Fight Club (film)/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

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* Why did anyone else even join Fight Club, given that the Narrator/Tyler Durden would just look like some crazy drunk beating the crap out of himself in the parking lot?

** Could be that Tyler talked to someone else at some point.

** Also, in the scene showing Tyler beating himself and others seeing it, maybe someone just asked what the hell he was doing and Tyler began to explain his philosophies convincing them to try his near-life experiences too.

** Indeed it could be that initially, other people were beating themselves up for the experience of getting hit. At some point, they transition into hitting each other once they get over the first hurdle of taking a punch/giving a punch.

** I think the Narrator is just arguing with himself and the Project Mayhem guys just know to address both personalities (Both of them were older recruits). Think of how Gollum argues with himself and I imagine that's how it looked to them.

*** Right. Watch the scene again: the perplexed, disconcerted look on their faces indicates that they're probably hearing both sides of the conversation, although it's quite plausible that on other occasions only one side can be heard.

** Probably some of the conversation was in his head.

** Its possible that the members of Project Mayhem had come to believe that whenever Tyler/narrator acted ignorant or confused that it was just an attempt to catch them out, and they were to strictly keep to the rules of silence. Perhaps at one point when Tyler was in control, he asked a question of one of the Space Monkeys, and beat him up if he received an answer.

*** [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5344406/1/Mayonnaise Link.]

*** Remember, when the narrator was following Tyler's "trail" (and coming up short, for obvious reasons) he comes to a bar and talks to the bartender. After the bartender tells him that the narrator was there before (as Tyler) asking about security, the narrator is confused and then demands that the bartender tells him what he thinks his name is. The bartender then repeatedly asks if he's testing him. So, it can be assumed that the Project Mayhem members kept thinking they were being tested.

*** One of the major themes of the movie is hitting bottom, letting go, etc. Sticking a pistol in your own mouth is hitting bottom by any definition.

*** This troper just thought it was because Tyler is shorter than the narrator.

*** No. What happened was- the Narrator, and Tyler, thought they were honestly, ''truely'' going to die the moment he pulled the trigger of the gun. Since Tyler is nothing more then a delusion, a being who only exists in the Narrator's mind, believing he was about to be killed inflicted a case of [[Your Mind Makes It Real]]. But since the bullet was non-fatal, the Narrator survived, being the "core" personality. The change afterward, stopping panicking, calmly reacting to things, is just because the Narrator finally matured and was able to be responsible, as shown by his ability to be tender and gentle with Marla.

*** It's significant to note that real life cases of Dissociative Identity have (albeit very rarely) been eliminated by traumatic events.

** Two reasons. First: plain and simple, [[Misaimed Fandom]]. Second: the movie shows screwed up people and actions, but much of the protagonist's complaining about life, the society etc. does ring true. And easy escapism is tempting - especially wrapped in something badass and glamorous like a Fight Club. Plus, the initial Fight Clubs did no actual harm, it was when Tyler wanted to "change things" with Project Mayhem that everything spiralled out of control (and, might I add, it was only then that the protagonist tried to stop him).

*** Also, it should be taken into account that it's one thing to watch the movie when you've already read Palahniuk's work and are aware that all his characters are unhealthy, deeply broken individuals, who are not supposed to be role models for anyone, in any context, and who, a lot of times, aren't even very likeable. It's another thing to be young and impressionable and watch a movie where Brad Pitt is kind of Crazy Awesome, and makes some very legitimate complaints about contemporary society.

**** ...no, I think the last guy had it down pretty good.

** There's an alternate interpretation. Rather than the members of fight club being insane and broken, they're the only sane ones left in a world that's insane and broken. When things are as fucked up as they are then raw, primal, physical violence becomes the only meaningful response. It's not something I personally agree with but it's a legitimate interpretation of the movie.

*** Me? Is that you?

*** Of course, then the manly men archetype simply gets up and tries again rather than whine and complain. One of the points of the movie is a call to action rather than reaction and follow the leader.

 

 

** Did you miss the part where Tyler had been pulling the narrator into his philosophy and way of living, and that Tyler's ideal society involves the collapse of the global economy, wearing functional leather clothing, etc...? A materialist consumer, Tyler isn't. More like a Spartan.

 

** Based on the doctor's demeanor, he clearly seems to think he's dealing with a hypochondriac. That's why he tells him to attend support groups to see what real suffering is like. In that position, there's no way the Doc is going to tell the Narrator that he actually ''could'' die from insomnia, as that would just feed his irrational fears.

