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Gone Girl question (May contain spoilers)

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by KJIM, Oct 18, 2014.

  1. KJIM

    KJIM Well-Known Member

    OK, so I saw Gone Girl last weekend in Hong Kong. Loved the movie, but it seemed lacking in character development.

    I have not read the book and likely won't be able to access it. Wondered if someone with more knowledge could shed some light on the wife's character.

    Both the husband and wife were fairly deplorable in their own ways, but it seemed the husband's loathsomeness was limited to his wife.

    The wife seemed to, in general, hate men. I could stretch my imagination and go with the feeling for the Neil Patrick Harris character, but did the book explain at all what the motivation was for the other guy? The ex-boyfriend?

    The NPJ guy was a stalker, so I can somewhat fathom the feeling, but I was really baffled at what prompted the behavior toward Ex.

    Did I miss something, or did the book go into more depth?
     
  2. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    I think the idea was that Amy had some sort of pathology where she wanted to create the perfect friend/boyfriend/husband, and when the person strayed from that, she tried to ruin his/her life.

    The conversation between Nick and Desi (NPJ) in the book was much longer. He actually goes inside and they talk for a while. Desi explains that the whole story about him trying to kill himself after they broke up when in college was made up, just like the sexual assault allegation against the other guy.

    There's also a female former high school friend of Amy's in the book, whom Nick tracks down. She was accused of stalking her after their friendship fell apart.
     
  3. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    It's been interesting to watch the blogosphere go bonkers calling this movie misogynist when a woman wrote both the novel and screenplay. I'm not sure women are allowed to be villains anymore without it spawning 1,000 thinkpieces.
     
  4. KJIM

    KJIM Well-Known Member

    Guess I was just hoping to figure out the motivation of the villainy.
     
  5. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    A lot of the book (the second half) delves into her relationship with her parents, and how the whole Amazing Amy series they wrote (and mined her childhood for) made her into a person who manipulated people to get exactly what she wanted and destroyed those who'd somehow wronged her or made her feel less than adequate. The "Cool Girl" rant in the movie, which seems to be the focus of a lot of the critiques/thinkpieces, is actually done much better in the book, as it gives her character more depth, explains her motivations more.

    Plenty of pieces out there worth reading that delve into Amy's motivations in the book, and why people are pissed they didn't carry over to the movie, because they're clearer in the book.

    http://www.vulture.com/2014/10/yes-gone-girl-has-a-woman-problem.html
     
  6. Mr. Sunshine

    Mr. Sunshine Well-Known Member

    Seemed fairly obvious that the parents and the "Amazing Amy" stuff fucked her up, for lack of a better phrase.

    Saw it tonight. As creepy, funny and thoroughly depressing movies go, it has few peers.
     
  7. KJIM

    KJIM Well-Known Member

    A lot of people's parents screw them up, but that doesn't mean they're villains.

    She was a whiny bitch and a spoiled girl whose parents made her childhood into a fantasy for profit. She also because hugely wealthy because of it. That doesn't automatically equate to villain.

    I enjoyed the movie, and probably would like the book. But seeing the movie, it just didn't seem like her character had enough motivation for the history of what she'd done.

    I don't normally read the blogosphere and when I do, it's really not to fill spaces in plots and subplots. It's face value to me, and that's why this one was a little lacking. Not enough to take away the entertainment value of it,

    All I knew about this before was a cover story from Entertainment Weekly, because someone from the office left it in our post office, and I grabbed it to read on a flight to Hanoi. That's the extent of my knowledge of fall movies.

    Books allow far more insight into individual characters. I'll have to try and read it. Someone provided me with a link to it online.
     
  8. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    People overthink everything. We live in a society where a large portion of it is dying to be offended by anything. They seek it out. It's a sickness.

    It's a great movie and we don't get many great movies anymore, at least not in the big studio films.

    Fincher is the master. Best director of the last 20 years, IMO.
     
  9. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    A friend of mine who is a real movie buff has claimed the Coen brothers were the best American filmmakers since John Ford. I wonder if Fincher has passed them now.
     
  10. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    I think it's Fincher too, though my friend Xan have had this debate before and he says Tarantino. I believe, if I'm remembering right, Alma would say Paul Thomas Anderson. Those three and the Coen Bros. would certainly be in the debate.
     
  11. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    What about Farrelly brothers?
     
  12. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    They're 1A and 1B, IMO. If I had to choose, I'd take Fincher though.

    That's not a knock at the Coens, who have made some amazing films, including some of my all-time favorites (No Country for Old Men, Blood Simple, Fargo, Lebowski, Barton Fink...). I think the Coens have more range than Fincher. But the Coens have a few whiffs, but even their whiffs are ambitious whiffs.


    If you forgive Fincher his directorial debut (Alien 3), which he admits was a disaster.

    Since 1995, he's done:

    The Game
    Se7en
    Fight Club
    Panic Room
    Zodiac
    Benjamin Button
    Social Network
    Dragon Tattoo
    Gone Girl

    No misses in that group. It says a lot when Panic Room is the worst of the bunch.
     
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