Breaking the First Two Rules Agents of Repression and Subversion in Fight Club
"The first rule about fight club is you don't talk about fight club. The second rule about fight club is you don't talk about fight club" (48). The first two rules governing the underground fighting rings of Chuck Palahniuk's novel Fight Club serve as more than an attempt to maintain the secrecy of the illegal clubs. The explicit definitions of what the novel's characters can and cannot think and talk about set the stage for the story's examination of the repressive forces of society and the psychological consequences of the ever-present cultural 'no.' The nameless narrator who creates the fight clubs exists in such a state of cultural insulation and repression that the only sublimation of his unconscious desires he finds possible is the projection of the mental struggle between his conscious and unconscious minds into the physical world. This projection starts with physical combat between the two members of the split subject, but eventually gives way to the complete seizure of control by the unconscious half - Tyler Durden - whenever the narrator's conscious half-falls asleep. This drastic realization of Freud's theory on satisfying unconscious desires in the dream state does indeed break the narrator out of the suffocating comfort of his normative social roles. However, as the narrator's unconscious mind gains increasing control over his daily activities, its destructive tendencies begin to destroy not only everything that the narrator hates about his life, but also everything that he discovers makes life worth living.
In the beginning of the novel, the narrator finds little meaning in his life. Completely disillusioned with his job, his love life, and most of all himself, the narrator summarizes his role in consumerist America in the bleakest terms: "Pull a lever. Push a button. You don't understand any of it, and then you just die" (12). In the narrator's perception, materialist priorities have "people chasing cars and clothes they don't need…jobs they hate" (149), and have led him to a point at which he realizes he is "a thirty-year old boy" (51) living in a condo he describes as "a filing cabinet for widows and young professionals" (41). Following all the steps prescribed by society-going to college, getting a job, becoming self-supportive-has led to a dead end for the narrator, prompting him to reflect, "I hated my life. I was tired and bored…[and] couldn't see any way to change things" (172).
In Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, the narrator creates another identity through his schizophrenia and dissociative personality disorder. While the narrator’s other personality is portrayed as a therapeutic creation focused on bettering society and himself through destruction followed by rebuilding, the narrator actually creates Tyler Durden to destroy his true identity, become the person he wishes he was, and destroy those around him without holding any personal responsibility. Even though the narrator pretends that he has no control over his second identity, Tyler Durden acts according the the narrator’s desires; however, with this arrangement, the narrator can pretend that he is innocent.
“In philosophy, or religion, or ethics, or politics, two and two might make five, but when one was designing a gun or an aeroplane they had to make four” (Orwell 250). Winston lives in a time where a set of rules preventing him to be free are imposed on him – the Party defines what freedom is and is not. “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows (Orwell 103)”. Winston expresses his views on The Party within his diary even though he knows it is not accepted by The Party or the Thought Police. The narrator in Fight Club uses fighting as a form of escapism from his anti-consumerist ideologies revealed by his alter-ego, Tyler Durden. “Fuck off with your sofa units and strine green stripe patterns. I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let’s evolve—let the chips fall where they may. (Fight Club)” Tyler urges the narrator to stop conforming to consumerist-imposed views of perfection and break barriers to evolve. Tyler and the narrator create a medium for people in similar positions to escape from societal bound norms; it is aptly named “Fight Club”. In comparison, both Tyler Durden and the narrator from Fight Club and Winston Smith from 1984 share
“I am Joe's Blood-Boiling Rage “ (96). Anger is one of the seven deadly sins which is defined by Christopher Marlowe in Doctor Faustus as, “I am Wrath. I had neither father nor mother. I leapt out of a lion’s mouth when I was scarce an hour old, and ever since have run up and down the world with this case of rapiers, wounding myself when I could get none to fight withal. I was born in hell, and look to it, for some of you shall be my father” (Doctor Faustus 2. 1).
Fight Club is not about winning or losing. Paul Palahniuk’s Fight Club is about the issues of masculinity in our modern capitalist society. It is a novel about men who resist conforming to what society defines as masculine. In our present day culture, men are presented with the ideal form of masculinity that they are expected to achieve such as being successful in the work place, going to the gym, and grooming yourself to look attractive. The unnamed narrator of the story undergoes an identity crisis, which is a result of capitalism; he struggles to find himself by going through various support groups before finally attending Fight Club. The consumer driven society has replaced the traditional values of masculinity, which creates conflicts and becomes the catalyst for Fight club: a place to re-masculinize through physical combat.