** 1999 movie, internet not as widespread for looking up obscure conditions.

*** The whole film is seen through the narrator's point of view, so every camera is in a location that the narrator has been. Its probably not likely that the narrator made his way to the nearest security booth to watch the footage of him dragging himself in the parking lot. Even if he did, he wouldn't see anything, meaning the footage would be blank, and therefore useless to the film.

* The narrator is absolutely batty. Besides just having a Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder for the rest of you), the narrator is a walking basket case if you try to apply the Axis 1-5 to him. He probably also has acute schizophrenia, one or two other personality disorders, and maybe dysthymic disorder. He's absolutely all over the place. It's a wonder he managed to hide all of those as well as he did from any doctor/mental health professional.

*** If Marla even exists.

** You can't really take the story as a psychological profile. The narrator's "symptoms" don't make any sort of consistent sense if we try to apply the usual DSM categories to them. It's meant to work on a broader level, as a social allegory. Society, in the movie's world at least, has hit a breaking point. Its materialism and vanity have emasculated men so completely from their true selves that, in the narrator's case, his inner self split off and revolted against the whole thing, and that rebellion resonated so deeply with other men that it spiraled into an apocalyptic backlash against the modern world. The narrator's problems are a reflection of society's problems and a reaction against them, not a realistic mental illness.

* This is minor but it does just bug me. In both the novel and the movie Jack cheerfully contemplates how much his life insurance will pay off if his plane crashes. But ''who'' would it benefit?? And for that matter, why should he even ''have'' life insurance? I admit I'm a novice with these things but think about it: who are his beneficiaries? His mom? He has a distant and strained non-relationship with his dad, he at that point has no girlfriend, he has no kids that we know of...who would the insurance benefit? Are we just supposed to assume that he doesn't think he needs an excuse to pray for death? If so, that defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

** That's entirely the point. He has life insurance with no effective beneficiary just like he has a condo full of meaningless IKEA furniture he never uses. All because he has no point in life beyond needless consumption. Also, it may factor into his job as a cost-benefits analyst for car crashes.

 

* Another minor detail but something to be adressed. In the whole entire movie, the narrator's name isn't mentioned.

* This little ditty was always a point of interest for me when watching the film, but remember in [[The Matrix]] how Morpheus explains to Neo that how he views himself is considered "Residual Self Image". I actually applied that here to Tyler and the Narrator and I noticed something: After the Narrator wakes up to find that Tyler has gone missing, he goes around damn near the entire United States looking for him, but all the while he's still wearing the exact same outfit, then when we see Tyler again, Tyler has shaved his head, is wearing sunglasses and a big fur coat, orange fishnets, etc. When I noticed this radical change and factored in the fact that Tyler had been in control of the Narrator's body I realized that what we were seeing of the Narrator may have been what he assumed he still looked like, and the Tyler we saw sitting in the chair is what everyone else saw.

** You mean to say that the Narrator, at least by that point in the story, had shaved his head and was actually dressed in that fur coat and sunglasses and everything?

** There's a difference between being deceived and being delusional: in the former case, you're being lied to by someone else, in the latter, you're lying to yourself. In a sense, the narrator always knew that Tyler wasn't real. The part of him creating the delusion was also the part of him that kept him from wondering about the inconsistencies surrounding it. As for Tyler's clothing, he's an idealized version of everything the narrator wishes he could be, so the flashy clothing and overall coolness probably just goes along with that. If Tyler has any reason of his own for it, it could be that he's deliberately being ironic, trying to bring the system crashing down while looking like something straight out of its fashion catalogues.

 

** It's a metaphor for the broader process by which society dopes people into accepting their lot as inevitable. Tyler the anarchist is all about raging against this process.

*** I can understand that in regards to his other stories, but this is a situation where people actually don't have any power. He probably should have chosen a story about airport security or something.

* So... how exactly does the Narrator call HIMSELF after his condo blows up?

** *taptaptap-taptaptaptap* Narrator: "Hello, Mr. Durden? It's [[No Name Given|me]], from the plane. [Explanation]." Tyler: *dial tone* Narrator: "Okay, I'll wait here until you get here."

* More about the plane: Was the seat next to Tyler/Narrator empty? Or was he talking to himself and ignoring all of his rowmate's annoyed and confused responses? Or did he not say any of it out loud, including the desperate laugh?

** I always assumed that he was talking to himself and that the seat next to him was empty. Either that or the conversation did indeed take place entirely in his head.

 

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