Consumerism In Fight Club

1.Whats consumerism ? Consumerism is defined by the preoccupation of society with the acquisition of consumer goods . Good morning/afternoon fellow classmates , today I’ll be discussing how the powerful images conveyed in Bruce Dawe’s texts Americanized and Abandonment of Autos, and a cartoon by Clay Butler, raise issues and concerns about consumerism.

Perhaps it is a case of minority influence, when a few influence the many. Tyler and the Narrator have held the same viewpoint for a while now, months even, that they do not care about clever art or Swedish furniture, and they are comfortable admitting that they have scars from fighting. With this unwavering view, others start to take notice, and even begin to respect their ideology. They join fight club to become loyal members. After a while, Tyler decides that they have to expand or “move out of the basement,” and hence creates Project Mayhem.

“ A social fact is every way of acting, fixed or not, capable of exercising on the individual an external constraint; or again, every way of acting which is general throughout a given society, while at the same time existing in its own right independent of its individual manifestations. (Durkheim,1895/1982;13) (Ritzer, pg 76)

After the narrator has met Tyler Durden, this is when the chaos and destruction has begun. Tyler was always telling the narrator how to make dynamite, napalm, and other gases that could blow up. Tyler had created a fighting club and a working club that would help him break down civilization. At first, the narrator did not know how to handle it but then started to become involved. The narrator’s apartment blew up from the home made dynamite that Tyler had made. Soon after, the narrator had asked Tyler if he could move in with him. Men were always having bruises or scars on their faces from “Fight Club” and later on, men would show up at their front door wanting to come in to be apart of Project Mayhem. The narrator always had to deal the dirty work, meaning telling the guys if they were not the right fit. Tyler had handed out proposals to each member, which involved in human scarifies, stealing identify cards, or destroying private property. After being around Tyler so much, the narrator had started to agree with Tyler about destroying civilization, “I wanted the whole world to hit bottom” (Palahniuk 123). The narrator finally realized that there has been way too much chaos when he notices Tyler has been gone. The narrator starts questioning every man he sees and tries to chase after Tyler. Towards the end of the novel after the

Through the Cold War, America was transitioning in various ways such as the way messages were shared, consumerism, and the constant race against the Soviet Union. During the years 1959-1964, Rod Serling, a New York writer and playwright began using one of the newest inventions, the television, as a way to share his opinion about controversial topics. The rise of the television allowed Serling to access to a larger audience whom he could share his opinion in the form of science fictional episodes in the show The Twilight Zone. Although the show seems ominous and a horror related TV show, it allows us to understand the effects and feeling towards topics such as a possible nuclear war, consumerism, space exploration.

In Fight Club, there are multitudes of examples of the culture industry and its effects on the masses. As an audience, it can be seen from two different perspectives; the first is in terms of the Narrator and the second is through Tyler Durden, a second personality of the narrator who suffers from mental illness. The narrator lives an empty life and tries to find meaning or purpose through the IKEA catalogue while decorating his home. In turn, Tyler is the exact opposite he doesn’t answer to anybody, he does what he wants, when he wants and doesn’t let anything or anyone stop him. Evidently this is the version of himself that the narrator wants to be, as he lives vicariously through Tyler, which he is unaware is his own imagination for the

For instance, Bob's character which Jack meets at one of the support groups who is emasculated. (Fragment) Bob was a champion bodybuilder, an autonomous and strong male, but had his testicles detached and his hormone disproportion caused him to produce enormously large breasts and his voice to become higher (do you mean deeper). Therefore, Bob goes to a testicular cancer group so he could share his feelings, have strength and courage, to cry. He was previously a strong and independent male, but now he is pathetic and dependent. Bob becomes more of a woman than a man because of how society views what a real man considers. It is because of Bob's big breast and his feminine side has made him become emasculated. So, Bob somehow decided to join the Fight Club to make him not so emasculated.

