Transcendentalist Ideas Of Individualism In Fight Club, By Jim Uhls

In today's society, the teachings of transcendentalist figures such as Emerson, Fuller, and Whitman are both thriving and dead. Many commonly practiced activities are the opposite of what these men preached, such as social trends. However, one place we do see a continuous use of transcendentalist ideals is in the movie business. Films are brimming with messages of anti-conformity, the importance of individualism, and the idea that society corrupts people. One movie that does this is Fight Club, written by Jim Uhls and released in 1999. This movie encapsulates all of the above themes and delivers them in a way that shows how these core concepts are still a part of our lives although being written over 100 years ago.
One main point of the movie

In the beginning of the film, “The Narrator” tries to conform to society. But, upon joining fight club, he realizes that the world he lives in will never fully satisfy what he is after. This leads him to become his own person, and fall into his own rhythm. He discovers that he must save himself by reassuring his individualism, something he had lost by conforming to everyone else around him. Over the course of him realizing this, Tyler Durden says, “I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say … let's evolve, let the chips fall where they may.” Instead of blending in with that around you, you must be constantly thinking things over in new ways. This will allow you to be able to discover new truths about both yourself and the world around you. This may remind you of Emerson, and that is because these two characters share shockingly similar ideas on the topic of non-conformity. Emerson once said, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Like the narrator, He believed that by sacrificing individualism and conforming, people sacrifice culture. He thought that people must deviate from the road of society in order to make their own mark on the world. In his writings of Self-Reliance, Emerson says, “Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist.” This quote shows how essential nonconformity is, and how highly is was regarded to impact