Fight Club Research Paper
Sarah Hoyt
CSS 1304
May 3, 2006
Research Assignment
Option #2 Review of "Fight Club"
The movie Fight Club, directed by David Fincher, uses various principal strategies to make particular arguments. In our society today, men are associated with brutality, rationality, dirtiness, little emotion, and being the providers'. On the other hand, women are correlated with elegance, beauty, cleanliness, compassion, and being the receivers'. Fight Club argues against this cultural standard. The setting of the movie is that of a consumer-driven atmosphere, where everyone is a receiver, and where men take on more feministic roles. In the movie, Tyler Durden, the main character, speaks of the world in terms of modernism. He explains …show more content…
how we are products of a lifestyle obsession, where issues such as murder, crime, and poverty are of no matter. His central concerns merely involve celebrities, television, and "underwear" designer labels. Fight Club seems to argue that the "consumer" civilization men live in today truly destroys men's independence and individualism. This argument is made in the course of a fundamental argumentative strategy used in some specific scenes in the movie. For instance, the main character (who is "Tyler" but the audience is unaware of his actual identity yet) looks through a catalog and asks himself what kind of plates define him as a person, as in what makes having these material objects so great. Fight Club argues that society today certainly appears to manipulate the perspectives of men and the values they hold for themselves and for the world around them. I believe the film does an excellent job of illustrating how individual attributes have been substituted for mere symbols by arguing that contemporary men cannot amount to anything unless they possess precise material things that men no longer even own products, but that their products own them! Since buying things create identities and characteristics, the movie argues that one has to be a consumer or he will be nameless and unspecified. I think Fight Club correctly depicts how consumerism is taking over lives today. In one scene, the character that Brat Pitt plays states that "we are a society of men raised by women," which shows the world that modern men are constrained to live in. The argument is not only based upon this consumer-driven environment, but also upon how female standards are overall perceived. This is evident throughout the scenes of the support-group meetings, where men are taught to gain strength and bravery not from themselves, but from one another. At the end of the meetings, the men cry and give each other hugs. These scenes seem to argue that today's society does not want, or even allow, men to operate, behave, and grow on their own that our society wants to essentially rob them of the essence of what it means to be a man. This breaking-down of the male species through feminine ways is conveyed in these scenes.
Specifically, in the testicular cancer support-group, the men have forever lost their testicles, which is their sense of manliness. These characters in this group demonstrate all men in society today. In a way, the movie seems to use this aspect to argue that humanity has stolen the main underlying feature of what it means to be a man, and now all of these men are acting like women. Brat Pitt's character states a quote that I believe best argues how some men will not stand for being controlled by this consumer, materialistic society. "You are not how much money you have in the bank.. You are not the car you drive or the contents of your wallet... you are not your khakis... you are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world," Pitt says in the movie.
Fight Club continues to make another argument by portraying women through the rather unattractive character of Marla Singer. Marla is generally viewed as repulsive to men. She is illustrated as being on the same level, if not more powerful, as the men in the movie. Marla actually plays the only female role in the whole film. She is shown as equal to males, because it conveys men living in a world that weakens acting masculine. I think the movie comes off to the audience as being incredibly complex and confusing, but after reflecting on it, the primary argument and strategies used are quite simple men are in this constant struggle to be manly, which only hurts them a great deal.
In relation to the arguments I have just explained, Fight Club also argues that everyone's life is short of uniqueness and exclusivity, due to the fact that we are persistently being advised by "society" that we are unique and exclusive depending on our amount of material possessions.
The movie attempts to show the audience these hidden cultural patterns which reveal that we are not free or liberated in any way, because we have no choice to even make this decision. This leads to another primary argument that the movie makes we can see the choices, but the outcomes are concluded based on this higher control to attain endless quantities of money and …show more content…
approval.
Fight Club's narrative approach holds some obvious fallacies and logical failures. The fallacies of hasty generalization, hyperbole, non sequiter, and ad ignorantium are so prevalent throughout the different scenes. The movie shows how we assume we will gain society's acceptance by all of the wrong reasons, which appeals to ignorance. The scene with the catalog portrays the main character as not even being able to stop himself, even though he did not really need the objects that he bought. The worth and importance of any merchandise lies in the source of straightforward, human labor. This is something that people have forgotten, something that becomes so detrimental and disadvantageous to our lives. The movie seems to argue this through the use of the non sequiter fallacy material possessions are actually completely irrelevant to one's happiness and self-value. The main character further expresses that he gets nothing out of this consumer lifestyle when he says that he now has "everything that a middle class man" can have.
