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Fight Club (film): Difference between revisions
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[[Rule Number One|The first rule of]] [[Fight Club]]: you do not [[Describe Topic Here|talk about]] Fight Club. The second rule of [[Fight Club]]: '''[[Department of Redundancy Department|you do not talk about Fight Club]].''' We intend to break both of those rules right now.
''Fight Club'', a 1999 movie directed by [[David Fincher]] and [[The Film of the Book|originally based on]] [[Fight Club (novel)|a 1996 novel]] by [[Chuck Palahniuk]], ended up becoming [[Adaptation Displacement|more famous than its literary inspiration]] (and even the author liked it better). It spawned two notable [[
The story itself follows the life of a man discontented with his life, which seems only to revolve around his dreary corporate job, support groups for diseases he doesn't have, and endless consumerism. During a business flight, the man meets a charismatic free spirit named Tyler Durden, and they eventually start a "support group" -- the titular "Fight Club" -- where other unhappy, unfulfilled men can get together and ''beat the ever-loving shit out of each other'' as a form of "therapy." Fight Club eventually escalates as Tyler turns from the man's best friend into a [[Sensei for Scoundrels]] -- and, eventually, into an [[Evilutionary Biologist]].
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* [[And Some Other Stuff]]: As noted above, frozen orange juice concentrate and gasoline doesn't really make homemade napalm. Several of the recipes were changed so that people wouldn't actually blow things up.
* [[Anti-Hero]]: The Narrator is [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|Type I]]. Tyler is a [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|Type V]].
* [[Arc Words]]: Too many to count, this trope being a core part of Palahniuk's writing style (Palahniuk referred to them as "choruses".) "On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero," and [[Foreshadowing|"I know this because Tyler knows this"]] are three of the most well-known examples. There's also mentions of "space monkeys," and the "I am Jack's *insert characteristic here*," a reference to a
* [[Asskicking Pose]]: Tyler.
* [[Bad Guy Bar]]: Lou's Bar.
* [[Because You Were Nice to Me]]: {{spoiler| After the reveal of the Narrator's split personality, it turns out Marla's sudden change in behavior around him is because of it. Sport sex aside, she see's s sensitive side to who she thinks is Tyler Durden and tries to bring it more out of him only to be rebuffed by the Narrator who had no idea he was having sex with her at the time.}}
* [[Battle Strip]]: No shirt, no shoes while fighting.
* [[Beauty Is Never Tarnished]]: Subverted hard and then Lampshaded.
* [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]]: Marla and the Narrator.
* [[Better Living Through Evil]]: Tyler helping the Narrator.
* [[Beware
* [[Black Comedy]]: the ultimate "Should I Be Laughing?" movie!
* [[Briar Patching]]: Subverted; see [[Wire Dilemma]].
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* [[Broken Record]]: "His name is Robert Paulson. His name is Robert Paulson."
* [[Bullet Time]]: The narrator's dream of sleeping with Marla. Director Fincher was apparently embarrassed at the idea of directing a traditional sex scene, so he devised a more abstract way of presenting the material.
* [[Call Back]]: An easy one to miss on your first viewing is the opening scene, when Tyler asks the narrator if he wants to say anything to "mark the occasion". The narrator replies that he "Can't think of anything." The film then goes back and works towards [[How We Got Here]]; when the scene plays out again, the line becomes "I still can't think of anything," which Tyler [[
* [[Cavalry Betrayal]]: Once he realizes the full extent of Project Mayhem's plans {{spoiler|the narrator goes to the police and tells them the whole story, only to discover that the detectives he's talking are part of a Fight Club themselves, and they almost castrate him.}}
* [[Chekhov's Gag]]: {{spoiler|The cock that Tyler puts onto family friendly films reappears in the end of the film.}}
* [[Cluster F-Bomb]]
{{quote|Narrator: God dammit! Fuck ''you''. Fuck Fight Club, fuck Marla, I am ''sick'' of all your shit.}}
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** Alternatively, the story is supposed to mock both ways. It's meant to scorn the normal corporate suburban life and how people need to learn to let go a little more, but also show the dangers of living completely like someone like Tyler. Both the book and the movie show that you can and need to find a balance, and not become a person solely focused on their appearance, money, and job, but not become a self-destructive nihilistic nut like Tyler. Project Mayhem was an exaggerated version of the very real [[wikipedia:Cacophony Society|Cacophony Society]], which the author was a member of. The Cacophony Society was formed out of a group known as the Suicide Club ([[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything|though they did not actually commit suicide]]) and is more or less the [[Evil Twin]] of [[Improv Everywhere]], where they play pranks to make people unhappy rather than happy.
