FIGHT CLUB
US, 1999, 136 minutes, Colour.
Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham- Carter, Meatloaf, Jared Leto.
Directed by David Fincher.
The 1999 Venice Film Festival saw the premiere of David Fincher's Fight Club. Within a day a prominent British critic was calling for its ban, calling it anti-Semitic and
fascist. When I told him that I was impressed by it, especially by its dramatising of the Shadow and its explicit reference to Jekyll and Hyde, he dismissed this as superficial argument. I think not. It seems a pity that many critics stay at the level of explicit plot and do not draw on psychological theory to elaborate archetypal subtexts.
Edward Norton is the anonymous Narrator. His Ego is telling us his story. He has a routine insurance job, fills his bachelor apartment with the latest and trendy furniture, but suffers from insomnia. He is not functioning normally. Refused medication by his doctor, he starts to attend 12 Step and illness and addiction support groups - and becomes addicted to these, going every night of the week. Here he is drawn into the language of care, into tears and hugging, to acknowledge the feminine side of himself.
But, when the feminine literally arrives, in the form of Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), whose attendance parallels his, he is hostile, aggressive and compromises with a deal that they divide up the week between them. He has not really acknowledged the feminine, except in the Ego narration, referring to her as the enemy and as a destroyer. Yet, he is drawn to her.
But, while he is able to sleep and feel better, his unconscious asserts itself even more powerfully, although we are not to know this until the latter part of the movie. He encounters, on a plane, a character called Tyler Durdan (Brad Pitt). When his home explodes, he turns to Marla (but the only contact is the answering machine) and then to Tyler who insists that he ask directly to let him stay with him. He moves in with him, into a remote and dilapidated mansion.
They are able to co-exist until Marla phones to threaten suicide. The Narrator ignores her but Tyler does not and she moves in, starting a passionate liaison with Tyler - to the Narrator's anger and disgust.
But Tyler, who is shown to be an anarchical trickster, inserting frames of pornography into family films (yes, that is an obscene frame that you saw), urinates into fashionable restaurant chowder and steals liposuction fat to turn it into soap to sell to the rich is also into macho aggression. He fights the Narrator bare-knuckle and later makes him suffer burns to his hand. A man can take pain. Pain makes a man of a man. This sado-masochistic philosophy starts to attract
men who have no inner life, desperate to be secure and be given a cause to Fight Clubs all around the country and into uniforms and a private militia. The screenplay does show very well how fascist groups can form and develop.
But, while the Narrator participates in the fights (at Ego level), his unconscious sense of right begins to rebel against Tyler's fascist leadership and acts of terrorism. But, at this stage, everyone who meets him, including Marla, starts
to address him as Tyler. We now have the Jekyll and Hyde scenario. Tyler Durden is the Narrator, his alter ego, his shadow. And Tyler takes over. The movie has scenes where the Narrator fights with Tyler and then cuts to show the Narrator literally fighting with himself. The inner conflict is now an outer conflict and it threatens society. Tyler, who blew up the Narrator's apartment, now intends to blow up the American cities and US society.
Whatever growth and awareness there is in the Narrator is in his wanting to save Marla. But she returns to him and together they watch the millennial destruction. I have presumed that Marla, like Tyler, is yet another facet of the Narrator himself. While he wants to save the world after all and destroy Tyler, he does at least want to save his feminine side and be reconciled.
The film was directed by David Fincher whose movies are Alien 3, Seven and The Game, grim and tortuous allegories of evil in the world and its destructive power. (Whoever does the thesis on Fincher, evil and the Shadow already as more than enough material.)
The description of Chuck Palahniuk's original novel in the production notes make it sound like an apology for macho fascism. But screenwriter, Jim Uhls, and Fincher have, despite the physical brutality of so many fight sequences, made a more subtle study of conscious and unconscious, of splits in the American psyche and the consequent destructive power.
1.Themes of the USA and the millennium? Destructive perspectives of the American psyche? Issues and style?
2.The work of David Fincher, dark explorations of the psyche? Of society?
3.The dynamism of the credits, the movement, colour, darkness, music? The visuals of the film: the city and its darkness, basements and the Underground, abandoned houses, squalid apartments - and the contrast between affluence, companies, catalogues for contemporary furniture and consumerist America?
4.The musical score, tone, songs, comment?
5.The film as a portrait of the American psyche, western society: craving for more yet ordinary, weak yet craving help from the strong, autonomous yet dependent - the shadow self? Split personality as a symbol as self-destructive America - not an explanation psychologically of what happens, but rather dramatising and symbolising the fight with and within the self?
6.The overtones of fascism: capitalist democracy becoming fascist, the crypto-fascism in the American character - the enticing and charming leader, charisma, initiatives and humour and mischief leading to dependence, disciples, militia, robots, mindless obedience for mayhem? The infiltration of society by such groups and individuals finding their security in such secret armies?
7.The portrait of support groups: for addictions, for illness, for guided meditation? Serious presentation, parody? The men's groups and their caring, weeping, one-to-one hugging, themes of death, testicular cancer? The range of illnesses? The effect on Robert Paulsen and the oestrogen turning him much more feminine in appearance? The addiction? The contrast with the wild man groups and the macho bonding leading to such things as fight clubs, the sado-masochistic behaviour, sado-masochistic satisfaction, homo-erotic satisfaction? Bonding?
8.The structure of the film: the narrator with the gun in his mouth, the voice-over and explanations, the flashbacks? Audience alert to the drama of the end and the curiosity about the relationship between the narrator and Tyler Durden? Tyler as the mystery man, the other self? The autobiography of the narrator's consciousness?
