Feminism And Capitalism In Fight Club By David Fincher

Marx was a big proponent for the working-class movement and the equality in terms of property. To him, the issue that is most important to conquer is the issue of the estrangement and alienation of man, where man himself is the alien power over man – more specifically, it is workers who are being estranged (Marx 1988, 79). Consequences of this estrangement can be seen with private property, because although it seems to be the root of the problem, private property is actually the consequence of “alienated labor”, explaining why capitalism is a horror to him (Marx 1988, 81). It may be thought that an easy way to give workers equality would be to pay them equal wages, but this is yet another estrangement of labor (Marx 1988, 82). Progress, to Marx, would need to consist of a way to diminish the root of the problem – estrangement of the worker. This would consist of “emancipation of the workers” because the emancipation of the workers would have a large ripple effect, and result in the universal human emancipation (Marx 1988, 82). As it has been addressed multiple times, the estrangement of the worker is the root of the problem, and a step towards progress would need to consist of the workers being emancipated so they are no longer alienated and forced to labor while getting nothing but monetary payment for their labor. The alienation of workers furthers the issue by leading a society towards private

The issue at the heart of the David Fincher film, Fight Club, is not that of man’s rebellion against a society of “men raised by women”. This is a film that outwardly exhibits itself as promoting the resurrection of the ‘ultra-male’, surreptitiously holding women accountable for the decay of manhood. However, the underlying truth of the film is not of resisting the force of destruction that is ‘woman’, or of resisting the corruption of manhood at her hand, but of penetrating the apathy needed to survive in an environment ruled by commercial desire, not need. In reality, Fight Club is a careful examination, through parody, of what it means to be a man; carefully examining the role of women in a society busy rushing towards sexual

In the novel Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk applies the view of Marxism and the Psychoanalytic theory. Marxism was developed in the late nineteenth century by Karl Marx. Karl Marx’s view of society was on social conflict and class struggles. He defined the social classes as two different societies. The two classes are the Proletariat and Bourgeoisie. The Proletariats serves under the Bourgeoisie, they produced the services and good (the majority of the people). The Bourgeoisie owns the means of productions. They are superior to the Proletariat. The Proletariat and Bourgeoisie class are against each other. Marx uses socioeconomics, consumerism, and capitalism to analyze

The irony is that Fight Club and later Project Mayhem, reproduces the same effects of capitalism by creating the illusion of freedom through the demands of self-regulation and self-punishment. It is upon this contradiction that Fincher’s dark comedy hinges, for the film’s satirical edge relies on the realization that these individuals seek relief from an oppressive capitalistic order through means that are equally conforming and repressive (265).

As Marx’s states in his theory, when the working class becomes aware of their exploitation, this will result in a revolt lead by the proletariats. The major theories studied by Marx can be used to analyze the characters and situations presented in the film.

According to Marx, “bourgeois private property is the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products, that is based on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of the few by the many” ("Manifesto of the Communist Party" 1118). He says that the validity of private property is presupposed in a capitalist economy. However, a capitalist economy actually splits human beings into two classes: the bourgeoisie, or the proprietors, and the proletariat, or the wage-laborers. Marx also says bourgeois private property is created because of the alienation of the wage-laborers. He says that one way that the wage-laborers are alienated is from their product of their labor, since the

Revolutionary socialist Karl Marx believed that the economic calculation problem should be solved adopting a communist approach; he expressed his ideas in his most notable work “The Communist Manifesto” in 1848. Marx believed that capitalism should be replaced by socialism and eventually communism and it should be done through abolishing markets, prices and private property. To understand Marx’s ideas it is important to define capitalism socialism and communism. Capitalism can be defined as ‘an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state’. On the other hand socialism can be defined as ‘a political and economic theory of social organization, which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole’.

"Instead of 'exploitation,' growing out of the nature of production, our industrial evolution shows certain evils of competition imposed by an 'unfair' menace." Since Marx was wrong to assert that ownership was the source of oppression, Commons held that appropriation of the means of production was no answer to the laborers' needs. (Dawley, pg 181-183)

The Industrial Revolution (1750-1850) had brought about significant changes in agriculture, mining, manufacturing, transportation and technology and subsequently established an era of unprecedented economic growth in capitalist economies. It was within this era that Karl Marx had observed the deprivation and inequality experienced by men of the proletariat, the working class, who had laboured excessively for hours under inhumane conditions to earn a minimum wage while the bourgeoisie, the capitalist class, reaped the benefits. For Marx it was this fundamental inequality within the social and economic hierarchy that had enabled capitalist societies to function. While Marx’s theories, in many instances have been falsified and predictions

For Marx on the other hand, the abolition of ownership of private property is one of the central aspects to the theories of Marx as expressed in “The Communist Manifesto” (Smith) In the text The Communist Manifesto Karl Marx wrote about having

Marx’s theory of alienated labour is structured around a class-based system. It is vital to acknowledge that Marx’s evaluation of the capitalist system is based focused the Industrial Revolution a century and a half ago, and therefore must be kept somewhat in that context. Within Marx’s simplified capitalist society model, one class of people own and control the raw materials and their means of production. They are referred to as capital, bourgeoisie, or the owning class. The capitalist does not just own the means of production, but also all the items produced. By virtue of their ownership of production property they receive an income and earn a living from the operations of their factories and shops. The owning class owns the productive resources, though they do not usually operate the production means themselves.

He explained, that when the worker becomes a servant of an object’ rather than being the object of a secondary to the worker’s needs, meaning that the poorer they are the more riches they produce. The labor that is under free enterprise is basically use to continue the system in which a worker is supposed to serve and products labor. The more the worker works, the more they are denied the abilities of life. Many workers end up working in order to get objects, rather than getting substance and by doing so they end up getting a little of

The movie I have chosen to analyze is Fight Club. Fight Club has overt Marxist themes and therefore the application of Conflict Theory is appropriate for this film. Class Conflict, as explained by Marx, is the economic struggle between the bourgeoisie (strong but less numerous; own means of production) and the proletariat (weak but more numerous than bourgeoisie) that pervades politics, history, and society. In a sense, the proletariat provide the labor that allows the entire system to function and provides the bourgeoisie their power.

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,

Marx’s model of private property views it as means of production creating a division of labor. In his theory, Marx takes a look and how private property, along with wealth, are funneled into the hands of the few leaving the ordinary worker unable to gain wealth from private property. The outcome of Marx’s principle can be seen especially in the last 30 years in the US with the increase of inequality and access to wealth to unprecedented numbers (USA 11).