Social Issues In The Fight Club

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

When a man fails to live up to other’s expectations of being a “real man,” he is diminished and criticized for being a “woman.” Thus, starting at young ages, boys are fall into the misleading idea that respect is acquired by force. In fact, younger boys look up to men who display uncontrollable rage because these men evoke fear to those around them. Boys are taught that fear is equivalent to respect, and society’s perception of belligerent men only fuels their drive for violence. The phenomenon of posing - creating a false depiction of what men are truly feeling - showcases that this widespread performance of masculinity does not just stem from the media. The explanation of this projection of masculinity is oversimplified, and identified as cause and effect relationships between imitative violent acts from video games and movies. However, the actual truth is that the problem does not only lie in these few few places. It is everywhere, embedded deeply in

Fight Club is a complex movie in that the two main characters are just two sides of the same person. Edward Norton’s character is the prototypical conformist consumer working a morally questionable office job to feed his obsession with material possessions. He works as a recall coordinator for a “major car company” and applies a formula based on profitability, rather than safety, to determine the necessity of a recall. Though never explicitly stated, he seems to be in his late twenties or early thirties and throughout the movie has a constantly haggard appearance because of his insomnia and fighting. Brad Pitt’s character is a carefree nonconformist and the manifestation of Edward Norton’s

All societies have a basic structure, and in order to function well with others, a person must conform to the laws and regulations of said society. In the novels Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, a variety of themes are discussed, with the major theme being rebellion. The main characters of both these novels struggle with the established structure they are living in and are unwilling to conform to its rules. They both rebel by openly defying laws, and disobeying authoritative figures. The novels’ main characters are furthermore comparable because they not only rebel but also guide others to do the same. The men whom they lead carry on

David Flincher's movie, Fight Club, shows how consumerism has caused the emasculation of the modern male and reveals a tale of liberation from a corporate controlled society. Society's most common model of typical man is filthy, violent, unintelligent, immature, sexist, sex hungry, and fundamentally a caveman. In essence Tyler Durden, is the symbolic model for a man. He is strong enough to withstand from society's influences and his beliefs to remain in tact. Jack, the narrator, on the other hand is the opposite. He is a weak, squeamish, skinny man who has not been able to withstand society's influence; therefore, he is the Ikea fetish. Unlike Tyler, Jack is weak minded. Both Jack and Tyler are polar opposite models of

As an allotment of manhood, the essence of brutality, especially in a warrior, is deemed essential. Men are expected to have that ruthlessness among their character as it was envisioned by humans beforehand. “Because this state of mind is rarely attained, and when achieved, nearly impossible to maintain, androgyny is an ideal goal- a vision of unity and harmony beyond the confines of gender, within the confines of the human” (Kimbrough 133). They are envisaged to be very masculine and cruel in order to be able to kill their opponents in battle without feeling guilt or regret. It is a man’s job to prolong this aspect due to that women are defined to have a gentle heart and be regretful of any vicious acts.

The film, Fight Club exemplifies various ethical dilemmas relating to cultural standards, organizational structure, and ethics systems.  These ethical dilemmas are presented through both personas of the main character, Tyler Durden.  The situations that he faces can be related to real-life ethical issues that are relevant today.  Fight Club illustrates many ethical notions that tie strongly to the culture of the organization and the situations that arise.

I am planning to write about the 1999 film Fight Club, directed by David Fincher. This movie is about a nameless insomniac office worker (the narrator) who has become, as he views, a slave to consumer culture. He begins attending support groups for diseases he doesn’t have to subdue his emotional state, and he begins to sleep again. He meets Marla Singer, another fake attendee of support groups, she is an incredibly mysterious woman who is obviously a bit crazy, yet the narrator seems drawn to her. On a flight for his job, the narrator meets the character Tyler Durden, a hip, stylish man who sells soap for a living. When the narrator's apartment blows up, he calls Tyler and begins to live

“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

Fight Club is a movie based a man deemed “Jack”. He could be any man in the working class, that lives and ordinary life. The movie starts out giving an overview of his life, which consisted of a repeat of flights and cubicles. He is basically to the point of break when he takes another business flight and meets a man that calls himself Tyler Durdan. They instantly become friends and after an unfortunate explosion in “jack’s” apartment, he moves in with Tyler. One night after last call at a local bar, Jack and Tyler start fighting in the parking lot for no reason other than essentially to feel free and do something other than the norm. Later in the film this bar-back fight turns into a club run by the both of the men, or so it seems. At the

Analysis of the Themes in Fight Club It is easy to understand how and why many who view Fight Club (Fincher, 1999) would argue that is in essence a critique of post modern consumer culture within America or indeed the western world. After all we are faced with Character(s) Jack (Edward Norton) who seems to gain no cultural sustenance from the world in which he inhabits. More over it seems to do him harm in the form of insomnia.

Fight Club can be viewed with many interpretations, all of them true. It is a great love story. It is an anti-consumerism rant. It is a spiritual piece against materialism. It is anarchist literature. It is a commentary on our ‘lost’ generation. At first viewing of the movie, very little of this can be seen and it appears violent and chaotic. However much thought was put into providing the movie with depth and development that only become apparent after multiple screenings.

Erika writes: When the narrator first meets Tyler, Tyler declares that he is a soap salesman, although Tyler has various other occupations including a night-time movie projectionist and a waiter. Tyler, however, most identifies himself with the job of selling soap, thus lending weight to the symbolic importance played by soap in the movie. Tyler calls soap "the foundation of civilization" and tells the narrator that "the first soap was made from the ashes of heroes". He also uses lye, a chemical ingredient of soap, to introduce the narrator to the pain of "premature enlightenment." In this role, soap is

Belittled by their absent fathers, broken homes, and a feminine-centered society, the men in Fight Club present an incisive notion of the lives of modern

Violence appeared to be a gendered act usually resulting in male over female dominance during the nineteenth century (D'Cruse 21). Within