Episode 003
Meg Giuliano on the State of Feminism in Contemporary Media, Micro-Oppressions, and the Infamous 'Cool Girl' Monologue
In the 2014 film, “Gone Girl”, which was adapted from the novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn, scorned wife Amy Dunne delivers a legendary monologue. If you haven’t seen the movie, or read the book; It’s a thriller about a couple who seem perfectly happy on the outside, but are rotten to the core within. When Amy fakes her own murder—fed up with her miserable marriage to a man she despises—she leaves a trial of incriminating breadcrumbs right to her semi-innocent husband.
For Nick, the world turns upside down, and the perfect picture of their marriage begins crumbling down around him, and all of his darkest secrets start to float up to the surface.
In both the book and the film, Amy delivers this monologue, ripping apart the falsehood of the “Cool Girl.” The Cool Girl, which she admits to having been, is a lie, a broad lie told by all sorts of women. She lambastes the men who succumb to this ruse, and is no less kind to the women.
Recently, this monologue resurfaced, blowing up on TikTok and other social media. The women of the internet have rekindled their love of this scene, and their mutual fascination with Amy Dunne. Gone Girl is experiencing a moment of relevation, it’s been brought back into the discourse, which is exactly what this podcast is about.
Meg Giuliano is a Junior here at UNCW, and she has been examining this scene. She’s been thinking about its place in the cultural moment, and looking deeper into what Flynn is doing within the language of Dunne’s legendary monologue. By analyzing these linguistic structures, a new narrative is exposed between the lines, a narrative of disempowerment and illigetimization.
