Criticisms of Consumerism and Materialism in Fight Club (1999)

886 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The theme of masculinity in fight club

“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 are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.” This is the underlying message in Fincher’s Fight Club (1999), which satirically analyzes and critiques consumerism. The films characters vividly depict society’s immersion in materialism and presents viewers with the harsh reality regarding the irrelevance of material possessions.

The opening scenes of the movie focus on the narrator, the epitome of a consumerist. He asserts, “Like everyone else, I had become a slave to the IKEA nesting instinct…I would flip through catalogues and wonder ‘what kind of dining set defines me as a person?’” His IKEA fetish is the outcome of his unfound identity. He purchases these goods not because he needs them, but because it is represented as the optimum apartment for a single man in catalogues.

Arguably, it is due his lack of identity that suffers from insomnia. His insomnia intensifies his identity crisis, as he is unable to differentiate between dreams and reality. Ironically, the cure that the narrator finds merely proliferates his lack of identity. He attends support groups for the terminally ill under different aliases. Whereas his IKEA fetish was caused by a “consumer’s ability to choose from a vast range of identities through products and labels” (Davis, 2002), the support groups are an attempt at belonging somewhere. “His portrayal as an exhausted and numb narcoleptic insomniac is a vivid depiction of a man suffering from the failed promise of self-fulfillment in a brand name, corporate-driven consumer society” (Davis, 2002).

Though the groups gener...

... middle of paper ...

..., S. (2007, January 9) The goal: Wealth and fame. USA Today. Retrieved February 3, 2014, from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-01-09-gen-y-cover_x.htm
Lizardo, O. (2007). Fight Club, or the Cultural Contradictions of Late Capitalism. Journal for Cultural Research, 11. Retrieved January 22, 2014, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14797580701763830
Lockwood, R. D. (2011). Journal of Contemporary Religion. Cults, Consumerism, and the Construction of Self: Exploring the Religious within Fight Club, 23. Retrieved January 22, 2014, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537900802373320
Lyon, David. Jesus in Disneyland: Religion in Post-modern Times. Malden, MA: Polity P, 2000.
Robinson, S. (2011). Fight Club and the Limits of Anti-Consumerist Critique. Genders Journal, 53 (Spring, 2011). Retrieved January 31, 2014, from http://www.genders.org/g53/g53_robinson.html

Show More
Related

  • Feminist Consumerism And Fat Activist: Article Analysis

    1133 Words  | 3 Pages

    (Essig, April 22, 2013) In the article Feminist Consumerism and Fat Activists, feminist consumerism is defined as “a phenomenon with the potential to partially disrupt gender norms” (Johnston & Taylor, 2008) Relating to the structural functionalist approach, Dove’s expansion of a broader culture constructs the ideology of consumerism and

    Read More

  • Gatsby Fight Club

    2329 Words  | 5 Pages

    Chuck Palahniuk wrote an afterword for the paperback edition of Fight Club, in which he indicated that his novel was principally an updated version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby: “Really, what I was writing was just The Great Gatsby, updated a little. It was ‘apostolic’ fiction – where a surviving apostle tells the story of his hero. There are two men and a woman. And one man, the hero, is shot to death” (Palahniuk 215). Much can be written about the similarities and contrasts between these two novels. In addition to this simple plot similarity, both novels provide powerful social commentary on the state of American culture and the detrimental impact of capitalism on the individual during their respective times. The Great Gatsby was published in the 1920s and Fight Club in the 1990s, giving two similarly written literary snapshots of American society at opposite ends of the twentieth century. The temptation is to analyze and compare these novels in terms of American consumerism at different times, the individual’s quest for self-identity in the increasingly conformist capitalist structure, or to focus on literary aspects, such as character and narrative structure. However, these obvious subjects seem secondary to an overarching thematic similarity.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between 1984 And Fight Club

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    “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

    Read More

  • Theme Of Consumerism In A Mercy

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    Consumerism stands as a tenet of the American culture. Our common desire to possess the newest or most popular products drives our daily lives. We strive to have the possessions of those to whom we compare ourselves – friends, family, neighbors, associates – in the hope that we may feel a semblance of fulfillment. Yet, this path of obsession over objects merges our individual identities with the objects we covet. In the novel A Mercy, the character Jacob Vaark epitomizes this modern materialist trend. Through the metaphor of Vaark’s insatiable desire for a mansion, Morrison criticizes the modern consumerist American culture.

