Fight Club Analysis

Fight Club

Ever since the term “Generation X” started flourishing in the media, materialisms and the elevation of consciousness has been on many people’s lips. There is a part of me that has come to realize that material things don’t really matter in the long run, since in the long run we are all dead nonetheless.  Material possessions always eventually degrade into the stardust they are made out of, even humans.  I can see why the Buddhist monks limit themselves to nothing but a wood bowl and a tunic.  By rejecting material possessions, it prevents a person from identifying themselves with the things they own.  Most people in this world derive their sense of self from the things they own. The movie “Fight club” revolves around topics, such as human vs. god, Culture vs. Nature, and order vs. chaos. The movie gives insight in a average Joe’s “simple” life, and everyday issues.  

The movie: “Fight club”, predicts an everyday lifestyle for the narrator Jack. By never giving Jack a proper name he becomes an Everyman. Jack could be anyone. Most importantly he could be the viewer. The narration frequently addresses the viewer as if the narrator is directly conversing with us. This allows the viewer access to Jack's thoughts but also allows us sympathize and identify with him, drawing us into his life more deeply. In the movie, the men are searching for meaning in their lives. Their jobs do not satisfy them, nor do they test them enough to make them feel that they are growing as individuals. Their existences become stagnant, and they feel irrelevant. As consumers their only true worth is how much they can spend in the never-ending pursuit of products. Fighting allows them to feel alive and to connect with a sense of masculinity that they do not find in the modern world. Some people may find the film as a brutal and violent endorsement of a macho mentality. Regardless of one's interpretation, the violence in the film is graphic. Several of the space monkeys suffer serious physical trauma as a result of fighting. Characters do not simply walk away from fights without injury. I personally see the violence as a means for the men to experience something that allows them to feel alive. Most importantly, this experience is not tied to material consumption. When Tyler's philosophy begins to become darker and more centrally aligned around him, Jack rejects Tyler's ideas. The violence then becomes tied to Tyler's revolution at which point the film takes an ambiguous position, leaving the audience to decide if they accept Tyler's vision for a new world.   

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