Fight Club Thoughts
The
critics have it all wrong. They think
Fight Club is about "fight club," the
male macho beat-em-up group that is depicted in the film.
Fight Club itself is merely a partially successful manifestation of an ideal present in every
member's mind.
Tyler Durden is the first to instigate the concept of
brawling: bluntly asking the
narrator to hit him. The
narrator is still stuck in the world of contemporary
reality, confused as to what
Durden is implying, and the consequences that will result. When the narrator finally reaches out and smacks Durden in the
ear (rather awkwardly), he has stepped outside his comfort zone.
He has succeeded in the first step along the
path Durden has selected to obtain
enlightenment: he has let go of the socially constructed norm.
Fight Club's deeper philosophical implications are less upon the pursuit of
feral instincts and more upon the rebellious act of rejecting presumptions and societal constraints.
Durden's somewhat
outrageous (in our terms)
behavior and manner is a severe mockery of
society's standards (his smug honesty while selling beauty stores
soap made from despicable substances; his splicing of
pornographic film frames into children's film; urinating in the soup...). However, Tyler simply refuses to care; his reasoning is derived from his pursuit of identity and selfish enlightenment. Certainly there is nothing wrong with this course of action: Tyler is living for himself, following his own definition of happiness. His house is
decrepit, he
steals whatever he wants, he lives on his instantaneous whims. Durden, perhaps by our standards, would be considered
amoral - lacking any system of
justice,
truth,
right or
wrong.
Morality, however, is solely determined by the
individual. In a world of monotonous repetition, where life's truths are auctioned for only $19.95, and
capitalistic fervor consumes every dream - no one can stand above another morally.
Laws are determined by the
morality of the
majority. Is the
system right? Not necessarily. For the individual with a conflicting morality, the pure incentive to follow the law is the consequence that results otherwise. Durden ignores these consequences, his
wit and
intelligence allow his confident superiority.
And so we are presented with a character that follows his impulses, yet is searching for the answer. Durden is the narrator's imaginary construct and key to enlightenment.
The
narrator had followed the system of the world:
high school,
college,
job,
marriage. Durden responds rather ironically: "Maybe another
woman is not what we need." But Tyler has a point. Is the
system of the
world the best?
Tyler says no.
Reject the system,
hit the bottom and
look up at your answer.
Fight club is a perfect
instinctual catharsis to promote release.
Self-improvement is masturbation. Self-destruction might be the answer.
We are the all singing, all dancing shit of the world. Project Mayhem, says Durden, is the natural progression of
Fight Club. Yet here is were Durden (perhaps the writer/director) go wrong. Critics have labeled the film
fascist on account of the self-sacrificing
martyrs that compose of
Project Mayhem's "
Human Sacrifices." Although the narrator/Durden is stuck between dream worlds, the ultimate control Tyler takes over members of
Project Mayhem is disturbingly
totalitarian. Tyler Durden has every right to follow this course of action, however. His
morality is his own construction, the "
human sacrifices" are merely a means to an end. Tyler dreams of a world were "you wear a
leather jacket that will last you your whole life," the mindless drones who follow him have every right to be entrapped. Tyler is a
leader in society's description. There is no doubt that throughout the
movie Tyler displays controlling characteristics. His rugged personality enigmatically drew the narrator/fight club members in. His evolution of intriguing
mental stimuli held their interest. His ultimate control was secured by his newly imbedded philosophies.
Durden's
fatal flaw is, in fact, his control. His entire message was to embrace
nihilism, to be nothing more than a
zero, to accept the moment and follow your course. Controlling others leads to an orderly progression into
chaos.
Fight club, however, can promote practical application, can act as a catalyst in intellectual
evolution. Do not go and start a local
Fight Club.
Fight club is merely part of the
extended metaphor of letting go. Let go. See what happens. Consequences abound, but living outside the boundaries of consequences is possible. Perhaps, though, embracing unknown destruction will lead to
bullet in the
head, completely unexpected, completely liberating.
On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.