An Invisible War:Narcissism In The Film Gone Girl

Applying Otto F.Kernberg’s theory of narcissism,especially his theory of object relations,this thesis studies David Fincher’s film Gone Girl.According to Kernberg,self-and object representations as well as affects,are the fundamental components of psychological structure.Any personality,narcissism included,is cultivated through interaction with human objects.A narcissist is a pathological grandiose self composed of real self-representations,ideal self-representations and ideal object representations.This paper centers around the film protagonist’s relationship with the amazing Amy(a fictional character),with her parents,with her husband and with the others,intending to present the complexity of her personality which includes both her vulnerability and her grandiosity.The research begins with the discussion of Amy’s relationship with the amazing Amy and with her parents,exposing Amy’s vulnerability in front of the mirrored self(the amazing Amy)and her vulnerability under the dominance of her selfish parents.Then,the paper analyzes Amy’s grandiosity from four perspectives,namely her grandiosity in defense,in love,in victimization and in aggression.It demonstrates and interprets the pathology of Amy’s grandiosity and above all,it discovers her constant struggle with the mirrored self.Whatever Amy does is to compete with the mirrored self and only manipulation and exploitation of others can provide her with gratification.From silent defiance to total destruction of the mirrored self,Amy has gone through an abnormal life experience,which should be described as an invisible war.After that,this paper evaluates Amy’s narcissism under thecontext of Roland Barthes’ mythology.It argues that Amy is a pathological myth producer and the media as well as the policemen in the film are the myth readers.With the help of Roland Barthes,this thesis serves as a decoder of the myth of her narcissism.More importantly,it claims the failure of Amy’s pursuit of love and herself because she has deconstructed the real self in the myth.