Life is a "FIght Club"

Let me start by explaining why I chose this movie. It is one of my favorite films, and in my opinion covers so much of what we’ve been talking about in class. Aside from a great cast consisting of Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter, the film was a masterpiece. In this essay I will try to describe some scenes from Fight Club and compare them with some of the material we went over in class. In case the reader is not familiar with this film I included a brief summary below:

The narrator (Edward Norton) is an automobile company employee who travels to accident sites to perform product recall cost appraisals. His doctor refuses to write a prescription for his insomnia and instead suggests that he visit a support group for testicular cancer victims in order to appreciate real suffering. By attending the group, the narrator feels distraught at the condition of these ill fated people and breaks down. He is then able to sleep soundly and subsequently fakes more illnesses so he can attend other support groups in order to get out his pent up emotions through crying. The narrator's routine is disrupted when he begins to notice another impostor, Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), at the same meetings and his insomnia returns.

During a flight for a business trip, the narrator meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), who is a soap salesman. The narrator arrives home to find his apartment has been destroyed by an explosion. He calls Tyler and meets him at a bar. Tyler agrees to let the narrator stay at his home on the condition that the narrator hits him. The narrator complies and the two end up enjoying a fist fight outside the bar. The narrator moves into Tyler's dilapidated house and the two return to the bar, where they have another fight in the parking lot. After attracting a crowd, they establish a 'fight club' in the bar's basement.

When Marla overdoses on Xanax, she is rescued by Tyler and the two embark upon a sexual relationship. Tyler tells the narrator never to talk about him with Marla. Under Tyler's leadership, the fight club becomes "Project Mayhem," which commits increasingly destructive acts of anti-capitalist vandalism in the city. The fight clubs become a network for Project Mayhem, and the narrator is left out of Tyler's activities with the project. After an argument, Tyler disappears from the narrator's life and when a member of Project Mayhem dies on a mission, the narrator attempts to shut down the project. Tracing Tyler's steps, he travels around the country to find that fight clubs have been started in every major city, where one of the participants identifies him as Tyler Durden. A phone call to Marla confirms his identity and he realizes that Tyler is an alter ego of his own split personality. Tyler appears before him and explains that he controls the narrator's body whenever he is asleep.

The narrator faints and awakes to find Tyler has made several phone calls during his blackout and traces his plans to the downtown headquarters of several major credit card companies, which Tyler intends to destroy in order to cripple the financial networks. Failing to find help with the police, many of whom are members of Project Mayhem, the narrator attempts to disarm the explosives in the basement of one of the buildings. He is confronted by Tyler, knocked unconscious, and taken to the upper floor of another building to witness the impending destruction. The narrator, held by Tyler at gunpoint, realizes that in sharing the same body with Tyler, he is the one who is actually holding the gun. He fires it into his mouth, shooting through the cheek without killing himself. The illusion of Tyler collapses with an exit wound to the back of his head. Shortly after, members of Project Mayhem bring a kidnapped Marla to the narrator and leave them alone. The bombs detonate and, holding hands, the two witness the destruction of the entire financial city block through the windows. (IMDB plot summary, 1999 posted by viewers. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/synopsis)

The moment of consumption marks one of the processes by which we are formed as a person. How we come to be the kinds of people we are, how we are produces as subjects, how we identify with descriptions of ourselves as male or female, black or white, young or old. (Barker 3rd edition, page 11 Subjectivity and identity)

The identity of the main character-Jack- was one of the main issues in this film. How he saw himself, and later on how he wanted to be someone he wasn’t, ultimately created his other self- Tyler Durden. In many ways Jack was trapped in his prefect yet miserable cage called life. Always living by the book in search of the right way of life, as apposed to the life he needed.

According to Barker, structuralism speaks of signifying practices that generate meaning as an outcome of structures or predictable regularities that lie outside of any given person. In case of Jack, one of the causes of his life predicament was structuralism. Ruled by the book in hopes of success, and the correct meaning of his life structure Jack found himself looking for an end rather than the exit from his miserable life.

Jack hoped for death, thinking that it could end his dull existence. Instead he found himself meeting the most interesting “self serving friend” he ever had. Throughout the film, the concept of “I” comes up, where Jack begins to talk of himself as a person constructed from variety of emotions. “I am Jacks rage…”
According to Derrida, language generated meaning through difference rather than by correspondence with fixed transcendental meanings or reference to the “real”. In Fight Club, the meaning of “real” changes so drastically, causing confusion to the main character Jack. He himself gets lost somewhere in the middle of reality and what he thought was the real world. Illusions were made for safety.

We fall victim to commercial and media world, which ultimately dictates our lives and our personalities. What are we? To which Tyler answered “consumers, the byproduct of lifestyles of perfection.” “Things you own end up owning you”. In the end we reach for some kind of perfection, but end up getting what we’re told. According to Jacks alter ego Tyler, “Self improvement is masturbation of self destruction.”

This film covered topics related to sex, gender, sexism, man power, drug use, violence and other issues that we face daily. But most importantly in bring them all together in a colorful harmony of movie magic.

In this class we talked about gender roles, and how different men are from women. The perception of a man changes drastically throughout this movie. The very first time I saw this movie, I was impressed with its amazing plot. I had to watch it again and again. What we consider normal, right or proper, may not necessarily be so. Anarchy, mayhem, destruction are part of our lives no matter how far we try to stay away from them. The truth is that for the most part, we don’t notice certain things until we see them happen to others. We live in the oblivion, taking for granted things that can disappear in a second. What is it about people that drives them to certain things, actions, or people?
After reading Barker, I decided to watch Fight Club yet again. This time I was looking to associate what we discussed in class with all the events that took place in the movie.

Self-Damnation of the Working Class also applies to this movie. When jack realizes that no matter what he does to complete himself, he might never be able to get to that point. Tyler helped him realize that he may never become complete. An average middle class man, living in a condo all alone, working everyday for a company that was not knows for their ethics might be someone’s dream; but it wasn’t Jack’s. Jacks father wasn’t a very good role model as we learn throughout the movie. When Jack finished school, his dad told him to go to college; when Jack finished college, his dad told him to get a job. After jack got a job, his dad said “get married or something”. A kid growing up in such environment tends to follow his parents footsteps; as most of our countries working class.

Reading Barker wasn’t easy. It seemed like chapter after chapter I came across some contradicting factors. I found it a little confusing. Although when I started to skim trough, I began to understand it better. Overall I enjoyed the class, and all the discussions that took place. It’s safe to say that most of what we talked about was not very new to any of us; however most of us don’t overanalyze certain things as we did in class. I hate to be redundant about the movie Fight Club, but I found it very appropriate to write about for this class. I can connect every chapter of Barker and our discussions to this movie, but that would take forever and I will end up hating the movie at the end. So I would like to end this paper with a simple suggestion; if you haven’t seen Fight Club, watch it and perhaps is will unlock some thoughts of yours that were held in captivity all this time.

Works sited

Book
Barker. Cultural Studies.
(Barker 3rd edition, page 11 Subjectivity and identity)
Derrida. (Barker Cultural Studies)
Web.
IMDB.com
Movie
Fight Club. 15 October 1999 (USA)