Fight Club Essay
Fight Club: Literature vs. Cinema In the novel Fight Club, written by Chuck Palahniuk, the reader sees life through the eyes of the protagonist: an average, middle-aged man suffering from insomnia and working as a recall coordinator for a major car company. The main character, whose real name is never mentioned, lives a cookie-cutter life in a high-rise apartment building filled with IKEA furniture, a fancy car, and a monotonous job. That is, until he meets a man named Tyler Durden, thus fight club was born. Fight Club, Palahniuk’s first published novel, was such a success that it was made into a major motion picture directed by David Fincher. While the film stayed close to the themes and plot of the book, it also had many differences. To say one outdid the other is matter of opinion however, there were aspects of the film that were stronger and some weaker. One way the film amplifies the book is with its use of visuals. The dark basement of the bar where fight club was held, the rundown house on Paper Street where the narrator stays with Tyler, and the slow deterioration of the protagonist are all brought to life in the film. “Fincher presented a world that was dark, gritty and entirely unpleasant. It captured a world of corporate
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bureaucracy and sponsorship at the height of its ability to demand conformity. However, none of this world would have come unto it’s own without Chuck Palahniuk’s novel” (Luzi). The movie visuals really outshine the novel when it comes to the unveiling of the narrator’s split personality disorder. Fincher’s version of the story includes a scene where the protagonist and Tyler have a fight in the parking garage of the Parker-Morris Building. Only through the view of security cameras can it be seen that the narrator is actually fighting himself. While the reveal in the novel, “We’re not two separate men. Long story short, when you’re awake, you have the control, and you can call yourself anything you want, but the second you fall asleep, I take over, and you become Tyler Durden.” (Palahniuk 44) was shocking, the film was much more powerful.
Eventually, just like everything else, the narrator grew bored of what was in front of him.
This is the point in the story when fight club evolves into something much bigger, Project Mayhem. This is an element of the story that the novel did a much better job of displaying. Project Mayhem was about deconstructing civilization; the opportunity to start over again. The novel goes into depth on how the group works, including what committees it’s made up of, how homework assignments work, and what the main goal was to accomplish. In the book, the final assignment of Project Mayhem is the destruction of the Parker-Morris Building. The building, which stands next to the Museum of History, would collapse and literally wipe out
history.
“I wanted to burn the Louvre. I’d do the Elgin Marbles with a sledgehammer and wipe my ass with the Mona Lisa. This is my world, now. This is my world, my world, and those ancient people are dead.” (Palahniuk 124)
The film took Project Mayhem a different direction. Instead of the main target being the Museum of History, it was targeted major credit card companies. The goal was not as much about erasing history, as it was debt. While Tyler’s intentions in the novel were purely destructive, the film showed a more political agenda. (Amit). Perhaps the most controversial change the film made was the ending. In the novel, the protagonist ends up shooting himself to escape Tyler and awakes in a mental ward convinced it is heaven. The nurses are angels, the doctor is God, and he feels free from Tyler. That is until a former member of Project Mayhem; referred to as a ‘space monkey’, reveals himself to the narrator calling him Mr. Durden on the final page of the novel. Fincher’s ending is misunderstood because it is contradicting. The protagonist shoots himself just like the novel, but instead of blacking out he remains conscious and unites with Marla Singer, the love interest of the story. He then looks to Marla and says, “I’m ok. I’m really ok. Trust me everything’s gonna be fine. You met me at a very strange time in my life.” (Norton) The film ending makes it seem like the narrator won, and is now free of Tyler Durden, which is the exact opposite of the novel. The narrator defeats Tyler personally, but still allows Tyler’s plan to take effect (Faraci). Fight Club is a captivating story both on paper and screen. Both the novel and the film have their strengths and weaknesses. However, the author’s quotes throughout the novel do a much stronger job of relaying the message and themes of fight club and really takes the reader into the mind of the narrator.
bureaucracy and sponsorship at the height of its ability to demand conformity. However, none of this world would have come unto it’s own without Chuck Palahniuk’s novel” (Luzi). The movie visuals really outshine the novel when it comes to the unveiling of the narrator’s split personality disorder. Fincher’s version of the story includes a scene where the protagonist and Tyler have a fight in the parking garage of the Parker-Morris Building. Only through the view of security cameras can it be seen that the narrator is actually fighting himself. While the reveal in the novel, “We’re not two separate men. Long story short, when you’re awake, you have the control, and you can call yourself anything you want, but the second you fall asleep, I take over, and you become Tyler Durden.” (Palahniuk 44) was shocking, the film was much more powerful.
Eventually, just like everything else, the narrator grew bored of what was in front of him.
This is the point in the story when fight club evolves into something much bigger, Project Mayhem. This is an element of the story that the novel did a much better job of displaying. Project Mayhem was about deconstructing civilization; the opportunity to start over again. The novel goes into depth on how the group works, including what committees it’s made up of, how homework assignments work, and what the main goal was to accomplish. In the book, the final assignment of Project Mayhem is the destruction of the Parker-Morris Building. The building, which stands next to the Museum of History, would collapse and literally wipe out
history.
“I wanted to burn the Louvre. I’d do the Elgin Marbles with a sledgehammer and wipe my ass with the Mona Lisa. This is my world, now. This is my world, my world, and those ancient people are dead.” (Palahniuk 124)
The film took Project Mayhem a different direction. Instead of the main target being the Museum of History, it was targeted major credit card companies. The goal was not as much about erasing history, as it was debt. While Tyler’s intentions in the novel were purely destructive, the film showed a more political agenda. (Amit). Perhaps the most controversial change the film made was the ending. In the novel, the protagonist ends up shooting himself to escape Tyler and awakes in a mental ward convinced it is heaven. The nurses are angels, the doctor is God, and he feels free from Tyler. That is until a former member of Project Mayhem; referred to as a ‘space monkey’, reveals himself to the narrator calling him Mr. Durden on the final page of the novel. Fincher’s ending is misunderstood because it is contradicting. The protagonist shoots himself just like the novel, but instead of blacking out he remains conscious and unites with Marla Singer, the love interest of the story. He then looks to Marla and says, “I’m ok. I’m really ok. Trust me everything’s gonna be fine. You met me at a very strange time in my life.” (Norton) The film ending makes it seem like the narrator won, and is now free of Tyler Durden, which is the exact opposite of the novel. The narrator defeats Tyler personally, but still allows Tyler’s plan to take effect (Faraci). Fight Club is a captivating story both on paper and screen. Both the novel and the film have their strengths and weaknesses. However, the author’s quotes throughout the novel do a much stronger job of relaying the message and themes of fight club and really takes the reader into the mind of the narrator.