* [[Easter Egg]]: {{spoiler|In detail [http://www.eeggs.com/tree/1525.html here]. }}
* [[Empty Fridge, Empty Life]]: "Yeah, I know, I know, a house full of condiments and no real food."
* [[Escapism]]: Why the Fight Club's are invented and {{spoiler|Tyler is}}.
* [[Everything's Better with Bob]]: Robert Paulson.
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* [[Fan Disservice]]: Lots of half-naked, sweaty, bloodied men. One of whom is [[Meat Loaf]]. With Boobs (capitalization justified).
* [[Fan Service]]: Lots of half-naked, sweaty, bloodied men. One of whom is [[Brad Pitt]].
* [[Female Gaze]]: related to the [[Fan Service]] in the form of Tyler Durdan.
* [[Fight Clubbing]]: The [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Foreshadowing]]: Especially obvious with lines such as, {{spoiler|"I know this because Tyler knows this", "If you could wake up in a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?"}} When the Narrator fights himself in his boss' office, he muses, {{spoiler|"For some reason, I was reminded of my first fight with Tyler."}}
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* [[Hollywood Nerd]]: The narrator is a Type 2.
* [[How We Got Here]]: Thrice, actually. {{spoiler|First scene-last scene, the 'help yourself group' and the traveling scenes}}
* [[Ho Yay]]: All over the place, and in fact is an important part of the plot, since much of the conflict may stem from the Narrator's sexual confusion. The phallic imagery gets so out of control that at many points it's not even imagery. It should be noted that the [[Ho Yay]] was taken down a notch in the movie.
* [[Hypocritical Humour]]: To summarize: "We were shaving our head and cutting our nails for [[Fight Club]], this is entirely different from people who shave their head to be ''Cool''.
* [[I Ate What?]]: The movie has several references to people urinating or worse into food, based on stories told to the author by waiters who spoiled the food of bad customers.
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'''Waiter in the Tyler-staffed restaurant:''' In that case, may I advise against the lady eating the clam chowder? }}
* [[If You Can Read This...]]: The newspapers all have the same nonsense text, whether the headline is "Fountain Befouled" or "Feces Catapault Seized" or "Stolen Lab Monkey Found Shaved".
* [[I Just Want to Be Free]]: The catalyst which starts the whole thing off.
* {{spoiler|[[Imaginary Friend]]}}: Wait for the ending.
* [[The Immodest Orgasm]]: Courtesy of Marla.
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* [[Impossibly Cool Clothes]]: Tyler's ability to pull off increasingly flamboyant, off-the-wall outfits attests to his "I'm everything you ever wanted to be" charisma.
* [[Interface Screw]]: Fincher gets in another meta-gag with the Blu-Ray release. {{spoiler|When you initially boot it up, the menu for ''[[Never Been Kissed]]'' comes up for a few seconds.}} The DVD has Tyler vandalizing the opening FBI warning. [http://www.eeggs.com/images/items/611.full.jpg You can see it here.]
* [[Ironic Echo]]: Related to [[Arc Words]].
* [[I Surrender, Suckers]]: Tyler's fight with Lou.
* [[Jekyll and Hyde]]: Marla seems to feel this way about the Narrator: "You're Dr. Jekyll and Mr. [[Jerkass|Jackass]]."
* [[Journey to the Center of the Mind]]: Inverted in the opening credits. Fincher said he wanted to show the reaction of fear as it, all the way from one neuron in the brain firing off to sweat rolling down the Narrator's forehead.
* [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope]]: One interpretation of the third act of both film and book.
* [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]: Done enough times to make the camera a supporting character. In at least one montage the narrator directly addresses the camera to tell us about Tyler.
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* [[Male Gaze]]: in regards to the Ho Yay.
* [[Maniacal Laugh]]: Tyler Durden's, several times but especially, and most disturbingly, during his fight with Lou. This laughter is also used at the beginning of the DVD menu.
* [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl]]: Darkly subverted with Marla. Tyler is sort of a Manic Pixie Dream Guy.
* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: Tyler.
* [[Marshmallow Hell]]: [[media:bitchtitsbob.jpg|This is Bob.]] [[Fan Disservice|Bob had bitch tits.]]