Throughout Chuck Palahniuk’s life there has been violence that has surrounded him. Some of the events had happened outside of his world, the time period that was going on such as the Reagan Era, Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and so much more events. Then in the inside of his life there were tragic deaths that happened throughout his life, However at the same time some of the violent, fierce events that had occurred actually made him closer with people. The events that had throughout Chuck Palahniuk’s life helped him write his novel Fight Club and place the theme of violence throughout his novel.
Philosophy can be found everywhere. Like math, it is used to solve problems, or at least used to begin to understand those problems. Most individuals expect to heighten their philosophical knowledge through readings or by reading a professors notes. One may even consult their own mind to help them grasp a concept of a philosophy. Attainting philosophical guidance by the sources above is common yet it is also quite common to see philosophical themes in movies and novels. A movie with a philosophical message is “Fight Club”. The movie “Fight Club” examines an idealistic question known as “What is Real?” though the main character. The movie examines three idealistic statements: One cannot trust appearances to determine what is real, one sees and feels only what their subconscious mind allows them to see and feel, and finally, ones mind determines what is personally real.
The film Fight Club (1999), directed by David Fincher, is based off of the novel of the same name written by Chuck Palahniuk. This action packed drama delves into the life of an insomniac caught up in the cyclical mainstream lifestyle many have grown accustomed to. The narrator of this story, Jack, played by Edward Norton, is a pencil pushing desk jockey completely consumed by the frivolous materials he possess, working only to meet this incessant demand of unnecessary things. It is only when the main character meets Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt, is he enlightened to the point of realization that his life offered little to no meaning. Tyler manifests these ideas to Jack through various conversations which shed light on the simplistic way of life he lives and the numerous flaws which exist in their society. They then establish a fight club as a way to break away from societal norm which in turn develops into a terrorist-esque organization set on spreading Tyler’s philosophy of life through violent acts. It is only through a myriad of twists and turns during the film that it finally becomes clear; Tyler is only a figment of the Jack’s imagination, a projection of his inner masculinity. Throughout the entirety of the film, there are many references to the downfalls of living in a consumerist and capitalist society. In our modern world, self-identification of oneself through a consumerist culture has become extremely common. This quintessential flaw in our nation is personified by Fincher’s Fight Club, conveying the apparent atrophy America faces through adherence to this way of life. It is unambiguous that the film attempts to spread the message that co...
After reading and evaluating the works of T. S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, there are various discussion points pertaining to the connection between tragedy and human conditions. Herein, tragedy is the result of a specific human condition, disengagement. This essay aims to identify and explain the behavioural traits between characters in two literary works which leads to a disengagement by the characters from a typical social environment.
The narrator is emasculated in many ways from; his addiction to consumer products, work life, spirit animal, and Tyler Durden. In the novel the Narrator is a consumerist and has the common issue of his things owning him. “The addictions and afflictions of the male characters in Fight Club are directly connected to the film 's interest and investment in the 'disenfranchising ' and 'emasculating ' effects of late capitalist consumer society on masculine identities” (Iocco, Melissa). His insomnia turns out to control his life, causing him to turn to the support group “Remaining Men Together” where he copes with these terminal victims. The Narrator is shown by Tyler Durden that his job is an emasculating factor that he does the same thing over and over again, and that his job sucks. “The men who participate are, apparently, attracted to Fight Club because it allows them to get away from the drudgery and repetition of work life, satisfying a desire to experience something ‘real’ ”(Iocco, Michelle). In the Narrator’s power trips he witnesses his spirit animal is a Penguin. His power animal states his weakness of masculinity, puny and harmless. His power animal explains the Narrator’s life before Tyler and Fight Club. Tyler Durden shows up and the narrator is still overshadowed by him, belittling him more and more through Marla Singer, because Marla is turned on
Good and bad memories can affect our everyday lives for the rest of our lives, if they are severe. The journal article mainly talks about anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, and PTSD. All of these disorders are the result of traumatic events that have occurred in someone’s past. The article uses the example of someone who has been sexually assaulted. Someone who has been sexually assaulted may grow up to have PTSD. People with substance use disorder, may use drugs because they are trying to numb the pain of something that happened in the past. All of these disorders occur because of pathological memories. These memories can be very hard erase. The authors of the article quoted a statement that states “Given that these disorders are characterized by pathological memories, the ability to disrupt or erase these memories would offer a significant advance in treatment” (Merlo, Milton, & Everett, 2015). Many treatments have been given, such as therapy and exposure therapy. These two things have not been really successful in the past. Extinction learning is another thing that researchers have tried to erase traumatic memories. During extinction learning, most of the patients’ symptoms returned and were worse than they were before. Cue-exposure therapy was used to treat people who had substance use disorders. The
Throughout Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, masculinity is a reoccurring theme that is present throughout the novel and is directly linked to the creation of Fight Club in the first place. After meeting Tyler Durden, the narrator’s masculinity and outlook on life starts to dramatically change. In result of this change, the theme of masculinity becomes very disastrous throughout the novel very quickly because Palahniuk uses masculinity in order to explain the many problems the consumer driven males may struggle with. In this case, the narrator’s masculinity is constantly in question because of his struggles with insomnia, consumer driven lifestyle, and Marla Singer.
