Please explain Fight Club to me!!
So I’ve just seen Fight Club for the very first time. The movie itself, and by that I mean the execution, was just brilliant. I think no one could possibly argue about that. But I just didn’t really get the idea of why watching this movie is always described as a live-changing experience by so many people. I would say American Beauty has changed my life. I would even go as far as saying American Pie has changed my life… in a way… But Fight Club?! Seriously, what message is this movie even trying to get across?
What’s so remarkable about that guy who is basically just destroying himself i a way?
Someone… please explain that to me
Material possessions are meaningless. The things you own end up owning you. Live simple.
The main character taht has a Dissociative Personality disorder learns from his alternate self that life isn’t just the things that life thrusts upon you. You Aren’t defined by your job or your clothes…. And in an Anarchic way learns that there are greater things in life than addiction, sex and mediocrity
okay i think i now get the main idea…. so but how does that show in the movie? which “greater things” does he really experience? to me he just came off a little pathetic with no really “great thing” going on…
Try looking a little deeper rather than expecting the movie to explain it up front.
He figures out that he has t o take control of his life, that maybe his life isn’t just composed to the shit job and the meaningless encounters with people. He figures out maybe he can have REAL relationships, that life is pretty fucking fragile and that he DOES want to live it.
I think he’s looking for a neat little happily ever after bow on it.
I think (for me) the movie is about the fall of the main character, albeit it does so quite good. He’s a “normal” person at first, but as his psyche is becoming more and more frail, his alternative self comes forward to remind him about how life doesn’t control him, and that he controls life.
I could get into all the psychological and philosophical points, but i think that sums up my view of the film.
The way I think of it is, you’re not free until you have nothing to lose.
Its a blatant commentary on consumerism. If you missed that, there isn’t much hope for you. The whole movie is about questioning the values presented to you by the media…do you need the perfect end table to make you happy? Is there such thing as the perfect end table?
The philosophical content isn’t exactly hidden either.
“Tyler Durden: Do you know what a duvee is?
Narrator: It’s a comforter…
Tyler Durden: It’s a blanket. Just a blanket. Now why do guys like you and me know what a duvee is? Is this essential to our survival, in the hunter-gatherer sense of the word? No. What are we then?
Narrator: …Consumers?
Tyler Durden: Right. We’re consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty, these things don’t concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy’s name on my underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra.
Narrator: Martha Stewart.
Tyler Durden: Fuck Martha Stewart. Martha’s polishing the brass on the Titanic. It’s all going down, man. So fuck off with your sofa units and Strinne green stripe patterns. I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let… lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.”
“It’s just, when you buy furniture, you tell yourself, that’s it. That’s the last sofa I’m gonna need. Whatever else happens, I’ve got that sofa problem handled. ”
“Tyler sold his soap to department stores at $20 a bar. Lord knows what they charged. It was beautiful. We were selling rich women their own fat asses back to them. ”
“Tell him the liberator who destroyed my property has realigned my perception.”
“The things you own end up owning you”
The quotes go on and on.
There are other things that could be discussed about the movie (was the character destroyed or saved? Which life was really better? Are there slightly less violent ways to reject consumerism? Etc). But if you missed the direct lines questioning societal value in disposable goods, I don’t know what movie were you watching?
Haha, but the movie does have some deep stuff
okay of course i didn’t miss that the movie was against the consumerism. the movie is full of that. it just kinda strikes me that it doesn’t really provide an alternative to that.
the movie could even be an argument for consumerism because if stop living that ‘normal’ life you’re just gonna end up like the main character… hmmm
I suggest you also read the book if you want to understand the story in more detail.
However, you only need a little bit of intelligence to see what this movie is about. They nearly bludgeon you over the head with the idea that material possessions are meaningless and like the other poster said you are not free until you have nothing to lose.
One of my Top 10 movies of all time.
I agree, as does my bf. We both feel the movie is > the book
I agree here as well. The book seemed to be a little too fragmented and worked too hard to convince you you were reading something different, whereas Fincher does a great job with the movie, making it easy to follow yet with the twist ending and revelations that come.
As for what does it all mean? Who the fuck knows but it certainly should make you think about what you believe defines who you are.
It’s about consumerism and male aggression. However, there are no definitive morals being communicated, people read into it what they want but is there really a clear and cut message? Yes, consumerism consumes the narrator at the beginning of the story, and Tyler Durden frees him of it momentarily, but what is the end result of that? Tyler Durden essentially ruins his life, he robs the narrator of everything he enjoys, and in a sense betrays the narrator. Before the climax there are clear messages on both sides. Anyone who thinks that it’s a raw blanket statement one way or the other is selling the movie short- it’s just that most people are caught up in consumerism so the non-consumeristic message speaks to them more closely.
Same with male aggression, sure the Fight Clubs help people vent their frustration, and make those involved more happy, however what is the end result? Bob dies. The entire world is torn apart.
One of the best things about the film is how issues are dealt with in terms of duality, a case could be made for either side. You sell the movie and yourself short by trying to make absolute judgments on what it means.
And let’s not forget that what a movie means isn’t even important half the time, they’re function is to be entertaining, and people seem to almost universally agree that Fight Club is an entertaining movie.
I actually just had to write a paper on the film. Try watching the film with subtitles on, I noticed a lot of what Tyler says is hard to catch and usually just flies right over your head but with subtitles you get everything.
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