Women in literary and cinematic representation then and now a comparative study between Margaret Atwood's The handmaid's tale and Gillian Flynn's Gone girl
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Date
2016
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university of Oum El Bouaghi
Abstract
Women have always been represented in a stereotypical way, as submissive, weak and dependent, in both literature and cinema. However, in the last few decades, a new image of women was born. Women started to be depicted as strong, powerful and independent. To trace this shift in literary and cinematic representation, this study chooses two novels adapted into movies. This research inquires into women's representation in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985) and Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl (2012) and their adaptation into movies. So, this study analyses the gradual shift of women from the margin to the centre, through the use of Psychoanalysis and Feminism, mainly the principles of Freud's Defence Mechanism and De Beauvoir's Otherness. This study illustrates the change in women depiction through the two main female protagonists of the novels. Offred, the main female character of The Handmaid's Tale, is weak and obeys the rules of the commander. She cannot change her status, in the patriarchal society. On the other hand, Amy the protagonist of Gone Girl is the opposite of Offred. She is independent, dominant and manipulative of her husband and her entourage. Thus, this research displays the evolutionary development of the female protagonists and the new image they have achieved to be viewed as new powerful protagonists.
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Women