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* [[Medium Awareness]]: ''Lots'' of deliberate film artifacts, including "cigarette burns" and sprocket holes. And, of course, a [[Brick Joke|nice fat cock]].
* [[Memetic Mutation]]: Played darkly with in the [[In-Universe]] example, "His name is Robert Paulsen", when the Narrator first realizes that no matter how much he tries, any members of Project Mayhem not present at the birth of a rule will just become the [[Misaimed Fandom]] of the ''mutated'' meaning.
* [[Mental Story]]: In large part, but a lot of interesting stuff happens in reality, too.
* [[Mind Screw]]: The movie is weird from the start, but after a certain point, [[Nothing Is the Same Anymore|everything gets thrown out the window]].
* [[Missing Time]]: The plane sequences.
* [[Mr. Exposition]]: The "Narrator".
* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: Most conversations about how attractive Brad Pitt is will mention this film.
* [[Never Trust a Trailer]]: The trailer focused on the fighting elements instead of the psychological elements.
* [[Nietzsche Wannabe]]: Tyler ''sounds'' like one at first glance, but it soon becomes apparent that he's ''anything'' but a true nihilist.
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** The "fights" in the film are usually sloppy brawls or lopsided beat-downs, particularly "Jack" vs Angel Face, and Tyler vs "Jack".
** Lou beating the shit out of Tyler, who refuses to defend himself [[I Surrender, Suckers|until Lou turns his back.]]
* [[No Communities Were Harmed]]: The Narrator's hometown is never given, but clues suggest that it is Wilmington, Delaware. Other cities are mentioned by name as locations of satellite Fight Clubs.
* [[No Name Given]]: Ed Norton's character is known in the script only as the Narrator, and is never given a name in the film.
* [[Nothing Is the Same Anymore]]: [[The Reveal]] throws everything that you thought was going on out the window, both for the audience and the Narrator.
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* [[Rule Number One]]: There are eight rules, though people only remember the first two (which are the same rule) due to [[Memetic Mutation]].
* [[Rule of Cool]]: Tyler's clothes.
* [[Rule of Sexy]]: Tyler.
* [[Screw Yourself]]: {{spoiler|[[Ho Yay]] between Tyler Durden and the Narrator is something akin to this.}}
* [[Second Person Narration]]: The "You wake up at SeaTac" scene.
* [[Secret Other Family]]: The narrator's father, repeatedly.
{{quote|"Fucker's setting up franchises."}}
* [[Sensei for Scoundrels]]: The trope was originally titled
* [[Shirtless Scene]]: The sixth rule of Fight Club says "no shirts, no shoes". Bob averts this rule without comment. [[media:bitchtitsbob.jpg|Guess why?]] (It also saved money on makeup effects.)
* [[Shoo Out the Clowns]]: Bob, the testicular cancer survivor. Look, our comical friend Bob joins Fight Club, and he's awesome! Look, {{spoiler|Bob gets shot in the head! The remainder of the film is much more somber}}.
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{{quote|"I look like you want to look, I fuck like you want to fuck, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not."}}
* {{spoiler|[[Unreliable Narrator]]}}
* [[Up to Eleven]]: Both Marla and Tyler.
* [[We Are Everywhere]]: Tyler Durden delivers one to the man who planned to investigate Fight Club:
{{quote|'''Tyler Durden:''' Hi. You're going to call off your rigorous investigation. You're going to publicly state that there is no underground group, or we are going to take your balls. […] The people you are after are the people you depend on; we cook your meals, we connect your calls, we guard you while you sleep. Do '''not''' fuck with us.''}}
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* [[Wham! Line]]: {{spoiler|"Why do you think I blew up your condo?"}}
* [[Wire Dilemma]]: "[[Briar Patching|Oh, heavens, no, not the green one -- anything but the green one!]]"
* [[You Are Too Late]]: {{spoiler|Project Mayhem's plan to destroy a series of office buildings works, and the Narrator is too late to stop it. Although it's an odd case, as he was also the one trying to do it.}}
* [[You Cannot Kill an Idea]]: {{spoiler|The plans to blow up corporate buildings}}.
* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]: All but said in relation to Tyler and {{spoiler|the narrator and how Tyler "dies"}}.
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[[Category:Fight Club]]
[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:Films Based on Novels]]
[[Category:Existentialism]]
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[[Category:Cult Classic]]
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