Abstract
This chapter considers the commercially successful Gone Girl story and its relevance for wider society and law. Focusing on the backlash phenomenon identified by Faludi (Backlash: The Undeclared War Against Women. London: Vintage, 1991), the author examines the relationship between Gone Girl and recent legal and political developments concerning rape law. It is argued that Gone Girl relies on and reinforces many of the problematic aspects of the current treatment of rape in the criminal justice system. However, an alternative exploration of Gone Girl as a nuanced portrayal of natural justice, especially in light of the #MeToo movement and other popular culture developments, is also offered.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Alldredge, J. (2015). The “CSI Effect” and Its Potential Impact on Juror Decisions. THEMIS: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science, 3(1), 114–126.
Anderson, M. (2016). Campus Sexual Assault Adjudication and Resistance to Reform. The Yale Law Journal, 125(7), 1820–2181.
Berkowitz, J. (2014, March 10). How Gillian Flynn Adapted Her Biggest Novel. Fast Company. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.fastcompany.com/3036579/how-gillian-flynn-adapted-her-biggest-novel-gone-girl-into-her-first-screenplay
Bernstein, A. (2018, March 7). Mad Women: How Angry Sisterhood is Taking Over the Small Screen. The Guardian [Online]. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/mar/07/mad-women-angry-sisterhood-taking-over-tv
Brown, J. M., & Walklate, S. L. (Eds.). (2012). Handbook on Sexual Violence. London: Routledge.
Burkeman, O. (2013, May 1). Gillian Flynn on Her Bestseller Gone Girl and Accusations of Misogyny. The Guardian [Online]. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/01/gillian-flynn-bestseller-gone-girl-misogyny
Carpenter, L. (2014, September 27). Gillian Flynn on Gone Girl. The Telegraph [Online]. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/11122159/Gillian-Flynn-on-Gone-Girl-People-dont-understand-its-just-fiction.html
Chandler, M. (2017, September 15). Maryland Case Underscores Fact That Homicide is a Top Cause of Death for Pregnant Women. The Washington Post [Online]. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/maryland-case-undercores-fact-that-homicide-is-a-top-cause-of-death-for-pregnant-women/2017/09/15/9c4d5b62-9a39-11e7-87fc-c3f7ee4035c9_story.html?utm_term=.f0667d4478d2
Child, B. (2014, October 6). Gone Girl Scares Up $38m to Top US Box Office and Stalk Pass Horror Prequel Annabelle. The Guardian [Online]. Retrieved March 8, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/06/gone-girl-tops-us-box-office-beats-horror-prequel-annabelle
Collis, C., & Bainbridge, J. (2005). Introduction—Popular Cultures and the Law. Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 19(2), 159–164.
Cosslett, R. (2014, October 7). Female Villains and False Accusations: A Feminist Defence of Gone Girl. The New Statesman [Online]. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/10/female-villains-and-false-accusations-feminist-defence-gone-girl
Cuklanz, L. M. (1996). Rape on Trial: How the Mass Media Construct Legal Reform and Social Change. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
D’Cruze, S. (2012). Sexual Violence in History: Contemporary Heritage. In J. M. Brown & S. L. Walklate (Eds.), Handbook on Sexual Violence. London: Routledge.
Dargis, M. (2014, September 25). No Job, No Money and Now No Wife. The New York Times [Online]. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/movies/ben-affleck-in-david-finchers-gone-girl.html
Ditum, S. (2017, November 2). The Daily Mail’s Attack on Kate Maltby Shows the Price Women Pay for Speaking Out. The New Statesman [Online]. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2017/11/daily-mail-s-attack-kate-maltby-shows-price-women-pay-speaking-out
Dobash, R., & Dobash, R. (2015). When Men Murder Women. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dobbins, A. (2014, October 3). Yes, Gone Girl Has a Woman Problem. Vulture. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from http://www.vulture.com/2014/10/yes-gone-girl-has-a-woman-problem.html
Dockterman, E. (2014, October 6). Is Gone Girl Feminist of Misogynist? Time [Online]. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from http://time.com/3472314/gone-girl-movie-book-feminist-misogynist/
Faludi, S. (1991). Backlash: The Undeclared War Against Women. London: Vintage.
Flynn, G. (2012). Gone Girl. London: Phoenix.
Friedman, L. (1989). Law, Lawyers and Popular Culture. The Yale Law Journal, 98(8), 1579–1606.
