“The first rule of Fight Club is… You do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is… You do not talk about Fight Club!” But we are going to defy that rule and immerse ourselves in the convoluted, yet mind-bending storyline of one of the most outstanding films ever created.
23 years later after it was released to the world, Fight Club is one of the rare script-to-screen films that, as time goes on, has only gained more significance in our contemporary culture. Fight Club was a novel by Chuck Palahniuk, a film later directed by David Fincher, and a screenplay written by Jim Uhls. Despite the reality that it has a considerable number of admirers presently, Fight Club heavily endured criticisms due to the pervading notion that it was an action film involving underground boxing. Though the idea was not completely wrong, it was not the revolving core of the story and only the mere puzzle of a bigger conflict. It was also unfairly booed upon its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, but ironically, it is now hailed as a cult classic and included in the “Films to Watch Before You Die” list of most cinephiles in the 21st century. The film grossed over 100 million USD worldwide with a budget of 63 million USD and was produced by Fox 2000 Pictures and Regency Enterprises.
The film follows the insomniac, has-it-all, nameless white-collar employee for a major auto firm played by Edward Norton. Though Norton, also the film’s narrator, has a well-grounded and ideal life, he continuously craves something more than just tangible objects he goes home to every night. He has a nice condo filled with updated and overpriced furniture and appliances, has a job that pays well, and to make things even more perfect, all his belongings are insured. The movie gets really interesting when he started to attend support groups as a “dying person” in an attempt to subdue his emotional condition and relieve his insomniac state, but instead, he met another “faker” – the huge smoker and emo-styled chick Marla Singer, portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter. He became addicted to something that does not suit his current situation. Later, he crossed paths and established an unusual friendship with the flamboyant, anti-social, and darkly charismatic soap salesman Tyler Durden which the infamous Brad Pitt gave life. The events illustrated in the first hour were truly cynical and misanthropic as Pitt’s character manages to criticize almost everything he spots. Though the theme is downbeat and contradicts societal norms, it does leave a great impact on watchers that may lead them to question their entire mundane existence.
When his Ikea-inspired condo was mysteriously blown up when he was away for work, the Narrator called his “single-serving friend” Durden and had an interesting conversation with him about them being the “by-products of a lifestyle obsession” and how the things they own is slowly taking over their life. From there, the pair indulge in recreational fistfights behind the bar which expanded into an underground club for alienated men to vent their frustrations about reality and to experience something they can only feel between fighting hours.
The Fight Club’s cinematic techniques consist of various notable significations buried in the film’s spectacular story. The cinematography, costume, and music play a big part in demonstrating the supremacist message. The lighting and colors were mostly bleak and rough and is usually set during the evening. This detail implies that men are more active at night and that malicious behaviors are typically carried out during that time. The brighter scenes are visible during the narrator’s normal activities and shifted to darker colors when he is with Tyler. Fight Club’s lighting generally has a yellow tone which accompanies the violence of the film; blue colors are to emphasize the narrator’s depression and loneliness. As for its camera techniques, it is noticed that more stills were filmed in close-up to emphasize the characters’ emotions and gestures, and paved the way to the minute details that Fincher has inserted in the film. In totality, the film’s choice of colors and camera techniques added to the complexity and relevance of the theme. The character’s costumes also were a major contributor to the film’s overall gist. Tyler wore stylish and masculine clothes that stated “rebellion” partnering his messy spiky hair. When it comes to the narrator, his fashion style drastically changed from “decent” to “careless”. He started from wearing dull, branded clothes – white polo and well-ironed tie – to plain shirts and earthly-colored bathrobes. These outfits convey, tacitly or explicitly, that the characters belong to a specific social class. Fincher paired the film with The Dust Brothers' original cinematic score, which heightened the powerful and violent impact of most scenes. Also, Fight Club's “explosive” ending has been complemented by Pixie's 1997 rock song "Where is My Mind?", which is regarded as one of the finest movie endings.
Fight Club depicts how materialism and consumerism have culminated in the marginalization and ruination of the modern male species and how they want to break free from a corporate-controlled culture. The film’s starting point presents how men are purposeless if they own nothing. As for the narrator, the most suitable possessions will define and complete him as an individual, and not the personal characteristics embedded in him. Norton’s absence of name may or not be conspicuous to most viewers but is an exemplary and meaningful detail of the film – he does not own himself for he belongs to the corporations that control his consumer-based life. Another great depiction of how men became slaves is the advertisement “What Men Should Be”. They work jobs they hate so they can buy stuff they don’t need, and how they are believed by the television that one day, they’d become millionaires and movie gods and rockstars. But they won’t. From two disillusioned bored men who justify their lives by leading a boxing club, to building an army of loyal and unstoppable followers. They became the bosses of their own lives; littering mayhem and fear all over the world that they once aspire to belong.
The brilliance of Fight Club is that it blends a complicated and compelling human story with social commentary and analysis of present society's toxic nature. It also encompasses the authenticity of the narrator – of how he is in need to make sense of his repetitive life – and is not afraid to go against the ordinary to reveal the clear status of the denigrated groups of society. Before unveiling the stunning premise, it already managed to captivate the audience with its pertinent tale and blunt speech about how unremarkable we are as servants of the corporate players.
I believe that the essence of this film that has spoken to such a fundamental impulse is the concept that we, as humans, are not designed to spend the rest of our life confined from one cubicle to the next accumulating fortune that generally shows zero satisfaction to our being. We are creatures that seek fulfillment and purpose. We yearn for something that gives significance to our life and leads to a higher state of being — even if that aim is sinister and malevolent. In my biased view, Fight Club is unparalleled and is difficult to top the ambitious writing scripts of today’s era. In the most basic sense, it delicately shows the result of our dualism and our never-ending battle within ourselves to find the meaning that no one has discovered yet.
I'm assuming most of the people reading this review have already seen Fight Club, at least in some way. To those who simply haven't got to see it, or even for those who never understood its great popularity, I urge you to reexamine it. And to those who haven’t watched this masterpiece yet, I highly encourage you to scratch it off your list.
Comments