    Read More

  • America Underclass

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is believed that American people in the lower and middle classes have needs for status mobility. For example, when browsing through a fashion magazine, one can find numerous sections that are dedicated to creating ways to look like the featured model or actress for half the price. The intention of the article, in most cases, is to give others the impression that you are of high social status. In addition, advertisers often use people in the entertainment business to model their products so that the viewer may purchase the product. For example, when mimicking the purchases of hotel heiress, Paris Hilton one may believe, “If I buy this, I’ll look cool just like Paris Hilton!” The fact that this method is usually successful is a product of the anxiety felt by lower and middle class families. For those reasons, it is likely that Domhoff’s statement that the upper class “creates respect, envy, and deference in others,” is true. It seems that many of America’s lower and middle class families would like to create those same feelings of respect and envy in others.

    Read More

  • Masculinity in "Fight Club"

    2237 Words  | 5 Pages

    Friday, Krister. ""A Generation of Men Without History": Fight Club, Masculinity, and the Historical Symptom." Project MUSE. 2003.

    Read More

  • The Connection between A Bug’s Life and The Chosen People

    2008 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the essay The Chosen People, Stewart Ewen, discusses his perspective of middle class America. Specifically, he explores the idea that the middle class is suffering from an identity crisis. According to Ewen’s theory, “the notion of personal distinction [in America] is leading to an identity crisis” of the non-upper class. (185) The source of this identity crisis is mass consumerism. As a result of the Industrial Revolution and mass production, products became cheaper and therefore more available to the non-elite classes. “Mass production was investing individuals with tools of identity, marks of personhood.” (Ewen 187) Through advertising, junk mail and style industries, the middle class is always striving for “a stylistic affinity to wealth,” finding “delight in the unreal,” and obsessed with “cheap luxury items.” (Ewen 185-6) In other words, instead of defining themselves based on who they are on the inside, the people of middle class America define themselves in terms of external image and material possessions.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Fight Club

    447 Words  | 1 Pages

    The modern world has instilled a metanarrative that we all clench onto: get an education, have a good job, buy nice things to be happy, retire wealthy, and rest in peace. This is the story we have all grown up with, and Fight Club crushes it to the ground. Near the beginning of the novel, the narrator realizes that his white-collar job and Ikea furnished apartment are completely unfulfilling, and it is only until after he experiences Fight Club that this metanarrative he has latched on to is flawed. As the story progresses, the narrator notices that there are hundreds of men in the same place, many of which have profitable careers. They’ve all bought into this capitalist and consumerist society. These routine and mundane lives have created an absolute truth that we live by.

    Read More

  • Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    On September 10, 2001, I was a naive college sophomore. I would sleep through class just to be able stay up all night. I was there for a piece of paper: my ticket to a good job and a lot of money. That was my big picture. After all, isn’t wealth what really matters?

    Read More

  • Fight Club And Material Possessions: Poem Analysis

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fight Club and “Material Possessions” are both recent works of art discussing materialism and consumerism. Fight Club deals with our protagonist letting go of his materialistic worldviews in order to be free; while the poem deals with the same issue but in a broader sense by talking about people in general rather than a specific character. Our protagonist in Fight Club is trapped in society, working everyday, coming home to buy more stuff to fill his apartment, his life, is hollow which is why he keeps buying more stuff. His connection with consumerism all his life, has led him to believe, that buy living this way he should be happy. He has worked hard and now he has many possessions; according to the society he is living a life that many dream

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of David Fincher's Fight Club