Our group collectively decided to choose the movie Fight Club as the movie to review for this case study. Fight Club was released on October 15, 1999 and is based off the novel written by Chuck Palahniuk in 1996. The movie was directed by David Fincher and featured several outstanding actors such as Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. We settled on reviewing Fight Club due to the films’ psychologically thrilling nature.
Fight Club is the film adaptation of the novel written by Chuck Palahniuk. This film portrays the life of a thirty year old insomniac, office worker and the alter ego he creates to escape the struggles of everyday life. Themes of isolation, masculinity and consumer culture are all present throughout the film, making the main character a very relatable figure for those emerged in the “average joe” life.
The popular film, Fight Club manifest a teaching of contempt modern life, society according to the theories written by the founding fathers of Sociology. This film reflects a lifestyle of controversial issues we as a society have become conformed to live through. Nonetheless, the main character of the movie encapsulates a perspective of changing these regulations by creating a persona of the type of person the narrator desires to be. A person who does not abide the enslavement of civilization, when in fact, he is free in every way the narrator feels he cannot be, “People do it every day, they talk to themselves... they see themselves as they 'd like to be, they don 't have the courage you have, to just run with it.”(Durden 1999). Above all,
Psychological disorders are widely represented in films, as well as in other media texts such as novels, television shows, etc. One film that portrays more than one example of a psychological disorder is Fight Club, a Twentieth Century Fox movie released with an R rating in 1999. Directed by David Fincher; and produced by Art Linson, Cean Chaffin, and Ross Grayson Bell, the movie mainly introduces Dissociative Identity Disorders (also known as Multiple Personality Disorders), but also hints at insomnia and depression. The movie is adapted from the book Fight Club written by Chuck Palahniuk. Fox marketed the movie using a “myriad of merchandise, including posters, the soundtrack, and even email addresses (yourname@fightclub.com)” (CNN). The movie’s production budget was set at $63,000,000 with the movie grossing $37,030,102 (Daily Box Office). The characters of the movie refer to themselves as the “middle children of history” with the feelings of having no purpose or place in life. They convey that they have no history-making events or real set goals and/or destiny to look forward to. They were brought up by society to believe that one-day they would be rich, famous and loved just as those depicted on television. This is symbolic of society during the surrounding time of the movie’s release. It is prevalent in modern society to strive to become someone/something that one sees in the media. The movie is directed towards Generation-X, but the “…hope was that the film would demonstrate the themes of the story to a larger audience. It would offer more people the idea that they could create their own lives outside the existing blueprint for happiness offered by society” (Palahniuk). This message was one that demanded that its viewers put all that drives them aside, and rethink what they had been taught from childhood. After the film’s release, instead of delivering the message that was intended, it was met with criticism and misunderstanding. This was due partly to the fact that it was scheduled for release shortly after the Columbine shootings. The movie became an easy target for those upset by the blatant violence which surrounded the Columbine incident. Although Fight Club is a film full of violence it is in reality one that promotes anti-violence, and points out to the audience the human impulses that cause violent behavior. Ironically, despite all of the med...