9.Edward Norton as the narrator, an ordinary citizen, his job, work in the office, the routine and detail, the cars and the crashes and the inspection of safety measures (and his later potential for blackmail with cover-up and withholding information from authorities)? His boss? The tense relationship? His being consumerist, the catalogues, his compulsion to order, the house and the scene with the cataloguing of all the furniture - ultimately to be exploded by Tyler as his other self? The suffering from insomnia, sleepwalking, waking/sleeping/semi-conscious? The doctor refusing the pills? His going to the groups, his holding himself in, being persuaded to weep, the embrace with Bob - and Bob's femininity? His going to other meetings, Chloe and her speech about having sex before she died? His comment about becoming an addict and his schedule for these meetings? His comments on Mala and her coming into his life, changing everything, seeing her as an intruder? Their clashes, talking, fighting, the deal about who would go to which meeting?
10.Helena Bonham-Carter? as Mala: her appearance, clothes, smoking, going to the groups, at the men's group, acting tough, direct in her speech, the clash and the taunting of the narrator, in the street and the cars passing her, the deal with the narrator and her breaking the deal?
11.The narrator going on the various flights - passing Tyler Durden on the walkway in the airport, sitting next to him, their talking, his being a soap dealer, the discussion about courage in being in the exit row, the nature of the discussion? An exercise in the narrator's self-consciousness? His vibrating luggage and the delay, going to his apartment, discovering the explosion?
12.The repercussions of the explosion and his reactions? Ringing Mala but not getting any response from her? Ringing Tyler, having the drink, Tyler forcing him to be direct about asking to stay with him, forcing him to hit him, the fight and the physical and psychological and emotional satisfaction? His narrating the background of Tyler - showing the pornographic films, the insertion of the penis in the actual film and audience reaction, the explanation of inserting the pornography into the family films and the reaction of the families? Tyler working in the restaurant, urinating into the food? The later comment about his suing the restaurant?
13.The beginning of the fight clubs and their growth? Fighting between the narrator and Tyler, others coming in, people from the workplace, the restaurants? Tyler and his taking command, the nature of the rules and their secrecy, the limits on being hurt and the stopping of the fights? Yet Tyler with the incentives? The physical repercussions of the injuries - and the people with the bandages etc? Bob and the chance meeting with the narrator, revealing that he was a member of a fight club - and later establishing his own? The filming and editing of the fights and their brutality? The blond lieutenant and his fights, especially the fight with the narrator and the repercussions for his face? The others and their becoming part of the clubs? The testing of their standing vigil outside the house, Tyler taunting them but their remaining firm? Bob and his suffering this? The beginnings of the growth of the fascist approach?
14.Tyler's home, distant from everybody, deserted, squalid and abandoned, collapsing? The narrator settling in, their compatibility and sharing? Mala's phone call and the threat of suicide, the narrator not listening to her, Tyler hearing and inviting her over? The power of the sexual relationship and its repercussions on the narrator, tormenting him? Mala as the person who combined Tyler with the narrator through his voice, his appearance? Mala and her being within the house, the narrator's hostility? Her persuading him to go to her house and test about the cancer? The lump? Her later attempted suicide and the calling of the police, her tantrum and the narrator helping her to escape?
15.The narrator at work, his insolence towards the boss leading to the fight where he was punching and injuring himself? The police coming?
16.The police and their suspicions about the exploding building, the phone calls to the narrator? The later interrogation and the irony of the police chief finding some truth but his assistants all being part of the fight clubs?
17.Louis the owner of the basement coming, the confrontation and the bashing of Tyler, his being overcome and allowing the fight clubs to continue? Groups developing in all the cities? The dinner and the members of the fight club as waiters, taking the police chief with his campaign against violence and binding him, threatening him and his withdrawing the surveillance?
18.The sequence of the soap making - going to the liposuction waste and getting it for the soap - and the contrast of going to the exclusive shop to sell it back and the irony of the comment about taking from the rich and selling back to the rich their own fat?
19.The narrator and his ego disapproving of the Tyler shadow, the operation mayhem and the training of the men, their attitude towards him, their attitudes towards Tyler? Going on operations - and the killing of Bob, the reaction of the group, the narrator asking to be considered as a person and their making it a mantra? The narrator and his brutal fight with the blond recruit? Not knowing what was going on, Tyler disappearing, his searching for the airline tickets, the collage of him following him all over America?
20.The growth of the conspiracy, the documents and maps, the narrator going to the police - but everyone in the conspiracy? Everybody warned about the scenario and the words the narrator would say?
21.His decision to save Mala, putting her on the bus to safety? Finally confronting Tyler, the fight with him - and it being visualised of the two fighting and then the narrator alone? Him fighting himself, fighting within himself? The seeming destruction of Tyler? Defusing the explosives and Tyler's taunting him, the complexity of who was lying to whom? His success? The seeming destruction of Tyler but his continued return? Mala's return - their standing together and the apocalyptic explosion?
22.The impact of the narrative for an understanding of this psychological social symbol of the American psyche? American apocalypse? The visuals, the audio, Brad Pitt as an icon, Edward Norton as American Everyman, Helena Bonham- Carter as the anima figure? American impact, universal impact?
23.Tyler and his martial arts development, his burning the narrator's hand with lye and the endurance, the car drive and its recklessness, his challenging the nervousness of the narrator, the experience of the car crash? The homework and the picking of the fight with innocent people with the intention of losing, the various examples, the cleric and his unwillingness and then fighting the soldier?
