What Was Fight Club All About?

[DSC]

A YT video about Fight Club recently appeared in my feed, and with it came along the usual talk... Is the movie about men losing their meaning in society? Is it a critique on hyper-masculinity? I haven't watched the movie, so can please someone enlighten me?

[Maximum Matt]

It's about Ed Norton making soap or something, I dunno, I haven't seen it in ages.

And Meatloaf is involved

[Biodegradable]

The first rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Biodegradable

[insertwackynamehere]

It’s a film based on a book that’s in a similar genre as American Psycho and Bright Lights, Big City. Basically an existentially dissatisfied yuppie goes off the deep end and its sort of comedic but also grim. The main characters get lionized by viewers because a lot of their cynicism is relatable but the overarching point is meant to be a criticism of the things that brought them to the precipice in the first place, not something to hold up as “good”.

 

Also, just as a side note, there’s this film “How To Get A Head In Advertising” which is like if Fight Club or American Psycho was a weird British comedy from ~10 years prior to their release dates. So if anyone is looking for something to watch. I don’t think it’s as good but it’s an interesting addition to the genre.

Edited November 18, 2020 by insertwackynamehere

[Jello]

It's been a long time since I've watched it. The general gist, from what I can recall, is that Ed Norton is schizophrenic, and his personality is a betta cuck who just takes the shit that life throws at him, has a breakdown, develops an alternate personality, Brad Pitt, who is a clear "Chad", and does whatever the fuck he wants when he wants, and takes what's his. This develops into a movement of likeminded men who feel like they're unappreciated, or worthless, or less than men. Who beat the shit out of each other, and then try to destabilize the financial system, and set humans back to a base level of equality.

 

So in answer to your question of "what was fight club all about?" : It's all about being one of the most overrated and overanalyzed movies that I've ever seen.

[Clippy]

I think it was about fights 

 

And clubs 

 

And sometimes both

[Caffeine Freak]

It's about blowing shit up with soap. Duh.

[Joshy]

I think the great thing about Fight Club is that it is very self-aware, satirical, and has many layers to the point where you can interpret the film to be about several things. To me, that's the hallmark of a great film with universal appeal. The popular criticism of masculinity is one- Ed Norton craves but avoids emotional attachment, Brad Pitt embraces unmitigated aggression, chaos, and populism by spouting platitudes to capture the attention of unfulfilled insecure men. Brad Pitt is clearly presented to be the more attractive caricature that most people would think is the best kind of man, but he is is still very much only a piece of the whole puzzle. Brad Pitt on his own is dangerous and unsustainable and requires tempering. The ending suggests elements of both men conflated into one, the man he was supposed to be or become. Another could be a criticism of what it means to live a good life and how Capitalism interferes with that. Norton and Pitt embodies the Nietzschean dichotomy, Apollo (the 'thinker') and Dionysus (the 'feeler'). To live one without the other is not sufficient, both must clash and fuse together to maintain a equilibrium in order to live life to the 'fullest', whatever that means. I'm sure there are many other ways of looking at the film but those two are ones I can think off the top of my head.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Joshy

[P41R47]

The Second Rule Of Fight Club Is: You Do Not Talk About Fight Club.

 

Sincerely loved this film backthen, then i grew up, and i still love it, but not in the same way.

 

Just think about this, you found something that mades you feel unique, and at the same time, people is willing to share that with you, how would you feel?
Beside the similitudes with everything, even Doomworld itself kind be a less aggresive for of the Fight Club, what the movie tries to tell, along a lot more things is that no matter what you have, you will never be satiesfied.

Thats how the movie starts, the protagonist having that thoughts.

Also, its a love story, a twisted and modern love story, with plenty of abuse, drugs, insatisfaction and insecurity.

 

AND DICKS!!!

a lot of dicks are on the film!

 

But more important of all, its a movie that questions you if you really are happy or just being considerated to those who give you the money to live.

 

One interesting quote of the film is ''Self-improvement is masturbation''.

