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The Portrayal of Relationship Gaslighting in Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl: A Psychoanalytic Approach

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Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

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Abstract

Gaslighting is a psychological manipulation that involves a person or group making someone question his/her sanity, perception of reality, memories, or relationships with others. This paper explores how gaslighting can reveal the realities of emotional abuse in fiction, using it as a strategy to undermine the victim's self-esteem by convincing them that they are insane, making them constantly second-guess their own reality, lying to escape ‘reality twists', directing emotions, and deceit. It can be particularly problematic when gaslighters are people with whom we have close relationships, such as parents and spouses, who are supposed to be our confidants and would never hurt us. Gone Girl (2012) by the American novelist Gillian Flynn investigates how parents can emotionally manipulate and wield influence over their children through gaslighting, and how those very children, in turn, experience gaslighting over their spouses or even themselves (self-gaslighting) by agreeing to the terms of their gaslighters or rationalizing their conduct. Amy, a gaslightee in the novel or movie, was forced on by her parents, dubbed "the tiger gaslighters," and by her spouse, Nick, termed "the Casanova gaslighter," who is forced on by Amy herself in mutual gaslighting. The concepts of the hidden antagonist, ‘Gaslight Culture' and discursive gaslighting are also tackled. Amy's parents, her husband, Amy herself, and the media—all engage in gaslighting. The paper is based on Robin Stern's (2007) definition of gaslighting and its effects in her book The Gaslight Effect.

DOI

10.21608/kgef.2023.349645

Keywords

Emotional Abuse, gaslighting, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, hidden antagonist, misdirection, Robin Stern, tiger parent

Authors

First Name

Gehan M. Anwar

Last Name

Deeb

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Faculty of Languages and Translation, October 6 University, Egypt

Email

gehan.anwar.lang@o6u.edu.eg

City

Six of October city

Orcid

0000-0003-4628-2173

Volume

57

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

42838

Issue Date

2023-07-01

Receive Date

2024-04-09

Publish Date

2023-07-01

Page Start

1

Page End

18

Print ISSN

1110-8142

Online ISSN

2735-3311

Link

https://kgef.journals.ekb.eg/article_349645.html

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https://kgef.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=349645

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349,645

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Journal

Publication Title

مجلة کلية الأداب - جامعة حلوان

Publication Link

https://kgef.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

The Portrayal of Relationship Gaslighting in Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl: A Psychoanalytic Approach

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Article

Created At

26 Dec 2024