Gerald’s Game: Mike Flanagan’s Film Employs Powerful Symbols

Since the 1970s, horror films have adopted the traits of social thrillers. Such genre movies tell stories about societal oppression as well as everyday injustices, with their horrifying narratives serving as an excellent base for terrifying social commentary. Gerald's Game is precisely that, a social thriller focusing on gender issues with a feminist angle.

The setting is a secluded house. In an attempt to salvage their dysfunctional marriage, Jessie (Carla Gugino) agrees to her husband Gerald's (Bruce Greenwood) request for role play and is subsequently handcuffed to the bed. Gerald is quick to turn on the aggression, scaring her. Before they end their little game, the viagra Gerald's taken gives him a heart attack and he dies. The trapped Jessie must fight to survive, with only her husband's corpse, a stray dog and her imagination to keep her company.

Adapted from a Stephen King novel, Gerald's Game was thought to be un-filmable for long as most of the story  takes place in Jessie's mind and is predominantly about her own internal conflict. While film is a medium that best explores extra-personal conflict, the novel prides itself in its ability to explore inner thoughts and emotions. A writer can find his or her way into the mind of the character by simply writing what the character thinks, but the job of a filmmaker is tougher.

Director Mike Flanagan does an exceptional job of dramatising the novel. Not long after Gerald falls to the floor, his hand pops up as he gets up and blames Jessie for the dilemma. But he's simply a figment of her imagination. Sometime later, Jessie frees herself and celebrates, but this second Jessie is also a figment of her own imagination. For the rest of the film, she engages in twisted arguments with these visual manifestations of her own subconscious. The bursts of Jessie's emotion and the memories of her true shackles of patriarchy and exploitation keep are captivating as viewers watch her struggle to free herself from this life-threatening situation. Here is some solid symbolism employed by the creators as tools of effective expression:

Jessie's legs

When Gerald falls dead on Jessie, she uses her legs to push him off. The weight she pushes off is not only the 80 odd kgs but the weight of her marriage and the other intimate male relationships she's had, such as the one with her father. It's an important step she takes at the beginning of the film, by the end of which she overcomes the chains that have held her back her whole life. The irony here is that Jessie blamed her too-short dress and revealing legs for being sexually assaulted as a child. When she finally finds a way to break out of the shackles, Gerald says, "Your legs have been unused for two days, they won't be able to carry your weight" to which she replies, "If I do this, my legs better do their bit." The metaphor is a very powerful one, with Jessie's legs having to now carry the weight of her liberated self.