Fight Club
“An unexamined life is not worth living.”
-Socrates
“You met me at a strange time in my life.” These are the closing words to David
Fincher’s
Fight Club. Released in 1999 by Fox Studios, it stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and
Helena Bonham Carter. The film is a contemporary art piece that speaks the language of the modern emasculatedmacho man. It contains considerable amounts of violence that some would call gratuitous or senseless, but is in fact an attempt to speak metaphorically towards a deeper meaning.
Fight Club
, like all art, is a reflection of our culture. It attempts to speak to us about the state of our society by telling the tale of an individual’s development from “boyhood” to
“manhood.” The story is a wild ride through the psychological turmoil that is necessary for the development of masculinity in modern culture. Although a generalized interpretation of the film could yield a perception of sexism, machismo, and ignorant violence, a more patient examination leads to a deeper realization of the film’s powerful meaning.
This paper will discuss how
Fight Club
, when properly examined, is less of a meditation on violence and sexism than it is an exploration of the journey a man goes through to discover his true identity. Using metaphorical themes, unorthodox storytelling, and creative miseenscene,
Fight Club delivers a cryptic thesis on self discovery for the modern, “civilized” man. David Fincher, the director, says this about
Fight Club
, “It’s a film about the problems or requirements of being masculine in today’s society,” (Moses). The film has the relatively simple plot outline of showing how Jack (the “nameless narrator” played by Edward Norton) becomes
Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt). It is important to understand this complex journey in at least a simple way in order to deconstruct the implications of the film.
At first, Jack is a nameless, “everyman” consumer. He works for a
-Socrates
“You met me at a strange time in my life.” These are the closing words to David
Fincher’s
Fight Club. Released in 1999 by Fox Studios, it stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and
Helena Bonham Carter. The film is a contemporary art piece that speaks the language of the modern emasculatedmacho man. It contains considerable amounts of violence that some would call gratuitous or senseless, but is in fact an attempt to speak metaphorically towards a deeper meaning.
Fight Club
, like all art, is a reflection of our culture. It attempts to speak to us about the state of our society by telling the tale of an individual’s development from “boyhood” to
“manhood.” The story is a wild ride through the psychological turmoil that is necessary for the development of masculinity in modern culture. Although a generalized interpretation of the film could yield a perception of sexism, machismo, and ignorant violence, a more patient examination leads to a deeper realization of the film’s powerful meaning.
This paper will discuss how
Fight Club
, when properly examined, is less of a meditation on violence and sexism than it is an exploration of the journey a man goes through to discover his true identity. Using metaphorical themes, unorthodox storytelling, and creative miseenscene,
Fight Club delivers a cryptic thesis on self discovery for the modern, “civilized” man. David Fincher, the director, says this about
Fight Club
, “It’s a film about the problems or requirements of being masculine in today’s society,” (Moses). The film has the relatively simple plot outline of showing how Jack (the “nameless narrator” played by Edward Norton) becomes
Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt). It is important to understand this complex journey in at least a simple way in order to deconstruct the implications of the film.
At first, Jack is a nameless, “everyman” consumer. He works for a