- Sep 22, 2013
- 4,956
- 250
- 85
Fight Club is a 1999 American film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher, and stars Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, referred to as the narrator, who is discontented with his white-collar job. He forms a "fight club" with soap maker Tyler Durden, played by Pitt, and they are joined by men who also want to fight recreationally. The narrator becomes embroiled in a relationship with Durden and a dissolute woman, Marla Singer, played by Bonham Carter (source of information: Wikipedia).
This incendiary and provocative film offers a great deal of Ayn Rand oriented anti-establishmentarian themes/ideas and reminds us why Fincher enjoys presenting stories about offbeat psychology, even when the stories seem like 'straightforward pedestrian events/ethics.'
What I really like about this film is how it soothes the basic human instincts regarding the fear of fighting, the savagery of exclusionary behaviors, and the claustrophobia created by modern urban bureaucracy.
Tyler (Pitt) and the narrator (Norton) experiment with anarchism games and practice high-mischief related urban guerilla warfare seemingly in an effort to conquer their male paranoia of becoming useless in the modern high-traffic world. Meanwhile, the narrator courts a deranged relationship with the emotionally strained Marla (Carter) and we start to wonder if Tyler is not only the narrator's friend but also a comforting excuse to avoid all meaningful human relationships. However, we find ourselves not being able to blame the narrator, given his obvious claustrophobia with real meaningless worldly activities (such as his dissatisfying office job).
I wonder if war veterans and punk-rockers alike enjoy a film like this for its bold presentation of 'vigilantism-oriented behaviors,' which is why I compare it to similar films such as The Boondock Saints, Cape Fear, and The Day the Earth Stood Still.
{paraphrased mock dialogue}
====
NARRATOR: We should start a fight club in San Francisco.
TYLER: Nah, too many hippies!
NARRATOR: Well, we should branch out (maybe to the East Coast!).
TYLER: Now that sounds promising...
NARRATOR: Geez, what if you're a figment of my urban male daydream?
TYLER: You mean the meaningless urge to escape or run around in ski-masks while singing "Penny Lane"?
NARRATOR: Exactly! No, I'm sure you're *real*, Tyler.
TYLER: I'm more *real* than you realize...
NARRATOR: Maybe.
TYLER: Video-game youth will rise up and storm shopping malls demanding more from capitalism.
NARRATOR: They might not find it.
TYLER: Hey, if we give a hoot, if we try, we can at least take comfort in the fact that we were sensitive.
NARRATOR: I should be more sensitive towards Marla and less paranoid about Orwellian heartache.
TYLER: That's up to you, but remember that any kind of 'exorcism' requires real humility.
NARRATOR: What's so humble about underground fight clubs comprised entirely of men?
TYLER: No, no, no. This isn't a fraternity, champ. This is a muscular 'support group.'
NARRATOR: Oh, sort of like Barbie for men...
TYLER: Exactly. However, men are not beautiful, so our fight club is much more of a sanitarium.
NARRATOR: What if the human species decides to become cannibals? Will it be a male-driven decision?
TYLER: Do you think Marla likes you because you're a typical 'pro-Bolshevism male'?
====
This incendiary and provocative film offers a great deal of Ayn Rand oriented anti-establishmentarian themes/ideas and reminds us why Fincher enjoys presenting stories about offbeat psychology, even when the stories seem like 'straightforward pedestrian events/ethics.'
What I really like about this film is how it soothes the basic human instincts regarding the fear of fighting, the savagery of exclusionary behaviors, and the claustrophobia created by modern urban bureaucracy.
Tyler (Pitt) and the narrator (Norton) experiment with anarchism games and practice high-mischief related urban guerilla warfare seemingly in an effort to conquer their male paranoia of becoming useless in the modern high-traffic world. Meanwhile, the narrator courts a deranged relationship with the emotionally strained Marla (Carter) and we start to wonder if Tyler is not only the narrator's friend but also a comforting excuse to avoid all meaningful human relationships. However, we find ourselves not being able to blame the narrator, given his obvious claustrophobia with real meaningless worldly activities (such as his dissatisfying office job).
I wonder if war veterans and punk-rockers alike enjoy a film like this for its bold presentation of 'vigilantism-oriented behaviors,' which is why I compare it to similar films such as The Boondock Saints, Cape Fear, and The Day the Earth Stood Still.
{paraphrased mock dialogue}
====
NARRATOR: We should start a fight club in San Francisco.
TYLER: Nah, too many hippies!
NARRATOR: Well, we should branch out (maybe to the East Coast!).
TYLER: Now that sounds promising...
NARRATOR: Geez, what if you're a figment of my urban male daydream?
TYLER: You mean the meaningless urge to escape or run around in ski-masks while singing "Penny Lane"?
NARRATOR: Exactly! No, I'm sure you're *real*, Tyler.
TYLER: I'm more *real* than you realize...
NARRATOR: Maybe.
TYLER: Video-game youth will rise up and storm shopping malls demanding more from capitalism.
NARRATOR: They might not find it.
TYLER: Hey, if we give a hoot, if we try, we can at least take comfort in the fact that we were sensitive.
NARRATOR: I should be more sensitive towards Marla and less paranoid about Orwellian heartache.
TYLER: That's up to you, but remember that any kind of 'exorcism' requires real humility.
NARRATOR: What's so humble about underground fight clubs comprised entirely of men?
TYLER: No, no, no. This isn't a fraternity, champ. This is a muscular 'support group.'
NARRATOR: Oh, sort of like Barbie for men...
TYLER: Exactly. However, men are not beautiful, so our fight club is much more of a sanitarium.
NARRATOR: What if the human species decides to become cannibals? Will it be a male-driven decision?
TYLER: Do you think Marla likes you because you're a typical 'pro-Bolshevism male'?
====
