"How much do you know about yourself if you never been in a fight?"- Tyler Durden 1999

This film has to be one of the most controversial, convoluted and debated films in recent years. It was  first a book written by Chuck Palahnuik in 1996. Chuck was inspired to write about how nobody seemed to care about his injuries, he was given on a camping trip, and they would ask him "how was your weekend" instead asking straight away "what happened?". People seemed not to care about him and wanted to stay away from any personal connection.  From its trailer it initially reveals itself to be an action film but with actually watching the film more than 6 times I can assure you it's so much more than a simple mindless action film. As well as fitting into action it involves a heavy amount of psychological thriller elements which test the audience throughout the film and ,this is arguable but it, includes elements of a drama romance such as love and kindness being a theme the Narrator desires. The film Fight Club was directed by David Fincher and released  in 1999. It is about an insomniac worker who is struggling to find fulfillment in his monotonous materialistic and comsumeristic life thus his subconscious mind, tries to help with this absence of fulfillment by manifesting an alter ego called Tyler Durden played by Brad Pitt. To clear things up the narrator is given no name and this is because David Fincher was trying to convey to the audience that this could be anyone anywhere. This film battles with themes of materialism, consumerism, misogamy, toxic hyper-masculinity, U.S society, mental illness and finding purpose. Now obviously I cannot cover all of those topics but I will try to cover as many as I can. 

The narrator, played by Edward Norton, is trying to find purpose in this materialistic, consumerastic and tedious U.S society. His mind and body starts to experience insomnia. This causes the narrator to stay up late at night and do meaningless tasks to occupy his mind. One of those tasks is watching television where the narrator is subjected to a further degree of boredom from the constant advertisements. This continuous insomnia and boredom forces his mind to change thus the alter ego of Tyler Durden is born. In the second scene where the narrator is explaining his insomnia whilst being in the office, there is a very quick image of Tyler that pops up in the office for a frame.  I believe that Tyler has just been born within his head and is gradually growing. That's why Tyler is only popping up for a second because he isn't fully developed within the narrator's mind. Back to the image. Tyler looks very much like the narrator does, his face is almost droopy and has a lack of emotion being shown. This is because Tyler has just been born and hasn't developed yet. 

The narrator tries to cure his insomnia by "becoming a slave to the IKEA nesting instinct". The narrator tries to find his life value by buying himself and creating a false home. He fills his apartment full of furniture he sees in a magazine. In the shot at 4:38 it looks like the narrator is looking at a pornographic magazine and is flicking through the pages. The narrator finds satisfaction through buying himself a home and not building one up. "what type of dining kit defines me as a person", he is finding purpose and satisfaction in buying a "home" but he is still suffering from insomnia. A doctor suggests if he wants to see real pain he should go and visit the support groups which deal cancer and life threatening illness's.  This is where we see the first image of the corrupt american society. A man, who has had his testicles removed, is telling everyone in the group about his wife leaving him and having kids with someone else because he couldn't have children. In the foreground of the shot we have the man crying and in the background, with very little lighting, is the american flag. This contrasts with the stereotypical american flag usage in an action film being bright, colorful and overt. David Fincher could be trying to convey to the audience that america has its flaws and isn't always the remarkable knight in shining armor it's made up to be. Another shot representing that would when Bob played by Meat Loaf and the narrator are hugging with the american flag behind them. The narrator experiences a strange occurrence when he is forced to hug one of the cancer sufferers, Bob. The narrator finds him self crying into his "bitch tits" and "lets go". He feels like whilst at these support groups, everyone thinks he's dying, so people actually listen to him instead of "waiting for their turn to talk" (Marla). the choral sound of a male choir comes in when the narrator starts crying signifying how he is free from his insomnia. 

Whilst looking at the list of support groups on the wall, in the bottom left corner there is a leaflet saying "schizophrenic?". Subtly foreshadowing what is going on his head. This is where we meet Marla Singer played by Helen Bonham Carter. Before she walks into the support group hall the noise of footsteps and the shadow of her is seen. Almost like a monster creeping in. Marla was in these support groups "because it's cheaper than movie and there's free coffee". The narrator knew she wasn't really dying like the rest of support group visitors and so he felt his lie being reflected through her consequently once again causing insomnia to reoccur. He practices telling Marla off and revealing her to be healthy to the rest of the group in his day dream. He also compares her to the scratch on the top of mouth you can't stop licking and a tumor and then she appears in his mind cave. When they converse for the first time Marla says how she saw him practicing telling her off. This all relates and supports the theory that Marla is also another ego within his mind. This theory is supported further when the support leader walks around them saying to the narrator "share your self completely". Notice how she doesn't say yourselves. If Marla was actually there the support leader would have said share yourselves completely. When Marla is walking down the street, leaving, another image of Tyler pops up but looks very different to when we saw him before. He is smoking a cigarette and wearing a red jacket. Tyler has developed more, maybe from the attempts from trying to cure his insomnia. 

The narrator's insomnia has fully reappeared and the narrator is now struggling with keeping up with time when starts flying round the country for his job. It is on these planes where Tyler Durden is embodied next to the narrator. After the narrator wakes up after having a day dream about the plane crashing Tyler is talking about the plane's wing exit door and how if you are not up for the duty of opening the door in an emergency you have to be re positioned. Above Tyler there is a sticker, on it is a woman opening the exit door and then in the picture there is man going through the door. David Fincher from the beginning subtly indicates how things aren't as they seem.  It is through Tyler Durden that the narrator learns about the minimalism and the utilitarianism concept. That products and services should only be used if needed and for the greater good. Materialistic items should be disbanded and thrown away. The narrator ends up living with Tyler and through him they start fight club. Fight Club was started by Tyler and the narrator simply fighting and finding great satisfaction in it. The narrator's insomnia is disappearing once again and he feels like he is finding purpose. People saw them fighting and joined because they felt like their sense of reality had been lost in this superficial capitalistic society they were living in therefore their only way to feel reality again was from the pain they experienced in fight club. Fight Club is a metaphor for what a lot of people feel now, society dictates you to purchase your life through the means of attractive clothing, furniture, cars and houses. This leads to a lack of enrichment in life and makes you feel empty inside. Almost like the narrator's fridge- "A fridge full of condiments but no food". This film is trying to express what capitalism, consumerism and materialism can do to you. The audience will look upon the narrator, Tyler and the other members of fight club in an alienated way but they will experience the exact same thing  (maybe not to the same degree). 

Initial audience reactions were that they didn't like it. The audience perceived from the trailer and teasers that they were being thrown another action film an a list cast  involved. Now who wouldn't want to soak up another action film with stars in it. thus the cinemas were flocked to with 1963 cinemas being fully packed (in America). On it's opening weekend the film earned 11 million. Once the film had revealed its unusual meanings, meanings and characters the audience disliked it because they thought it was an action film trying to be innovative and complex for the sake of being complex. "Fight Club is a thriller Masquerading as a Philosophy"- Rodger Ebert October 1999. Rodger Ebert's opinion on the film that it was far to violent and excessively bravado for what its message was. 

In conclusion Fight Club is a thriller with a huge amount of violence and excessive bravado. I cannot agree with its philosophy enough. We need to remove ourselves from being a consumerist and find some sort of purpose or fulfillment which is more than just what furniture set defines me as a person. Connect with other humans and become your own independent being. Don't let your possessions start possessing you.