We know the rules. We’re breaking them. Talk here about ideas, stories, how it influenced you, masculinity as a whole, have you actually been in a fight club, the philosophy, your interpretation of the novel or film.
I am Jack’s raging sense of curiosity.
There’s a lot of lessons to be drawn from fighting and training to fight. At minimum, most men could use a punch in the face, especially if they’ve never experienced it.
Bare knuckle fighting with your friends in a dimly lit and filthy basement is a great setting for a story, but there’s a reason why the baddest motherfuckers on the planet train on meticulously maintained mats. Staph infections weren’t a concern for the characters in the movie, but I’m not hardcore like that.
When the movie came out the anti establishment and anti consumerism messages resonated with me more than the actual fight club aspect.
I saw the movie when i was much older (I was 8 when it came out) and felt similarly.
It’s coming back to me now as I want to move towards less consumerism and minimalism as I get older and study more Buddhist philosophy. How much do I really need to thrive?
It’s interesting that we never get the narrator’s name. Is the narrator in fact Tyler or is Tyler his inner demon and the identity of the person fighting the inner demon is inconsequential.
One question I pondered following this is “Do we really only have identity once we are gone, locked in the memories of those who new us?” (“His name is Robert Paulson” - RIP Meatloaf).
Partially, it made me take up MMA as a way to push myself out of my comfort zone (“a near life experience”), to prove to myself I could do something stupidly hard for no other reason then to try and feel alive. I, like the narrator, was struggle and still struggle with mental health issues. I didn’t know that when I watched the film, but maybe it’s why it resonated with me as an undergraduate college student.
I probably have more to say, but right now I am Jack’s still sleeping brain that can’t process thought properly.
I wonder how gen Z would react to the film?
It wouldn’t be fight club if we didn’t.
I think the cool kids from Gen Z would appreciate it. The lame snowflakes of Gen Z would think Fight Club needs a remake.
Edward Nortons character could be reimagined as a nonbinary Moroccan woman struggling to authentically express xer vibrant gender identity in an oppressive and cisnormative workplace.
Xe turns out to be better at basement fighting than any man, teaching everyone a valuable lesson about the power of living authentically.
They should go read Chuck Phalaniuk’s other works. Fight club is the tamest one…
Chuck Palahniuk - Wikipedia
Check out that list. Snuff was particularly disturbing. Tried to make it through Lullaby but need to revisit now.
It is my favorite movie. I remember that before seeing it, I thought it would be dumb but entertaining, like a lot of action movies designed for men. Turns out it had a fairly big impact on me. As mentioned by others, the anti-consumerism message was something that resonated with me strongly. “Martha’s polishing the brass on the Titanic, it’s all going down”. With that anti-consumerism message, I also got a message relating to having a different focus on life than the mainstream. “working jobs we hate, to buy stuff we don’t need, to impress people we don’t like”. How true that is for so many. I guess it has influenced me to try not to live life to impress others, because they won’t be impressed anyways.
“Why do guys like you and me know what a duvet is?”
I have never belonged to a Fight Club. I have been punched in the face. There were times I certainly deserved it. The movie was great. It has been many years since I have watched it. This weekend is a go.
Guts. At least it has multivitamins and carrots in it!
The third rule of fight club is: “Have fun and try your best”.
Ok, that was really funny.
I went on a palahniuk bender in my early 20s. Invisible Monsters and Survivor are two of my favorites.
Almost forgot, his collection of short stories Stranger Than Fiction is great. There’s a few I still think about today.
I belonged to “The Gentlemen’s Boxing League” in high school back in the day. A fellow student had a pretty perfectly arranged set of 4 trees that we tied off to make a boxing ring. Tens of people would gather after school on occasions for “boxing” matches. They were simple and great times.
Big fan of the movie, I don’t have anything insightful to add that hasn’t been broken down to the nittiest of the grittiest by others online.
One of my younger cousins is 20, and an engineering student. He’s part of the D&D club and also practices Kendo.
He mentioned Fight Club over Thanksgiving, and I asked him what dudes his age thought about it. He said it was “Good!” and that it was the “ultimate twist ending.”
Everyone has seen the movie, everyone loves it.
Do you guys see it referenced a lot in other shows? Or do you see shots from the movie copied in other movies or shows?
Memorable shots like Sheen’s face coming out of the water in Apocalypse Now or “Here’Johnny!” from the Shining have been redone a million times. Everyone knows the Predator bicep shake.
Is there anything like that from Fight Club?
I saw the movie before I read the book.
A group of my friends and I watched it and went out to a grocery store parking lot one night after it was closed to kick each others asses. A cop car showed up and we stopped, but they were parked and had the lights off, so we kept going after a minute. After about 5 more minutes they got out.
“You guys just watch Fight Club?”
“Yes sir.”
“Nice. We got a complaint about a gang fight, so you can keep going, just do it in your backyard or something, not here.”
The book is way different. The paper street address should have been a dead giveaway about the twist.
Also “I want to have your abortion” really makes Marla.
Shout out to Helena bonham Carter for always playing the most interesting roles. I don’t think I have ever seen her play a “normal” persona.