 

Don't know you, but in my case, i live around people that always craved for have a beautiful body, with muscles and athletic.

Well, i never cared about it, so all the time i was bullied because i didn't have a perfect body.

And what do you think i did?

Hate them? Kill them? fight them?

 

I just say them fuck off.

They spend a lot of time jerking while looking at themselves on the mirror, while consuming something they like.

 

 

Its a movie that put you on the edge of the existential question of our time.

''To jerk or not jerk''.

[Mr. Freeze]

It's about masculinity. 

[XLightningStormL]

I believe Critical Drinker summed it up perfectly, it's a period piece of escapism for men stuck in crappy office jobs, and the general public life within the 1990s, a piece of anti-authoritarian, and anti-corporatist.

I think anyone in a shitty job nowadays wants to just say fuck it, and put the free back in free will, and start a punch up club.

[Nevander]

1 hour ago, Biodegradable said:

The first rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club.

Came in expecting this reply. Was not disappointed.

[Big Ol Billy]

Late-capitalist masculinity in crisis, which leads some alienated dudes into a cocktail of nihilism, fascism, and expressive violence. It didn't really hold up as a film last time I rewatched it, but ya gotta admit it had its finger on the pulse in a certain way.

[beast]

Well now, you effectively asked the internet to spoil the plot for you.

 

That is not to say you shouldn't still watch it. Writer Palahniuk is good in revealing the weirdness hidden in everyday normality, while director Fincher has a repertoire in music videos, which really shines through in Fight Club.

[Sunnyfruit]

A movie based on a book about self-destruction that the cancerous fanbase takes for a movie of "masculine" self-improvement (aka bs). All these people with avatar/names based on Tyler and T*d C**z calling people "snowflakes" on Twitter just shows how much you can disfigure a movie that isn't hard to understand to begin with. It's a demonstration of the horror of so-called fanbases.

 

More seriously,

 

10 hours ago, insertwackynamehere said:

It’s a film based on a book that’s in a similar genre as American Psycho and Bright Lights, Big City. Basically an existentially dissatisfied yuppie goes off the deep end and its sort of comedic but also grim. The main characters get lionized by viewers because a lot of their cynicism is relatable but the overarching point is meant to be a criticism of the things that brought them to the precipice in the first place, not something to hold up as “good”.

 

A better statement that I could ever make. And I love this movie and American Psycho. I often reread Fight Club because I like the weird nihilism in it, but I just don't find other Palahniuk books as enjoyable...

[DSC]

9 hours ago, XLightningStormL said:

I believe Critical Drinker summed it up perfectly,

Thats actually the video I was refering to in my original post. If anyone here is interested in seeing it, just be warned, please DON'T look at the comments section...

[Sunnyfruit]

Just now, DSC said:

Thats actually the video I was refering to in my original post. If anyone here is interested in seeing it, just be warned, please DON'T look at the comments section...

 

:D I think I can easily imagine what kind of comments there is.

 

Speaking of Fight Club, I think Pain&Gain is a good movie about the mindset of people who take Fight Club, fast-food hypermasculinity and muh 48 Laws seriously, and end up burning themselves.

[DJVCardMaster]

Look at all this people breaking the Fight Club's golden rule.

[Gez]

1 hour ago, DJVCardMaster said:

Look at all this people breaking the Fight Club's golden rule.

The entire point of Fight Club's two rules is to make sure people do the opposite. Reverse psychology as a recruitment tool.

[SOSU]

It's about many things, that's what's cool about the flick :D
I like to think of it as a Jungian piece of fiction.

[Doomkid]

I love that so many people can watch the exact same film and all come away with completely different interpretations of what it was trying to convey. Objectivity among humans is a laughable concept, that’s the biggest thing I personally take away from Fight Club’s existence.

[printz]

I finally read the TVTropes page about this movie. Until now, I thought it's just another generic movie about fighting between gangsters in nightclubs, slightly better than the average.

