Gone Girl By David Fincher - 1268 Words

In the way a finger leaves a print specific to the touch of its owner, auteurs stylize elements of their works so that their creation is definitive enough to be traced back to its creator. In order to identify these definitive components, an auteur must establish common thematic and formal elements that their texts typically contain. In David Fincher’s film Gone Girl (2014), Amy Dunne suddenly vanishes, seemingly from violent kidnapping, leaving her husband, Nick Dunne, in a media frenzy over his suspected involvement in her disappearance. The film utilizes some of his most common thematic elements: paternal or maternal abandonment during childhood and its influence on adulthood, the poststructuralist critique of social systems, and†¦show more content†¦Amy’s mother and father abandoned their hopes of having a daughter that was as successful as they desired by creating an improved version of Amy in their lucrative children’s series, Amazing Amy. Entrench ed in the comparison of her fictitious counterpart, Amy lives her life fooling those around her to believe she is an enhanced version of herself while silently dwelling on her discovery of Nick’s infidelity. The individuals that Nick and Amy become because of these childhood influences cause them to comply with another prevalent thematic element: â€Å"Fincher’s men act, often recklessly, but his women know (Orgeron et al. 2011).† In this example, Nick’s infidelity is his â€Å"reckless† behavior, while Amy’s â€Å"knowing† is her false appearance of ignorance, but as Orgeron states, â€Å"†¦behind this static gaze lies a more complete, more complex knowledge of the American family, its dissolution, its decay.† This idea of reckless men and knowing women is also an important thematic element in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Zodiac (2007), and Seven (1995). Frequently presented in Fincher’s films is a posts tructuralist critique of one or more social systems (present in Seven, Fight Club, The Social Network (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Zodiac). In Gone Girl, the two systems under criticism are the judicial system and tv news broadcasting. Although initially remaining compliant with the policemen that are investigating his wife’s