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    Henry A. Giroux states in his article “Private Satisfactions and Public Disorders: Fight Club, Patriarchy, and the Politics of Masculine Violence” that the film glorifies violence and depicts women in a misogynistic way. Lynn M. Ta takes up the counterside in her article “Hurt So Good: Fight Club, Masculine Violence, and the Crisis of Capitalism”. She argues that the exaggerated critique on consumerism, the associated emasculation of men and the stereotypical depiction of gender notions highlight contemporary society´s issues and thereby provide a platform for discussing them. This not only heightens the film´s academic value, but its entertaining value as well: we as viewers analyze the film while watching it. Maybe we start to draw conclusions, but then the plot twisted and we are back at the beginning. Nevertheless, this act adds a lot to our enjoyment of the film. In fact, the entertaining value of it can only fully develop when we think about the film, when we take it

    Read More

  • Cults Vs. Religions : Cults And Religion

    1258 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cults vs. Religions In recent years, a number of social scientists have argued that the term “cult” should be abandoned in favor of the term “new religious movement” (Olson, 2006). One reason is purely practical: “Cult” carries automatic negative connotations and can cause contention with both the outside community and law enforcement (Szubin, Jensen, & Gregg, 2000). The other reason is somewhat more nuanced: the argument that there is no true difference between a cult and a religion, because one set of religious beliefs is not inherently superior simply due to how long people have believed them, or how many people believe them. However, in answering the question of whether cults and more mainstream religious groups are different, we must examine not only the beliefs themselves, but the methods of worship and living within the group. These “cult characteristics” (Shermer, 2011), including isolation, physical abuse, and suppression of dissent, enable us to compare cult groups to more mainstream religious groups and find concrete differences.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Death Of A Salesman And American Beauty

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    Accordingly, in his film American Beauty, Mendes confronts the consumerist values held by American society through his portrayal of the protagonist, Lester Burnham. In the opening scene, viewers are introduced to Lester’s affluence in the wide- angle shot of his picturesque suburban neighbourhood; Mendes attempts to depict a family trapped by the capitalist ideology of the American Dream. Lester’s moment of realisation of the American Dream’s material façade is made evident through his change in set of values when smoking with Ricky behind the restaurant, recognising the freedom that Ricky has and establishes a new sense of self through working at fast food chains and the pursuit of fitness, no longer chasing commercial success but rather personal happiness. Carolyn, Lester’s wife, is a metaphoric representation of the consequences of the obsession with materialism and prosperity “It’s not just a couch! It cost $4,000 and is upholstered in Italian silk.” accentuating that accumulation of goods is what she perceives as a means to being happy and enhances the fracture within the family. The elaborate dining table mise en scene and classical diegetic music provides insight into the 20th century concept of material and substance-obsessed character

    Read More

  • Marxism In Fight Club

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fight Club “Its only after we’ve lost everything are we free to do anything”, Tyler Durden as (Brad Pitt) states, among many other lines of contemplation. In Fight Club, a nameless narrator, a typical “everyman,” played as (Edward Norton) is trapped in the world of large corporations, condominium living, and all the money he needs to spend on all the useless stuff he doesn’t need. As Tyler Durden says “The things you own end up owning you.” Fight Club is an edgy film that takes on such topics as consumerism, the feminization of society, manipulation, cultism, Marxist ideology, social norms, dominant culture, and the psychiatric approach of the human id, ego, and super ego. “It is a film that surrealistically describes the status of the American

    Read More

  • Brainwashing Analysis

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    After discussing histories of NRMs and media’s role in NRM violence, Creswell’s advises us on methods to approach NRMs to avoid future violence. In his introduction, Wilson says that NRMs “can devote resources and encourage participation, and exploit…creativity more effectively than settled Churches”, a more plausible explanation for ‘cult’ membership than ‘brainwashing’ (7). Like Richardson, Van Driel, and Olson, Wilson argues that “journalistic interests demand controversial issues which plays into the hands of committed anti-cultists” (101). For this first time in the bibliography, an author claims that anti-cult movements have been weakened by legal rulings and media’s lack of trust. Cresswell, Wilson, and their authors demonstrate that anti-cult elimination is a large step toward seeing NRMs as religious groups instead of threats to American society. This should be followed by reliance on sociological, historical, and theological

    Read More

More about Criticisms of Consumerism and Materialism in Fight Club (1999)

Open Document