The plot sequence is enacted in a way that the viewer would perceive the two personas as completely different people. Through various scenes, the narrator comes to realize that he had fabricated his second persona. Upon this realization, the narrator must accept the fact that he is the force behind the complex plans of destruction. He quickly focuses his efforts on the reversal of his alter ego’s plans that turned the fight club into the disparaging “Project Mayhem.” The ideas behind this project were based off of the principles of equality, minimalism, and anti-corporate America. The targets of the destruction were all of the major credit card company headquarters. The reason behind these plans was to eliminate the debt records, thus allowing everyone to “start at zero.” Tyler thought that with no debt record, problems surrounding materialism would vanish. The reversal process would take the narrator on an arduous journey across the country. He follows Tyler’s paper trail, uncovering the plans little by little; all while realizing what was upon him.

Written in 1996, Fight Club expresses the issues of its time with Palahniuk using a Marxist lens to express the evils of capitalist society in relation to loss of identity in a society built on achieving relative gains with those at the top benefiting at the expense of those at the bottom. The 1990s was a decade of excess , where people became fixated on consumerism, which, characterised the period as one of social disconnection, recklessness and greed , destroying moral values and widening the gap between classes, as financially the “top 1% were worth as much as the combined worth of the bottom 90%” . Through homodiegetic narration, Palahniuk voices his frustrations of the struggle of an individual against repression from a capitalist society through the persistence of consumerism.

I wonder who the target audience was. Why is there only one female character in this movie, and why is she just a love interest and used to show the power struggle between the two men? Do other character represent masculinity? How does this movie influence and impact its audience? Positive or negative messages? Why do the men need to fight? How does this reinstate their masculinity? Are Tyler’s acts of violence due to masculinity or anti-capitalism? What does the narrator find in support groups for diseases he doesn't have that subdues his emotional state?

“Do you know what a duvet is? It's a blanket. Just a blanket. Is this essential to our survival? No. We're consumers. We're by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty...these things don't concern me. What concerns me is celebrity magazines, television with five hundred channels, some guy's name on my underwear”(29 min.) We are a generation comprised of invidious and conspicuous consumers, desperately trying to meet society’s consumerist criteria; seeking the false promise of the American dream. This is the reality presented in Fincher’s Fight Club (1999), one of “the rawest, most hot-blooded, provocatively audacious, dangerous movies to come of out Hollywood” (Morris, 1999). Through the diverging personalities of the

This coupled with his obsession with Ikea and material goods leads to the creation of Tyler (Brad Pit). Whose apparent goal is the destruction of the capitalist system? The film seems littered with examples of anti consumer, anti capitalist motifs. The blowing up of

Consumerism is the center of American culture. Americans tend to confuse their wants with their needs. With new advances in technology, as well as the help of advertisers, people are provided with easy access to new products that seem essential to their everyday life, even though they have survived this long without them. People cannot live without food, clothing, and shelter. But realistically, according to people's different lifestyles, more than food, clothing, and shelter are needed. Most people need to work to survive. Unless a job is either in their own home, or within walking distance, a means of transportation is needed. Whether it be a vehicle, money for a taxi-cab, or a token for a ride on the subway, money must be spent

Fight Club is a unique film that has many different interpretations consisting of consumerist culture, social norms, and gender roles. However, this film goes deeper and expresses a Marxist ideology throughout; challenging the ruling upper-class and a materialist society. The unnamed narrator, played by Ed Norton, represents the materialist society; whereas Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt, represents the person challenging the controlling upper-class. Karl Marx believed that the capitalist system took advantage of workers, arguing that the interests of the upper-class class conflicted with that of the common worker. Marx and Durden share the same views about the upper-class oppressing the materialist, common worker. By interpreting Fight Club through a Marist lens, the viewer is able to realize the negative effects a capitalist society has on the common worker by seeing the unnamed narrator’s unfulfilled and material driven life in contrast to the fulfilling life of Durden who challenges the upper-class. The unnamed narrator initially fuels the upper-class dominated society through his materialistic and consumeristic tendencies; however, through the formation of his alter ego—Durden—the unnamed narrator realizes the detriment he is causing to himself and society. He then follows the guide of Durden’s and Marx’s views and rectifies his lifestyle by no longer being reliant on materials. Also by forming fight club, which provides an outlet, for himself and the common worker,

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 shows 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 this 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 to be emotionally strong on their own, it does not want men to be men. Society wants to take the very ideals of being a man, independence, strength and courage and only allow for men to experience them