Metafiction and representation of gendered identity in Gillian Flynn’s ‘Gone Girl’

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.25.1.4

Keywords:

metafiction, identity, empowerment, victimization, Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

Abstract

This study examines the interplay of gender stereotypes in crime narratives through the lens of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. Flynn's novel challenges traditional portrayals of women in crime fiction, positioning them not merely as victims but as complex anti-heroines capable of orchestrating elaborate criminal plots fueled by vengeance and psychological manipulation. The paper highlights the metafictional elements in Gone Girl, where the author employs self-conscious storytelling to critique societal expectations surrounding gender roles. By intertwining themes of media representation, domesticity, and the neoliberal notion of choice, the paper underscores how Flynn's narrative structure critiques the commodification of female identity and the performative aspects of gender roles and identity. Ultimately, the study posits that Flynn's work serves as a thought-provoking commentary on the power dynamics inherent in the representation of gender in contemporary media culture, revealing the complexities of identity as shaped by societal constructs.

Author Biography

Soheila Farhani Nejad, Islamic Azad University, Abadan

This study examines the interplay of gender stereotypes in crime narratives through the lens of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. Flynn's novel challenges traditional portrayals of women in crime fiction, positioning them not merely as victims but as complex anti-heroines capable of orchestrating elaborate criminal plots fueled by vengeance and psychological manipulation. The paper highlights the metafictional elements in Gone Girl, where the author employs self-conscious storytelling to critique societal expectations surrounding gender roles. By intertwining themes of media representation, domesticity, and the neoliberal notion of choice, the paper underscores how Flynn's narrative structure critiques the commodification of female identity and the performative aspects of gender roles and identity. Ultimately, the study posits that Flynn's work serves as a thought-provoking commentary on the power dynamics inherent in the representation of gender in contemporary media culture, revealing the complexities of identity as shaped by societal constructs.

References

Banet-Weiser, S. (2018). Postfeminism and popular feminism. Feminist Media Histories, 4(2), 152-156. https://doi.org/10.1525/fmh.2018.4.2.152

Christensen, A. E. (2020). “Catastrophically Romantic”: Radical Inversions of Gilbert and Gubar’s Monstrous Angel in Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. American, British and Canadian Studies, 35, 86-110. https://doi.org/10.2478/abcsj-2020-0018

Flynn, G. (2012). Gone girl. Hachette.

Gill, R. (2007) Postfeminist media culture: Elements of a sensibility. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 10(2), 147-166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549407075898

Hoeveler, D. L. (1995). Gothic Feminism: The Professionalization of Gender from Charlotte Smith to the Brontës. Pennsylvania State University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271072449-003

Irigaray, L. (1985). This Sex which is not One. Cornell University Press. https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813568409-028

Johansen, E. (2016). The neoliberal gothic: Gone Girl, Broken Harbor, and the terror of everyday life. Contemporary Literature, 57(1). 30-55. https://doi.org/10.3368/cl.57.1.30

Kennedy, V. (2017). “Chick Noir”: Shopaholic Meets Double Indemnity. American, British and Canadian Studies, 28, 19-38. https://doi.org/10.1515/abcsj-2017-0002

Madhok, S, Phillips. A & Hemmings. (2013). Gender, Agency, and Coercion. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137295613_7

Miller, E. (2018). Domestic Noir and the Active Turn in Feminist Crime Fiction. In L. Joyce & H. Sutton (Eds.), Domestic Noir: The New Face of 21st Century Crime Fiction, (pp. 89-113), Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69338-5_6

Schneider, E. M. (1993). Feminism and the false dichotomy of victimization and agency. NYL Sch. L. Rev. 38. 387-399.

Edwards, Sh. (2023). 8 Takeaways from our Interview with Gone Girl Writer Gillian Flynn. Screen Craft. screencraft.org/blog/8-takeaways-from-our-interview-with-gone-girl-writer-gillian-flynn/

Sutton, H. (2018). Gone Genre: How the Academy Came Running and Discovered Nothing Was As It Seemed. In L. Joyce & H. Sutton (Eds.), Domestic Noir: The New Face of 21st Century Crime Fiction, (pp. 53-69) Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69338-5_4

Philips, D. (2021). Gaslighting: Domestic Noir, the Narratives of Coercive Control. Women: a Cultural Review, 32(2), 140-160. https://doi.org/10.1080/09574042.2021.1932258

Waugh, P. (2002). Metafiction: The Theory and Practice of Self-conscious Fiction. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203131404-18

Wolf, N. (2013). Fire with Fire: New Female Power and how it will Change the Twenty-first Century. Random House. https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.31-5175

Downloads

Published

2025-06-18

How to Cite

Nejad, S. F. (2025). Metafiction and representation of gendered identity in Gillian Flynn’s ‘Gone Girl’. English Studies at NBU, 11(1), 83–94. https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.25.1.4

Issue

Section

Articles