Another argumentative strategy used in the movie to show how self-importance has been destroyed is evident during the scenes that involve traveling and passengers. The main character refers to his job while he is on an airplane, recognizing that humans have become nothing but a mess of statistics. "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile.. Our culture has made us all the same... individually, we are nothing," he says. Using this direct strategy, the movie argues and conveys the naked truth of how we have become totally separated from what is really reality in our lives.
The main character is an example of the alienation of men in and of itself he is an insomniac with no friends, and the only tiny bit of comfort he found was from these arbitrary support groups he went to. The movie shows how there was no way he could ever, possibly help himself.
I understand Fight Club's main goal of getting across to the audience that we basically live in a messed-up world.
Whereas I suppose that Fincher accomplishes this goal, I also believe that his movie has some weaknesses. Due to its highly sophisticated dialogue and extremely creative cinematography, the film is obviously aimed at adults. However, many children under the age of 16 years have seen this movie. While most kids generally understand it, the content is inappropriate for this age group. I believe that the arguments the movie made were indeed strong, yet I think anyone who watches it responds greater to the imaginative and artistic ways the scenes were shot. Another weakness of the movie is that it seems to be saying men can best (and only) express their real frustrations through physical violence. Tyler explains to the others that the goal of violence is to teach men that they have the "power to control history". In my opinion, I disagree with this idea and believe it conveys a negative message to the
audience.
All in all, Fight Club is a brilliantly-produced movie that thoroughly brings forward the way that the minds of men have been so deconstructed and warped by outside influences. Still, I think the movie receives so much attention for the wrong reasons, because the audience is unwilling or unable to recognize its true meaning and implications. The key contemporary issue is certainly expressed through the movie, though. Fight Club uses the main themes of consumerism, the inner-struggles of males, and emancipation. Fincher twists these matters into arguments by way of his particular confrontational strategies.
I consider Fight Club to be an impressive story about dissatisfied males searching for freedom from the domination that today's society holds on them. While this was what Fincher wants the audience to come away with, the general audience interprets the movie in slightly altered ways. Nonetheless, solid arguments and the means by which they are communicated seem to be very evident throughout this exciting movie!
CSS 1304
May 3, 2006
Research Assignment
Option #2 Review of "Fight Club"
The movie Fight Club, directed by David Fincher, uses various principal strategies to make particular arguments. In our society today, men are associated with brutality, rationality, dirtiness, little emotion, and being the providers'. On the other hand, women are correlated with elegance, beauty, cleanliness, compassion, and being the receivers'. Fight Club argues against this cultural standard. The setting of the movie is that of a consumer-driven atmosphere, where everyone is a receiver, and where men take on more feministic roles. In the movie, Tyler Durden, the main character, speaks of the world in terms of modernism. He explains …show more content…
how we are products of a lifestyle obsession, where issues such as murder, crime, and poverty are of no matter. His central concerns merely involve celebrities, television, and "underwear" designer labels. Fight Club seems to argue that the "consumer" civilization men live in today truly destroys men's independence and individualism. This argument is made in the course of a fundamental argumentative strategy used in some specific scenes in the movie. For instance, the main character (who is "Tyler" but the audience is unaware of his actual identity yet) looks through a catalog and asks himself what kind of plates define him as a person, as in what makes having these material objects so great. Fight Club argues that society today certainly appears to manipulate the perspectives of men and the values they hold for themselves and for the world around them. I believe the film does an excellent job of illustrating how individual attributes have been substituted for mere symbols by arguing that contemporary men cannot amount to anything unless they possess precise material things that men no longer even own products, but that their products own them! Since buying things create identities and characteristics, the movie argues that one has to be a consumer or he will be nameless and unspecified. I think Fight Club correctly depicts how consumerism is taking over lives today. In one scene, the character that Brat Pitt plays states that "we are a society of men raised by women," which shows the world that modern men are constrained to live in. The argument is not only based upon this consumer-driven environment, but also upon how female standards are overall perceived. This is evident throughout the scenes of the support-group meetings, where men are taught to gain strength and bravery not from themselves, but from one another. At the end of the meetings, the men cry and give each other hugs. These scenes seem to argue that today's society does not want, or even allow, men to operate, behave, and grow on their own that our society wants to essentially rob them of the essence of what it means to be a man. This breaking-down of the male species through feminine ways is conveyed in these scenes.
