Amy

I feel like the best part of this movie, the part that makes it so scary and gives Amy most of her power, is that Nick so easy to frame, he did most of the work himseld. How many people would look like a monster if their darkness was exposed? How many of us would be easy to frame by a person who knew our secrets? Nick is a painfully average guy. He's a terrible husband, but in a very common way. He promised Amy the moon, then became a irritable, slovenly, no-account brat, forcing her to be his mommy. He isolated her from her family and friends so he could be with his own, spent all her money in a quest to build himself up as a pillar of his hometown, (he bought a business for himself and a big house with her money) then began emotionally freezing her out. All the while, she doted on him, cleaned up after him, and paid his bills. He didn't love her anymore but she hadn't done anything to warrant the love lost. But he refused to admit he was the problem, or that there even was a problem, instead seeming determined to make her into the one who initiated the breakup so that he could be the victim. And then, after everything she endured for him, after everything she let him take to make him happy, she found out he was cheating on her with his student. If she had been a sane, good woman, he would've ruined the life of someone who loved him and gotten away with it, the way so many very average meant do to women who love them. Amy was even able to weave her web right under his nose because he was so self-absorbed and checked out of their relationship that he had no idea what she was saying or doing in the months that led up to her disappearance. So much of the evidence that made Nick look bad didn't have to be fabricated, just exposed. Like an episode of Tales from The Crypt, there's a strong element of "if you hadn't trasgressed". Obviously, Amy's a monster and nothing Nick did warranted her insane revenge plot, but when the rock of his life got turned over, there was so much there to be ashamed of.

Partially why this story is written so incredibly well is that the author of the book, Gillian Flynn, was also a journalist before she took up fiction writing. She's intimately aware of media manipulation. Her other books, especially Sharp Objects, are also very good.

The scariest thing about Amy to me is she just wants a performance. Like she doesn't care that Nick actually hates her, she just wants him to be the "perfect loving husband". Even if it is completely fake and she basically forced him to act like he loves her, she doesn't care, it doesn't bother her!😅