The Girl On The Train - Week 3

Recently I watched the new release ‘Girl On the Train’ directed by Tate Taylor, based on Paula Hawkins' novel. The girl on the train is an alcoholic, Rachel. She spends her days commuting on a train and often stalking Tom, Anna, and their new-born daughter Evie (her ex-husband and his new partner). During her trips, Rachel grows fascinated with Tom's neighbours, a young couple in what Rachel believes is a perfect marriage even though she has no idea what their life is like. This fascination reveals feelings from her past relationship, sparking lots of problems with not only her ex, but this couple she doesn’t even know. The film is also a mystery thriller.

The main character, we discover is actually unemployed and we find this out later in the film when she is questioned by police. She uses the train every day to travel up to New York, therefore her roommate wouldn’t suspect a thing. I feel that this film would be relatable for lower/middle class on the income status model, as even though she is unemployed, she still has enough money to survive.

Typically, I think that this motion picture was aimed towards a female audience, because of some of the ideologies encoded. The film explores the technicalities of marriage life; however, it specifically explores it from many different female perspectives consequently being more relatable to women. 

The film was branded a 15, which I think was a suitable starting point for the minimum age of being able to watch this, due to the adult themes explored. I think this movie would lose its appeal with anyone over the age of 40, mainly because of the young cast and less traditional ideas of marriage, for example divorce is more acceptable and common in this day and age. It would appeal more to single people, especially those without children, as it focuses on the negative aspects of a relationship and challenges the need to nurture throughout, as the only baby in the film is subjected to many violent acts including death.

Out of the 4c’s, I believe The Girl on the Train would mainly appeal to explorers. This is because the film is very different to any I have seen. With its genre being a mystery thriller, I think the strong appeal for an explorer is that it’s a mixture of horror themes and a hyperbole reality separating it from day to day life and a classic scary movie. This will in effect make it completely different from other films on the market.

In my opinion, this movie would be perfect for a ‘drop-out’. This is a person from the lifestyle categories who doesn’t like to get committed in anyway. The story line of the film can be hard to follow at times, meaning I actually found it hard to build up any attachments with the characters. The film isn’t left on a cliff hanger either, it has a very solid finality at the end, therefore I don’t think a sequel is inevitable and this is why a drop-out would like this film, as no commitment is needed like in other films like the Harry Potter series, with several films that all link together.