Gillian Flynn and the Power of Female Villains

For those who don’t know this about me, I love psychological thrillers. I love movies that mess with your mind and leave you thinking about them for DAYS after you finish watching them. When I think of the perfect example to describe what I mean by psychological thrillers, I immediately mention Gillian Flynn. Specifically, the movie Gone Girl and the HBO limited series Sharp Objects. I love that both Gone Girl and Sharp Objects take what we expect of the story and turn it around until you reach the end and all you are left to do is sit with the unsettling endings. One of the main reasons I find these two things fascinating is the unveiling of a female villain. I know that Gillian Flynn did not invent the female villain, but I must say she does it so well. I could never put this admiration for what she does with the characters into words until I read a quote from hers about female villains.

“I particularly mourn the lack of female villains — good, potent female villains. Not ill-tempered women who scheme about landing good men and better shoes (as if we had nothing more interesting to war over), not chilly WASP mothers (emotionally distant isn’t necessarily evil), not soapy vixens (merely bitchy doesn’t qualify either). I’m talking violent, wicked women. Scary women.”

After reading this quote, it all hit me why I find these female characters in these stories so captivating. I realize that this movie and show have been out for a couple years now and there is not much to add to the conversation, but this quote really got me thinking. Looking at Amy from Gone Girl and Amma from Sharp Objects, I think of how this quote describes characters that the audience wouldn’t expect to be so twisted and look at what makes them so unsettling by the time the end credits roll. It is because these female characters and their dark minds were revealed to be so unraveled that I would rather be stuck in the Blair Witch Project before being on Amy and Amma’s hit list.

First, I would like to look at the movie Gone Girl and talk about the antihero: Amy Dunne. Amy, in the beginning, is seen through her husband's point of view, and all that we can get inside her head is from her diary. It isn’t until halfway through the movie when you actually get to hear Amy’s side of the story and how underestimated she was. It is truly scary and impressive to see how Amy’s intricate plan was able to fool an entire town into thinking that her husband had murdered her. Flynn’s character and the unleashing of her true psychotic nature unplugs this other side to Amy that makes her truly terrifying so that the end shot leaves you scared that Rosamund Pike herself will come out of the screen and grab you. The character of Amy is so complex and twisted that you can’t decide if you want to cheer for her or run from her. Amy is so determined to have what she wants and to be able to control those around her that she will do anything, no matter the consequences and seeing her mind work throughout the movie is truly shocking.

Then, there is Amma from Sharp Objects. Amma, throughout the series, is seen as a young, pretty girl in a small town who roller skates with her friends and passes time by doing the everyday rebellious teen things. Throughout the series you are led to believe that Amma was just born into such a twisted family dynamic and you are hoping that she will be able to escape the small town and all the darkness that comes with it. It isn't until the very last sentence of the series that everything we thought about Amma goes flying out the window. The change from seeing Amma as a lovable, younger sister into a sinister killer is something that the audience is just left to sit with while the credits start to play. No explanation, just the haunting silence of knowing the truth. She is a character that understood what the world saw her as and she used it to her advantage. With the final revelation in a story that had many dark twists and turns, it feels like the biggest punch in the gut. The two characters of Amy and Amma are genuinely terrifying to the audience; this isn't because of the way they look, but the way they think and how they have more power than we thought they had.

After looking at the revealing of these characters' true natures, I also read more into Gillian Flynn’s quote about female villains:

"The point is, women have spent so many years girl-powering ourselves—to the point of almost parodic encouragement—we've left no room to acknowledge our dark side-"

These characters Flynn created do not look scary by any means. They are women who do everyday things, and if you ran into them on the street they would probably even smile and wave at you. The reason these characters are so scary is because they do not fit into the role that we have assigned them. Amy, when we first meet her, is seen as a loving wife who would never be capable of murder and using her family and friends as stupid pawns in her game of revenge (and THAT is on the male gaze. Thanks Ben Affleck). With Amma, she is a young girl in a town where young girls are being viciously murdered with no explanation. She is constantly told by adult figures that she is too young to understand the mature wickedness of what is going on when in reality, Amma is the one causing all of it. These female villains, and their reveals, are so gut wrenching, because we did not expect such a cruel nature from them.

These female villains are so complex that we can’t help but think about them for days on end. Hell, I still talk about Sharp Objects and I watched it over 3 years ago! Gillian Flynn was able to show people that the key to a female villain and giving them power is to dig into their dark side. Amy and Amma were not characters who not only got away with the things they did; they are last seen carrying on with their lives and unphased by the things they did. Being able to create these villains that are fueled by real anger and envy shows that they are unstoppable which makes them scarier than any pretend horror movie villain, and that is why I will never stop talking about them.