[DooM Bear]

That’s a good question as people write whole essays on what it is about and the meaning behind it :-P I would say it’s about a man decent into madness and the perils of modern society, capitalism and anarchy. 

 

That by by no means is the “correct” answer though and you might take something else away from it :-)

 

It is an amazing movie though for anyone who hasn’t seen it! Highly, highly recommend and if you are half as twisted as most of us it will probably become one of your all time favourites :-D

[dew]

9 hours ago, Doomkid said:

I love that so many people can watch the exact same film and all come away with completely different interpretations of what it was trying to convey. Objectivity among humans is a laughable concept, that’s the biggest thing I personally take away from Fight Club’s existence.

That's the wrong take, you don't get to fence-sit this one, sorry! Almost everyone making a deeper analysis pinpointed the same meaning, recognizing the zeitgeisty late 90's yuppie angst, lack of middle class man's purpose and gullible falling to a call for violent anti-systemic action. Fight Club has a very clear message that you're supposed to get from Palahnyuk's cynical writing. Getting stuck on the superficial level and admiring the bomb-throwing anarchy of Pitt's character means you got filtered and you probably think Starship Troopers is an epic movie about patriotic humans kicking bug ass.

[Antkibo]

I see both Fight Club and American Psycho as two faces on the same coin: the relevant theme is the search for meaning on a meaningless, consumer-oriented society. Norton, however, is a loser in said society while American Psycho's Bale is a winner. Both are fucked up.

[Doomkid]

3 hours ago, dew said:

That's the wrong take, you don't get to fence-sit this one, sorry!

I didn’t lol, insertwackynamehere pretty much stated how I personally feel, but it’s a visible fact in this thread that different people are deriving different things from the film 

[Gokuma]

It's about selling rich women's assfat back to them, somewhat literally.

 

 

Anyway, here's some lines from the book they didn't have the guts to put in the movie (someone lost my book over ten years ago so may not be exact word for word):

 

Marla said she wanted to get pregnant.

 

She said she wanted to have my abortion.

 

 

Something dumb in the book is they want to destroy a museum or museums to erase history.   It's better they changed that to financial stuff in the movie.

Edited November 21, 2020 by Gokuma

[insertwackynamehere]

21 hours ago, Antkibo said:

I see both Fight Club and American Psycho as two faces on the same coin: the relevant theme is the search for meaning on a meaningless, consumer-oriented society. Norton, however, is a loser in said society while American Psycho's Bale is a winner. Both are fucked up.

What’s interesting is actually if you read the book it’s clear Bateman is a loser also. That’s my favorite part is that he represents a successful yet mediocre guy who’s an unreliable narrator but there are times where he can’t unreliably narrate himself to be cool due to the circumstances and you see through it. He’s probably a fairly attractive guy. He’s probably fairly successful. He’s probably fairly tasteful. But he’s ultimately just a guy without purpose who’s still many rungs below the elite. There’s a scene in the book where Tom Cruise who lives in his building treats him with contempt in the elevator and it turns out Bateman’s nose is bleeding and the veil is ripped off, he’s just a sort of wealthy sort of attractive laborer with weird social issues. I’d be lying if I said these books don’t resonate but they shouldn’t resonate in a way where you feel like “yeah these guys are cool”, it’s supposed to be an insight or in some cases a mirror.

[insertwackynamehere]

Also sorry to double post but to keep it out of a wall of text, Mr. Robot is a great homage to all these stories plus 70s-90s (but mostly late 80s-90s) hacker culture but I actually haven’t even finished it. As another related recommendation.

[Sunnyfruit]

9 minutes ago, insertwackynamehere said:

He’s probably a fairly attractive guy. He’s probably fairly successful. He’s probably fairly tasteful. But he’s ultimately just a guy without purpose who’s still many rungs below the elite.

 

In the movie too, his jealousy and insecurities towards his peers is highlighted. The whole visit card obsession or restaurant reservation drama shows how much Bateman is below the perfection he presents himself as to the uninitiated.