An Analysis Of The Film Fight Club — страница 2

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leading a darker existence. The Narrator finds himself drawn to Tyler. When he arrives back at his apartment building, he discovers his apartment on fire. His precious Ikea furniture and all his belongings have been destroyed in a mysterious explosion. With no one to call, he turns to Tyler and the two bond immediately. Tyler identifies the cause for the Narrator’s desperation: he is a victim of a feminized consumer culture. Tyler’s therapy is simple, he helps the Narrator remedy the imbalance in his own life by making him feel like a real man by fighting, actually beating each other to bloody pulp. Together they establish a fight club for men, as an underground way to express rage and living on the edge, to feel alive by approaching death. Much criticism has been made about

the film, especially that it glorifies violence (Ebert, “Fight Club”, http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1999/10/101502.html). Perhaps in a way it does, but so do thousands of other films, such as Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Saving Private Ryan, etc. What differentiates Fight Club is the fact that while it is a condemnation of society’s dehumanizing effects, it is also a warning. Violence, just like therapy groups and other various drugs is addictive and it quickly leads to disturbing acts of terrorism. Violence is not the answer to men’s problem, it is merely another problem. Fight Club realizes that it does not have a good answer, and it does not offer one. This is a provocative film, and there is a danger of many people missing the point. Those unwilling to look

deeper than the surface may see Tyler’s philosophy as dangerously fascist and nihilistic, a call for random violence and the destruction of civilization. There is little doubt that Tyler is advocating these things, but the film is not. The Narrator’s way of living like a sleepwalker is certainly no way to live a fulfilling life, but Tyler’s Project Mayhem group is no better. Its members can eventually do little more than recite “Tyler-isms” and follow orders, essentially becoming mindless drones of another sort, the only difference being that they are now drones following a different dogma from the corporate one. This is definitely not presented as ideal in the film. There is one very interesting aspect which provides a cunning twist and adds another thematic layer to

the film. It is first when Tyler sleeps with Marla that we get a hint that Tyler is pure id unbound, and this sets up what we eventually discover: that both Tyler and the Narrator are the same person, the ego and the id fractioned, disassociated from each other. The fact that they live in a decaying house but in different rooms is symbolic of that separation. The Narrator’s transformation is brought about through his identification with his id, the instinctive self that is dominated by the pleasure principle. Tyler is the image of male power, literally the phallus, while the Narrator, the ego, struggles to control the socially unacceptable impulses. Their yin yang dynamic is also symbolized by the Narrator’s IKEA table. After only three films, Fincher has developed a distinct

style. There is a consistent tone running through all his films which could perhaps be characterized as bleak. In Fight Club he creates a dark, murky world which is reminiscent of Seven’s shadowy yellowed tones. Fincher proves that he is a master visual expert by fascinating us with some stunning shots, starting with the opening credits sequence which takes place in the Narrator’s brain. In one spectacular scene, the Narrator’s apartment is laid out like a page in a furniture catalogue with text blurbs on the screen describing the various pieces. Fight Club’s hallucinations are real, we see the imagined plane crash, the penguin at the center of the Narrator’s being. There is a sort of dream logic in the direction; Fincher strays from conventional storytelling by using

non-linear chronology and frequent breaking of the fourth wall. At one point, our narrator explains how reel changes work, and how this enables Tyler to insert a single frame of porn into family movies. The film ends with a single frame shot of porn which suggest that it is actually being projected by Tyler himself. Crucial to the film’s success is the Narrator’s voice-over, a device that often does not work in movies. In Fight Club it is essential, not only to comment ironically on the action, but also to raise the idea that our narrator may indeed be completely unreliable. Also, before Tyler enters the film, he appears several times, flashing into scenes subliminally for one frame at pivotal points where the Narrator moves a step closer to his change of life. This element