Fight Club, directed David Fincher, debuted on January 1, 1999. This movie was not a success. People mistakenly thought that Fight Club was an action-movie about underground bareknuckle boxes. Fight Club is a horror/thriller flick that starts in the fear-centre. There’s even a surprise ending where the apparent antagonists turn out to be the same person. In the film, Edward Norton plays a stoic office worker who dreams of being the charismatic, antisocial Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), and trying to transform his life and the society at large. The split of one persona in “Jack” or “Tyler Durden”.
Jack is a chronic insomniac that loves to chat and vent at self-help groups. Jack eventually meets Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), and they become more serious when he starts to date Durden. Durden was apparently met on an airplane. Jack moves in with Durden when his Ikea-appointed condo is mysteriously destroyed in an explosion. Jack moves in with him to a rundown house after his condo is blown up in a mysterious explosion. The plot is about Jack and Tyler’s attraction, but it spirals inexorably when Jack reveals that he has been fighting for his own survival. Fight Club is turned into Project Mayhem by Durden. It’s a campaign full of revolutionary pranks. Jack eventually realizes that Jack has been fighting himself. There’s plenty of sick humor, at the cost of masculinist ideals. Durden’s strange pranks lead to the dizzying final act. Jack is stunned by the increase in the project he has started. His statements become chant slogans. It all culminates with Jack confronting Durden and shooting himself in his mouth. The movie has many themes, but two of the most important are Masculinity and consumerism in a modern culture. Nearly all of the characters in Fight Club (with the exception Marla Singer) are men, and the film explores modern masculinity. The film’s main purpose is to satirize modern American life, especially the American obsession with consumption and mindless buying of products.
Modern society makes men look and feel less masculine by requiring them to lead a life that revolves around fashion, shopping, and beauty. These traits are also shown to be inherently effeminate. This is because American society values these traits and suppresses all aspects that make men real men. The film shows men that are so emasculated that they forget what “real man” is.
In the movie, the Narrator (the protagonist) is shown as a slave in his society’s values. He claims that he is addicted buying furniture and sofas. The Narrator finds himself trapped in a society that encourages rampant consumerism. People are pushed to spend their money, both by the media and by general materialism culture, on things they don’t need until it becomes their only source or pleasure. The film features the most wealthy characters who are obsessed with buying stuff while the rest of us starve. Like any addictive behavior, characters’ insatiable desire for more is a constant. No matter how many products are bought, it doesn’t matter how much.
The film shows that beauty and perfection are important aspects of modern American life. Tyler Durden (the Narrator’s alter-ego), says that everyone looks healthy and fit because they all go to the gym. The ideal American man is well-off, well-dressed and fit. He also has a positive attitude that makes him stand out to everyone. The film shows that America’s obsessions with beauty and exercise are one and the exact same. They both stem from a desire to be “perfect” and to sell themselves.
The movie was full of symbols, but the most prominent symbol I saw was the soap. This soap can be seen on a poster. Tyler Durden, a soapmaker enthusiast, transforms fat (sometimes from humans) into soaps to make a handsome profit. Tyler explains that soap making is an extremely brutal process. Animals have to die, and bodies must be taken out to make soap. The soap making process is not only symbolic of the violence and brutality of the “real” world, which most people prefer to ignore. Soap is also a symbol for the sacrifices and pain that are required to keep the world going, as well as the invisible dirtiness of how people clean themselves.
Fight Club was an outstanding movie. It’s a smart way to deliver messages and satirize modern American life.
