Thread: Fight Club

anybody seen it?
Great movie.

While i understand that it has a big anti-materialistic message, i get lost at the end.
What is the ultimate concept that seems to be going over my head?

Originally posted by jjm121
anybody seen it?
Great movie.

While i understand that it has a big anti-materialistic message, i get lost at the end.
What is the ultimate concept that seems to be going over my head?

Practically speaking, Brad Pitt needed a vehicle to carry him past his earlier Pretty Boy image. Women were getting used to him, but men were continuing to resent him. He was loosing box office.

He needed a Movie where he would get his ass kicked and kicked hard. Guys would enjoy seeing Brad Pit get uglied up, and then forgive him for once having been so Pretty. Then Brad woud effectively become 'one of the guys'.

Tom Cruise did the same thing with Vanilla Sky -- got himself uglied up to help himself with the male half of the Box Office.

Now, as for the Metaphysical Details.... I saw the Movie, and enjoyed it... but quite forget many of these details.

Now, there was also a wonderful movie, with Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt, "The Mexican". I also came away thinking that I had just received a whole-hearted Spiritual Message. And who doesn't love Julia Roberts?

Originally posted by jjm121
anybody seen it?
Great movie.

While i understand that it has a big anti-materialistic message, i get lost at the end.
What is the ultimate concept that seems to be going over my head?

Without great detail I kind of thought that the idea in his (or part of ) head was the rebuttal of the corporate hold that they posses over all of us. The influence.
He was fighting his feelings literally on the outside with violence and internally with two personalities.

Norton is the best actor in the universe. Love the guy.

Fight Club's a fantastic film. Really reflects upon the book well. You should take a look at the book, the author's Chuck Palahniuk.

To be honest I don't like the film's ending, the one in the book is much more abstract and intriguing in general.

The message is about breaking the monotony of life. Trying to start over from clock 0 and rev it all up. The narrator, though not consciously, breaks through the monotony through insanity because he was so desperate.

Years ago there was something of a cultish movie "a Clockwork Orange" that conjured up an Anti-Hero Character that made Violence seem amusing and entertaining.

Every several decades it seems like a new and fresh idea to use the ordinary mechanisms of film and fiction, that usually create sympathy for a Hero or Protagonist, but to use the same tools to create sympathy for an Anti-Hero.

Typically young people go for such things. Tired of standard socialization and full of teenage rebellion, they become simply gleeful when all the Wrongs are suddenly turned on their heads and become Rights. Oh, "the Rocky Horror Picture Show" had much the same appeal.

A Clockwork Orange did the opposite of making violence seem fun and enjoyable.. or at least the book did, haven't seen the movie so I can't judge.

Yeah, i know all about Palahniuk. Choke is my favorite personally.

Personally my favorite's Lullaby.. and Invisible Monsters for that matter.

I think Fight Club is a great movie. Not neccessarily in the meaning that what the movie shows effectively and 'obejctively' is great , but rather it opens up so many ways of interpretation if you really consider many of the lines that are spoken. Out of interest I read many of the negative reviews of Fight Club and considered the aspects mentioned. I agree that the plot is not all too great and the metaphysical and philosophical messages are barely shown to the viewer, they just keep hiding.

The anti-materialistic aspect of Fight Club is very basic. In my eyes the movie isn't about that. It's not even about losing everything you got or being nihilistic. The violence depicted in the movie doesn't serve as the only alternative to materialism, but rather it serves as a vehicle to display what humans can be and how naive and ignorant the materialistc approach to living is. Some suggested that the violence was the alternative to materialism and that the loss of individuality is implicit as well. In my interpretation this isn't the central point. I guess it's the central point if you consider Fight Club as a movie critisicising primarily the society we have today. I considered it as a movie criticising many aspects of humans and primarily a philosophical movie.

"You're not your fucking khakis" isn't the central sentence of the movie at all. As a practical approach this movie doesn't suggest doing anything against materialism but it displays the theories that are implicit with naive and stupid materialism. The point is that people consider themselves as something special, as something detached from the world. They think they have control because they build cool machines or, in the case of materialism, buy something. And they want to exert control all the time. Similarly they see their Ego as something that is NOT product of history and product of the world, but something independent, something superior and reigning.

The scene in which Tyler and Jack let go off the steering wheel in the car is not about being afraid, it's not about courage and valour. It's a metaphorical image for realizing one's dependency, one's complete unability to control anything. Of course it's only an image because it's counter-intuitive (intuitively we'd say: Yeah, they could just control the steering wheel.). The image is imperfectly displayed since they put on seatbelts which doesn't make any sense. But it's definitely not about bravery in some manly way, it's not bound to gender OF COURSE.

"We are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world" is not against materialism, it's against people not having a critical and detached view of themselves; people not being freaked out and amazed by the complex constructed world created by humans. We are indeed all-singing and all-dancing, but we are still just a part of the world.


And this is only my interpretation that is kind of based on that Eastern stuff. The point is that Fight Club is a great movie because it opens up loads of connections to all possibilities of interpretation. There are many aspects and they are all connected within the movie. The plot of the movie is solid, but not great. Norton and Pitt make up for this by great acting. Still if you try and consider the Fight Club itself as something more than just a group of guys beating themselves up out of spite, it opens up various possibilities.

As a soical critique I thought it was a bit to blatant. I liked the scene with the acid stuff on the hand for it's metaphorical value. Fight Club is very radical and consequent, it puts everything to a practical execution; But this consequence is very counter-intuitive and actually displayed in a negative way. The violence and pain actually make the social point that escaping from the bounds of materialism has only this alternative. But I thought that it was about the 'instant', also in the way Lukather talks about it in Waking Life. In every moment we are asked to embrace and accept the moment and God (not a personified God but rather, existence itself) poses this question. And we always say No... And so we don't get to this realization that is neccessary to put theories to practice in a much more positive way than it is done in Fight Club.


So I guess for me 'Ground Zero' is the central aspect, but not in an anti-materialistic meaning. Tyler asks the guys in the car what they would have liked to do before death. One of them answers "Build a house". Surely building a house is materialistic, it needs matter, energy and money. This guy says yes to the instant, unlike Jack, who's concerned with the steering wheel. Ground Zero is about being aware of the limitedness of one's choice and developing from this realization. Ground Zero is not so much about having to do this or that out of spite for society, but accepting the chaos that is the world and being AWARE of it. You can reach Point Zero safely and privately, without getting involved with underground boxing clubs. Tyler says it's the knowledge that you will die. I say it's the knowledge that you are already dead, and that this enables you to live life to its fullest.


I heard the book by Palahniuk is better in these aspects. Definitiely have to read it.

my favorite line, or one of them.
"Stuffing feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken."