Fight Club Essay
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Fight Club's themes and concerns have been held up as cinematic examples of nearly every philosophy known to man. The film's obsessive preoccupation with the ambiguity of reality and truth, along with its twist ending, caused it to immediately be embraced by the postmodernists.
Before meeting Tyler Durden, Jack is living in fat city in his prefabricated "essence." However, as existential philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre makes clear, "man chooses his own self" and the movie follows Jack's existential journey as he does that very thing. What makes this film so memorable, however, and what makes it stand out from similar films …show more content…
It is at this point that he creates Tyler Durden, the Yang side of himself. Created is not the correct term, because Tyler is not "something from nothing" as most people think of Creation. Tyler is the emergence of the expression of everything our hero has learned to suppress; "Tyler had been around a long time before we met."(6) The entire movie can be generalized as the main character’s unbalanced Yin Yang forces. His Yin has been dominant in his life for too long and as a result, his Yang breaks free.
Tyler takes control whenever our hero goes to sleep, and as he becomes more unbalanced he realizes "Tyler Durden is a separate personality I’ve created, and now he’s threatening to take over my real life." (7) Unfortunately Taoism predicts what will happen in the end; "No one object can embody a single force for a remarkable period of time-- the farther it strays from being balanced, the sooner it will have to ‘change its way’ (or else destruct)." (8)
Another central Taoist concept is Wu-Wei, which can be translated as "the action that comes from not doing". Though there are multiple interpretations of the Chinese character symbolizing this concept, the general idea seems to be another paradox; to accomplish something by doing nothing. The foundational writings on this concept can be seen in the Taoist text on Abstraction (A2) and Inaction. …show more content…
The Taoist teachings on Decay and Renewal (A16) imply an acceptance of death as an unavoidable, ever-present event that approaches constantly. Tyler also demands this realization; "Someday you will die, and until you know that, you’re useless to me." (12) His teachings imply no fear in impending death; "You are the same organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile." (13) Fight Club does not view death as something terrible, it is viewed as a relief from the world. It is even darkly described as "the amazing miracle of death, when one second you’re walking and talking, and the next second, you’re an object."
Fight Club's themes and concerns have been held up as cinematic examples of nearly every philosophy known to man. The film's obsessive preoccupation with the ambiguity of reality and truth, along with its twist ending, caused it to immediately be embraced by the postmodernists.
Before meeting Tyler Durden, Jack is living in fat city in his prefabricated "essence." However, as existential philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre makes clear, "man chooses his own self" and the movie follows Jack's existential journey as he does that very thing. What makes this film so memorable, however, and what makes it stand out from similar films …show more content…
It is at this point that he creates Tyler Durden, the Yang side of himself. Created is not the correct term, because Tyler is not "something from nothing" as most people think of Creation. Tyler is the emergence of the expression of everything our hero has learned to suppress; "Tyler had been around a long time before we met."(6) The entire movie can be generalized as the main character’s unbalanced Yin Yang forces. His Yin has been dominant in his life for too long and as a result, his Yang breaks free.
Tyler takes control whenever our hero goes to sleep, and as he becomes more unbalanced he realizes "Tyler Durden is a separate personality I’ve created, and now he’s threatening to take over my real life." (7) Unfortunately Taoism predicts what will happen in the end; "No one object can embody a single force for a remarkable period of time-- the farther it strays from being balanced, the sooner it will have to ‘change its way’ (or else destruct)." (8)
Another central Taoist concept is Wu-Wei, which can be translated as "the action that comes from not doing". Though there are multiple interpretations of the Chinese character symbolizing this concept, the general idea seems to be another paradox; to accomplish something by doing nothing. The foundational writings on this concept can be seen in the Taoist text on Abstraction (A2) and Inaction. …show more content…
The Taoist teachings on Decay and Renewal (A16) imply an acceptance of death as an unavoidable, ever-present event that approaches constantly. Tyler also demands this realization; "Someday you will die, and until you know that, you’re useless to me." (12) His teachings imply no fear in impending death; "You are the same organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile." (13) Fight Club does not view death as something terrible, it is viewed as a relief from the world. It is even darkly described as "the amazing miracle of death, when one second you’re walking and talking, and the next second, you’re an object."