Gloudeman, N. (2014, November 10). Gone Girls Rape Problem. The Huffington Post. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/nikki-gloudeman/gone-girls-rape-problem_b_5942510.html
Johansen, E. (2016). The Neoliberal Gothic: Gone Girl, Broken Harbor and the Terror of Everyday Life. Contemporary Literature, 57(1), 30–55.
Kamir, O. (2005). Why Law and Film and What Does It Actually Mean? A Perspective. Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 19(2), 255–278.
Lees, S. (1997). Carnal Knowledge: Rape on Trial. London: Women’s Press.
McGlynn, C. (2017). Rape Trials and Sexual History Evidence: Reforming the Law on Third-Party Evidence. The Journal of Criminal Law, 81(5), 367–392.
Myers, K. (2002, August 4). The Justice That Violates the Victim Twice. The Telegraph [Online]. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3580000/The-justice-that-violates-the-victim-twice.html
Nair, G., & Tamang, D. (2016). Representations of Rape in Popular Culture: Gone Girl and Badlapur. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 18(4), 614–618.
Osborne, P. (2017). I’m the Bitch that Makes You a Man: Conditional Love as Female Vengeance in Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. Gender Forum, 63, 4–29.
Phillip, A. (2015, July 13). Harvard Law Grad Arrested in Bizarre Kidnapping Case Police Once Said was a Hoax. The Washington Post [Online]. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/13/harvard-law-grad-arrested-in-bizarre-kidnapping-case-police-once-said-was-a-hoax/?utm_term=.15f3ea5b8a41
Pidduck, J. (1995). The 1990s Hollywood Fatale Femme: (Dis)Figuring Feminism, Family, Irony, Violence. Cineaction, 38, 64–73.
R v A. (2001). UKHL 25.
R v Allen. (1982). Unreported January 6, 1982.
R v Evans (Chedwyn). (2016). EWCA Crim 452.
Read, J. (2000). The New Avengers: Feminism, Femininity and the Rape-Revenge Cycle. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Rosenberg, A. (2014, October 6). Gone Girl Breaks Through the Deadlocked Discussions of False Rape Allegations. The Washington Post [Online]. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2014/10/06/gone-girl-breaks-through-our-deadlocked-discussion-of-false-rape-allegations/?utm_term=.03f7978a8f53
Rumney, P., & McCartan, K. (2017). Purported False Allegations of Rape, Child Abuse and Non-sexual Violence: Nature, Characteristics and Implications. Journal of Criminal Law, 81(6), 497–520.
Sherwin, R. (2000). When Law Goes Pop: The Vanishing Line between Law and Popular Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sieder, J. (2014). Police (1982). BFI Screenonline. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/464502/
Siegel, R. B. (1996). The Rule of Love: Wife Beating as Prerogative and Privacy. The Yale Law Journal, 105(8), 2117–2208.
Smith, I. (2015). A Modern Noir Marriage? Gone Girl. Film Noir Foundation. Retrieved from March 22, 2018, from http://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/noircitymag/Gone-Girl.pdf
Smith, J. (2014, October 6). Gone Girl’s Recycling of Rape Myths is a Disgusting Distortion. The Guardian [Online]. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/06/gone-girl-rape-domestic-violence-ben-affleck
Temkin, J. (2003). Sexual History Evidence—Beware the Backlash. Criminal Law Review, 4, 217–242.
Thornton, M. (2002). Romancing the Tomes, Popular Culture, Law and Feminism. London: Cavendish.
Valenti, J. (2017, December 12). So Men are Afraid After #MeToo? Think About What it is Like for Women. The Guardian [Online]. Retrieved March 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/12/me-too-american-men-scared-women-criminalize-fear
Vineyard, J. (2014, October 6). Gone Girls Gillian Flynn on Cool Girls and David Fincher. Vulture. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from http://www.vulture.com/2014/10/gone-girls-gillian-flynn-on-cool-girls.html
Williams, R. (2010, March 20). Fewer Rape Convictions Because Plea Bargains Prevail Report Suggests. The Guardian [Online]. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/mar/20/rape-convictions-lady-stern-cps
Wise, J. (2010). Providing the CSI Treatment: Criminal Justice Practitioners and the CSI Effect. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 21(3), 383–399.
Zarkov, D. (2018). Ambiguities and Dilemmas Around #MeToo: #ForHowLong and #WhereTo. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 25(1), 3–9.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Spalding, A. (2019). The ‘Cool Girl’ Strikes Back? A Socio-Legal Analysis of Gone Girl. In: Akrivos, D., Antoniou, A.K. (eds) Crime, Deviance and Popular Culture. Palgrave Studies in Crime, Media and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04912-6_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04912-6_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04911-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04912-6
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)