An Analysis Of The Impact Of Mass Media On The Construction Of Characters In Gone Girl

Gone Girl is the third novel of Gillian Flynn,a well-known contemporary American female writer.Taking marriage as its central theme,the novel not only explores what we should present to our mates in marriage,but also reveals the impact of mass media and public opinion on characterizing the heroine and hero,as well as rewriting their lives.In the novel,the heroine and hero meet each other by showing their unreal self,as time goes by,their marriage is doomed to be broken.Although the missing hostess goes back home in the end,the angelic heroine is actually a devil killer.The public and mass media are co-conspirators for what happened in the two characters? marriage.As they intensify the heroine?s unreal self and also compel the hero to show his unreal self in front of the public,which leads their marriage into a chain of acting.The author attempts to study how mass media and public opinion are involved in constructing the hero and heroine and the main characters? tragic ending in Gone Girl with agenda-setting theory as its theoretical background.Agenda-setting theory is one of the most famous theories in mass communication.The key idea of agenda-setting theory is media?s emphasis on the salience of issue or issue attribute will affect their salience in people?s mind,which will further affect people?s cognitive construction of real world,and even affect people?s attitude of specific issue or person.In the novel,mass media and public opinion take part in constructing the plot of the novel as well as constructing the heroine and hero under the function of agenda-setting.It is quite thought-provoking that the mass media and public opinion can rewrite a person?s life overnight.And in the novel,the public conceives events and characters based on their own imagination and experience under the pseudo-environment created by media,as a result that normal events become distorted and eventually lead to tragedy.Therefore,the author intends to study the impact of mass media and public opinion on the characterization of the hero and heroine in Gone Girl.Apart from introduction and conclusion,this thesis consists four chapters:The second chapter introduces agenda-setting theory and its two levels: issue agenda-setting and attribute agenda-setting.The third chapter analyzes the impact of the media and the public opinion on the development of the novel?s plot in detail.And the fourth chapter mainly analyzes how media and public opinion construct the fate of Amy and Nick under the pseudo-environment created by media.The fifth chapter discusses crime in media culture based on the novel and real world society.On the one hand,media?s untruthful coverage may mislead the public and change the characters? destiny.On the other hand,media?s untruthful coverage may cause tragedy,as some people may take advantage of media to achieve their selfish purpose.All in all,fiction novel is the epitome of real society,by analyzing the media and public opinion in the novel the author suggests that it is advisable for us to stay alert to the unreal coverage of the media,and media shall report objectively and never make accusations on hearsay.