Fight Club is by all accounts a divisive movie.
There are some people who watch it and take the surface level pseudo-psychology to heart.
People who feel the burden of the monotony of life.
Meanwhile, there are others who understand that human nature wouldn't allow for a world without rules or rulers.
That this is all an idealistic society that can never work out in reality.
The film's true message is one of balance that in order to find a substantial purpose to life,
we need to exist somewhere in between this
and this.
I think David Fincher, the director's greatest accomplishment of the movie is convincing
some of the audience that this is a movie that glamorizes an anti-establishment message.
Then proceeds to satirize that message in the second half.
Early on in the movie, the narrator has seemingly no control over his life.
By all accounts, he doesn't do anything.
He goes to work, he goes home and does it all over again.
Nothing brings him joy. He doesn't find life to be worth living.
Everything he does is because corporations tell him to do,
either the one that he works for or the ones that he buys consumer goods from.
He is the embodiment of a corporate slave. He's like a machine. He has no personality.
In fact, he has no name.
I don't think that it's a coincidence that in 1999, they year Fight Club was released,
three other films focused on the monotony of corporate life.
Fight Club in many ways is a critique on society,
and one of its biggest messages is that this is no way to live life.
The narrator has no individuality,
but he has a self-awareness to realize this and chooses to do something about it.
His first attempt is going to different support groups,
and this works for a little while he seems to have fixed his problems until
Marla is one of the most interesting characters in the film
and that's because we're never given an explanation of who she is.
She drifts in and out of the narrator's world the same way that Tyler does.
I always took Marla to be another part of his delusion.
However while Tyler pushes him beyond his limits,
Marla is able to hold him back to keep him down to reality, acting as his moral conscious.
We first meet her at the support groups, and she makes these ineffective.
He could no longer get sleep from these groups while she is there.
He was taking advantage of these people betraying their trust,
and Marla exists to make sure that what he is doing is right.
Let's also not forget that she is the only person who he sees in his cave,
the literal manifestation of his subconscious.
At the very end of the film he makes it his mission to protect her.
Part of the way, he tries to do this is through stopping Project Mayhem.
The other side of his subconscious is Tyler Durden.
It's what the narrator views as the perfect life.
He stops caring what others think of him and starts living life the way that he wants to.
There's no need to surround yourself with expensive goods.
Going out and experiencing life is all that is important.
And there's a time in the movie when he appears to be truly content.
He has a reasonably sized group of friends.
He's still going to work, and he's happy or at least
that's what he tells himself and subsequently tells us.
One of the film's best traits is the unreliable narrator.
He's never honest with us, because he's never honest with himself.
We just see the latent effects of that. We see what he sees.
I think the definitive example of this is the following conversation:
"Felt sorry for guys packed into gyms, trying to look like how Calvin Klein
or Tommy Hilfiger said they should."
"Is that what a man looks like?"
"Self-improvement is masturbation."
He may say that he looks down on what society holds up,
but ultimately he's still shaped by society's goals and ambitions.
Eventually, his alternative lifestyle goes too far.
I don't think there's a specific point where we realized how far it has taken him.
Definitely before Bob's death. Maybe the birth of Project Mayhem?
But probably when Tyler beats up Lou, the first attack on authority.
No longer are they living the lives that they want to live.
Instead, they're forcing others to live the lives that they feel is best.
It isn't good enough for them to be free. They need others to be free as well.
Of course that isn't real freedom.
In the same way that people didn't have a choice to work for a corporation,
under the rules of Project Mayhem, there isn't even an option.
Project Mayhem evolved into exactly what it was trying to combat.
Over the course of the film, there's an evolution from narrative to allegory.
It's subtle, but it ultimately shows that in order to live a prosperous life,
you need to find a way to balance chaos and order.
The film reveals to us that living in a strict corporate life and living in a dystopia created by Project Mayhem
Is ultimately the same thing.
Early in the film our narrator has no control over his life.
No free will. Everything he does is controlled by corporations.
Later in the film, Project Mayhem takes away all of his free will again, giving him no options.
The film tells us that in order to find a meaning in life, we need to first find a balance.
It's impossible to live on either one of the extremes.
In many ways, Fight Club is a movie about coming to love your moral conscience
According to the film, without a care for others or a care for yourself life will be pointless
It's only when you're able to embrace that and accept that, will life's meaning become clear.
Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed.
Fight Club is a movie that I've wanted to discuss for a long time.
And I've really been struggling to find a unique perspective on it.
So much has already been said about the movie,
and I obviously don't parrot what somebody else has already said.
So I really hope I was able to put forward a couple of new thoughts on the movie in the video.
As I stated earlier, this movie is pretty divisive. Most people either love it or hate it.
I definitely am in the former,
but I'm interested in knowing where you fit in so make sure you drop a comment and let me know.
Anyway, if you're new here make sure you hit that subscribe button.
I have a new video going up every Saturday.
In case you missed it, I put a link to my last video on Nightcrawler on
how cinematography can be used to tell the story.
Be sure to check that video out if you missed it.
And I will see you next week. Thanks for watching
