Fight Club Movie Analysis

Fight Club Movie Analysis

Usually, men are associated with things that are brutal, sharp, emotionless, rational, dirty, and

crude, whereas women are associated with more elegant, beautiful, smooth, emotional,

compassionate, clean, and natural things. Men are the providers, and women are the receivers

but fight club represents these differently.

In a consumer-driven society, everyone becomes a receiver, and by association, men assume

some aspects of femininity.

David Fincher has directed some of the most influential thrillers in American film history. His

works include: Aliens 3, The Game ,Fight Club and the Game .

In the movie Tyler Durden talks about the modern world, “We are products of a

lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty do not concern me. What concerns me is celebrity

magazines, television with five hundred cannels and a designer name on my underwear.”

Technically, Fight Club shows the consumer culture in which the 20th century male lives in and

how it is a disintegration of individuality. The film gives quite a few examples of this; the main

character of the film asks himself while looking through an IKEA catalog, “What kind of plates

define me as a person.” He isn’t asking what personal characteristics define him, but what

possession most accurately does. The film shows the extensive influence the consumer-

culture of the 20th century has on individualism and values associated with being a man.

Corporations have replaced personal qualities with corporate logos. The modern male cannot be

anything unless he has certain products . No longer does he own things, his things own him. The

contemporary male is a slave of the IKEA catalogue. The buying of furniture from IKEA gives the

main character (Ed Norton) his identity, without being a consumer the main character would

remain undefined and anonymous. In the movie, the two main characters, and Tyler Durden are

staring at a Calvin Klein ad and ask each other is this what a man is supposed to look like. Fight

Club shows how consumerism is controlling life. The consumer culture even defines how the

modern male should look and how he should wish to look. The typical corporate male dictates to

how much his life is worth.

Brad Pitt makes a statement that illustrates the society the modern male is forced to live in, “We

are a society of men raised by women.” The film shows the emasculation of the 20th century

male, not only by our consumer-oriented society but also by feminine standards of civilization.

The best example would be the support meetings Ed Norton visits. In these meetings,

men are told to gather power, strength and courage from each other, not from themselves. At the

end of the sessions men are told to hold each other and cry, things that are very non-

stereotypical of men. The 20th century society does not want men to function independently and

be able to be emotionally strong on their own, it does not want men to be men. Society wants to

take the very ideals of being a man, independence, strength and courage and only allow for men

to experience them at certain times. The castration and feminization of the male character is

shown