Fight Club
"Work hard, and the world is your oyster," our parents tell us. Each generation is brainwashed by culture to believe that they can all achieve The American Dream if they work for it. That's a pure lie, according to Tyler Durden, the nihilist lead character in the controversial, remorseless and brilliant Fight Club.
Edward Norton (American History X) co-stars as the nameless narrator, an early-30s automobile-recall coordinator who can't sleep at nights. He attends support groups to be a shoulder to cry on for the bona fide sufferers. The scheme works, and the narrator's sleeping habits return to normal. That is, until gothic Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) becomes a "tourist" too. The narrator's search for meaning in his life resumes.
One night, the narrator returns from a business trip to find that his condo has exploded, with all of his belongings consumed in the blaze. The narrator then calls Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), a "single-serving friend" whom he met on the return flight. Tyler allows the narrator to live in his run-down house indefinitely. However, Tyler asks the narrator, out of the blue, to hit him. Reluctantly, the narrator complies, and they fight until they're tired. The two friends work during the week and fight publicly on Saturday nights. Soon, their brawls attract audiences and other fighters. Tyler and the narrator organize the fighters and coin the group "Fight Club," a way for people to escape from the materialistic culture around them.
Director David Fincher, whose credits include Se7en and Panic Room, prefers to shock and disturb his audience rather than entertain it. Fight fits this mold perfectly; it contains strong antisocial themes and harsh truths about social structures. Tyler Durden personifies these themes well. His beef is the human race killing itself to achieve the arbitrarily titled "American Dream," because not everyone will be successful.
Tyler also resents the cultural fixation with material goods as an indicator of our worth: "You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world." While you're thinking about that, think about this related quote from Tyler: "Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate, so we can buy shit we don't need." The character called Tyler Durden strikes a loud chord in many people, because he tells truths about life that we might be afraid to face.
Don't watch Fight Club because I gave it a high grade. You might not like it as much. See it because it will change your perspective on the world you're living in now. Those who love Fight Club and those who hate it almost always get something out of viewing it. That's what I call a successful film.
Send any comments/ feedback to the author.
This "guy movie" definitely calls for serious boozing.
Helena Bonham Carter's pillow talk won't ignite many romantic flames.
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Fight Club - Film Review
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Related Articles:
1) American History X
2) Panic Room