Specifically, in the testicular cancer support-group, the men have forever lost their testicles, which is their sense of manliness. These characters in this group demonstrate all men in society today. In a way, the movie seems to use this aspect to argue that humanity has stolen the main underlying feature of what it means to be a man, and now all of these men are acting like women. Brat Pitt's character states a quote that I believe best argues how some men will not stand for being controlled by this consumer, materialistic society. "You are not how much money you have in the bank.. You are not the car you drive or the contents of your wallet... you are not your khakis... you are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world," Pitt says in the movie.
Fight Club continues to make another argument by portraying women through the rather unattractive character of Marla Singer. Marla is generally viewed as repulsive to men. She is illustrated as being on the same level, if not more powerful, as the men in the movie. Marla actually plays the only female role in the whole film. She is shown as equal to males, because it conveys men living in a world that weakens acting masculine. I think the movie comes off to the audience as being incredibly complex and confusing, but after reflecting on it, the primary argument and strategies used are quite simple men are in this constant struggle to be manly, which only hurts them a great deal.
In relation to the arguments I have just explained, Fight Club also argues that everyone's life is short of uniqueness and exclusivity, due to the fact that we are persistently being advised by "society" that we are unique and exclusive depending on our amount of material possessions.
The movie attempts to show the audience these hidden cultural patterns which reveal that we are not free or liberated in any way, because we have no choice to even make this decision. This leads to another primary argument that the movie makes we can see the choices, but the outcomes are concluded based on this higher control to attain endless quantities of money and …show more content…
approval.
Fight Club's narrative approach holds some obvious fallacies and logical failures. The fallacies of hasty generalization, hyperbole, non sequiter, and ad ignorantium are so prevalent throughout the different scenes. The movie shows how we assume we will gain society's acceptance by all of the wrong reasons, which appeals to ignorance. The scene with the catalog portrays the main character as not even being able to stop himself, even though he did not really need the objects that he bought. The worth and importance of any merchandise lies in the source of straightforward, human labor. This is something that people have forgotten, something that becomes so detrimental and disadvantageous to our lives. The movie seems to argue this through the use of the non sequiter fallacy material possessions are actually completely irrelevant to one's happiness and self-value. The main character further expresses that he gets nothing out of this consumer lifestyle when he says that he now has "everything that a middle class man" can have.
Another argumentative strategy used in the movie to show how self-importance has been destroyed is evident during the scenes that involve traveling and passengers. The main character refers to his job while he is on an airplane, recognizing that humans have become nothing but a mess of statistics. "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile.. Our culture has made us all the same... individually, we are nothing," he says. Using this direct strategy, the movie argues and conveys the naked truth of how we have become totally separated from what is really reality in our lives.
The main character is an example of the alienation of men in and of itself he is an insomniac with no friends, and the only tiny bit of comfort he found was from these arbitrary support groups he went to. The movie shows how there was no way he could ever, possibly help himself.
I understand Fight Club's main goal of getting across to the audience that we basically live in a messed-up world.
Whereas I suppose that Fincher accomplishes this goal, I also believe that his movie has some weaknesses. Due to its highly sophisticated dialogue and extremely creative cinematography, the film is obviously aimed at adults. However, many children under the age of 16 years have seen this movie. While most kids generally understand it, the content is inappropriate for this age group. I believe that the arguments the movie made were indeed strong, yet I think anyone who watches it responds greater to the imaginative and artistic ways the scenes were shot. Another weakness of the movie is that it seems to be saying men can best (and only) express their real frustrations through physical violence. Tyler explains to the others that the goal of violence is to teach men that they have the "power to control history". In my opinion, I disagree with this idea and believe it conveys a negative message to the
audience.
All in all, Fight Club is a brilliantly-produced movie that thoroughly brings forward the way that the minds of men have been so deconstructed and warped by outside influences. Still, I think the movie receives so much attention for the wrong reasons, because the audience is unwilling or unable to recognize its true meaning and implications. The key contemporary issue is certainly expressed through the movie, though. Fight Club uses the main themes of consumerism, the inner-struggles of males, and emancipation. Fincher twists these matters into arguments by way of his particular confrontational strategies.
I consider Fight Club to be an impressive story about dissatisfied males searching for freedom from the domination that today's society holds on them. While this was what Fincher wants the audience to come away with, the general audience interprets the movie in slightly altered ways. Nonetheless, solid arguments and the means by which they are communicated seem to be very evident throughout this exciting movie!