Free Essay on an Analysis of the Film, Fight Club
For years David Fincher has directed some of the most stylish and inventive
thrillers in American cinema. His credits include: Aliens 3, Seven, The Game and
Fight Club. Each of these films has been not only aesthetically pleasing and fun
to watch but each has commented on society, making the viewers think outside
norms and analyze their world. Fight Club is no exception; it is a multi-layered
film with many subplots and themes, but the primarily it a surrealistically
description of the status of the American male at the end of the 20th century.
David Flincher’s movie, Fight Club, depicts how consumerism has caused the
emasculatization of the modern male and tells a tale of liberation from a
corporate controlled society.
In the movie Brad Pitt comments on the new
way of life, “We are products of lifestyle obsession; murder, crime, poverty do
not concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with five
hundred cannels and a designer name on my underwear.” The film, Fight Club
illustrates the consumer culture in which the 20th century male lives in and how
it’s deconstruction of individuality. The film gives numerous examples of this;
the main character of the film (Ed Norton) asks when looking through an IKEA
catalog, “What kind of plates define me as a person.” He not asking what
personal characteristics and attributes define him but what possession most
accurately does. Furthermore, Ed Norton’s character has no name; he is only
referred to as the 90’s everyman, the IKEA man. The film demonstrates the
extensive emphases the consumer based culture of the 20th century on
individualism and values associated with being a man. Corporations have replaced
personal qualities with corporate logos; the modern male cannot be anything
unless he has certain products in his possession. No longer does one own things,
his things own him. The contemporary male is a slave of the IKEA nesting
instinct. The main character absence of a name only exemplifies this; the buying
of furniture from IKEA gives Ed Norton his identity, without being a consumer
the main character would remain undefined and anonymous. In the movie, the two
main characters, Ed Norton and Brad Pitt, are staring at a Calvin Klein ad and
ask each other is this what a man is supposed to look like. Fight Club shows the
extent of consumerism controlling life; the consumer culture even defines how
the modern male should look and how he should aspire to look. The corporate
ownership of the male extends to how much his life is worth. Ed Norton works in
a claims department for a large car manufacture. His job is to decide what a
manufacture does in case of a design flaw. Take for example, if a carburetor
runs a risk of exploding after 100,000 miles; ED Norton’s job is to investigate
the probability of this happening. Then take the number of vehicles on the road
and multiply them it by the probable rate of failure and multiply the product
again with average price of a settlement. If the end result is less than the
cost of a recall, there is no recall.
Brad Pitt makes a statement that
illustrates the society the modern male is forced to live in, “We are a society
of men raised by women.” The film portrays the emasculation of the 20th century
male, not only by our consumer-oriented society but also by feminine standards
of civilization. The best example of his would be the support groups Ed Norton
visits. In these support groups men are told to gather power, strength and
courage from each other; not from themselves. At the end of the sessions men are
told to hold each other and cry, things that are very non-stereotypical of men.
The 20th century society does not want men to function independently and be able
be emotional strong on their own; it does not want men to be men. Society wants
to take the vary ideals of being a man, independence, strength and courage and
only allow for men to experience them at certain times. The castration and
feminization of the male character is exemplified through testicular cancer
support group. The men in this group have lost the very essence of their
manhood, their testicles. They are a representation of the 20th century males,
castrated and without the male essence. Society has taken the very fundamental
aspect of being a man and taken it away creating a more feminine and emasculated
man. The character of Robert Paulson best illustrates this point. Bob was a
champion bodybuilder, an independent and strong male, but had his testicles
removed and the hormone imbalance caused him to grow extremely large breasts and
his voice to become higher. Now Bob goes to a testicular cancer group so he
could share his feelings, have strength and courage, to cry. He was once a
strong and independent male, now he is a weak and dependent. Bob becomes more of
a woman than a man because of society.
Brad Pitt screams, “You are not
how much money you have in the bank. You are not your job. You are not the car
you drive or the contents of your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis! You
are the all singing, all dancing crap of the world.” This war cry of the
consumer controlled male in his fight against society and it’s views. The movie,
Fight Club is a cinema graphic tale about males breaking from the consumer
culture and reclaiming their masculinity. Ed Norton character represents all
men, every IKEA man. He is suffering from sleep deprivation and makes the
comment, “When you have insomnia your never really awake and your never really
asleep.” It is a representation of 2oth century life; the consumer culture does
not really allow for males to live or to die, life is a purgatory state that he
cannot control. Later Norton becomes addicted to self-help groups as an escape
from his own life in order to sleep, this works fine until he decides to stop
running and reclaim his manhood. By blowing up his IKEA catalog apartment and
living in a dilapidated house without concern for owning products and designer
names, ED Norton character releases himself his consumer controlled life and
begins a journey to regain his manhood. He does this by creating Fight Club,
which is an underground boxing club for men. Fight Club lets men live by
liberating them; they are allowed to express their primal nature, to be men and
reclaim their independent strength, courage and power. It was said, “When a man
first enters Fight Club he was a wad of dough, a couple weeks later he was
carved of wood.”
The 20th century male’s struggle still continues today,
the 21st century is corporate controlled society, in a consumer culture that
gives life value by what is bought and owned, not by the individual. The modern
male is emasculated in this feminist culture. David Fincher does an excellent
job of taking a contemporary subject and putting it on film. Fight Club takes
these themes, consumerism, emasculation of the male and liberation and weaves
them together to make a cohesive narrative on the disenchanted, unfilled,
castrated male who desperately seeks to be free from societies control.