Aaron’s Analysis: Fight Club & the Dangers Of Being Stupid.
Spoilers for the movie ‘Fight Club’ (1999).
There’s this idea that being a fan of villains or by extension, toxic characters, is dangerous. While this is understandable, it’s not accurate. I acknowledge the dangers of putting certain things on a pedestal. Praising something with a lack of critical thinking resulted in actual ‘Fight Clubs’ breaking out when the movie first premiered. It’s the reason why criticism towards certain TV shows or video games are often met with a disturbing amount of negativity from their respective fan base/community. I acknowledge this, and so does the movie Fight Club.
There’s a difference between a fan and a ‘Stan’. A ‘stalker fan’, is dubbed this from the Eminem music video and song ‘Stan’ about, well, just that. In the song, a fan of Eminem takes his music way too seriously and winds up creating problems for himself and others.
Likewise, in the film, Jack/Cornelius/The Narrator is depressed and suffers from a lack of sleep. Cornelius tries to go to group meetings that he doesn’t actually qualify for in order to try and feel some fulfillment. Some kind of expulsion for his negative emotions so he can get some sleep. It works for a little while, but once a wrench is thrown into his lie, he can’t sleep.
Once Cornelius is exposed to something he didn’t want to see but was inevitable and out of his control, his happy place crashes down. He starts to hold resentment.
He meets Tyler who is comfortable with everything he does and doesn’t seem bothered by other’s opinions. He knows what he wants and how to get what he wants. There is no ‘self-doubt’ or ‘second-guessing’ with Tyler. Tyler’s confidence is something Cornelius wants. He desperately wants it. So much so that when Tyler starts expressing red flags, ‘Cornelius’ becomes ‘Jack’, and goes along with it.
‘I am Jack’s ignorance’.
Tyler lives in a rundown house that has two-dozen health hazards. He makes and sells soap, but gets the ingredients by breaking into certain places. He initially says that Cornelius can move in with him, after his apartment burns down, as long as he ‘hits him as hard as he can’. The hit evolves into fists fights they have regularly. They view it as sparring matches, but it’s not in a gym. They aren’t expressing their violent tendencies in a healthy way. Imagine coming out of a bar and seeing two dudes happily beating each other up and then asking if you want to join.
But hey, Tyler is producing results. He’s not a ‘slave to white collar’ or is ‘cut down by capitalism’ like the others. His happiness is self-sustained and not reliant. My favorite quote from the movie is ‘The things you own, end up owning you’. Which is a great philosophy. It’s okay to be a superhero movie fan, but don’t spend your bill/food money on the newest superhero film. But because Tyler is put on this pedestal, it’s not viewed that way.
Tyler is a dangerous person. He wants no government telling him what to do. He wants to disrupt the established order. He views things like ‘buying things you don’t need as a hobby’ or just ‘taking pride in your job’ as giving into a society that views you as worthless. Becoming another ‘cog in the machine’. To Tyler, violence is the only way out of the machine. Yes, there are times to fight, but Tyler seems to think that violence is the ONLY way.
‘Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes. Working jobs we hate, so we can buy shit we don’t need’. This is another quote I like. Don’t be blind to the things you consume. Be a little critical of your situation. But, from Tyler’s point of view, it means ‘hate the companies around you’. So, he forms a cult out of the people who saw him fighting ‘Jack’, molding them to hate the capitalist environment they grew up. An ideology of ‘don’t be loyal to this country that has uses you. Be loyal to me so that I can you’.
The people around Tyler who look to him as a sort of spiritual head, simply accept this. They don’t walk away after yet another red flag in what is at this point, a red flag shop. They don’t go, ‘he has a point, but is also kind of crazy’. They go along with ‘project mayhem’ destroying coffee shops and tampering with private property believing this will solve their ‘great depression’ as Tyler puts it. Eventually threating to dismember a politician and getting one of their own killed. The one member who dies doesn’t even snap anyone out of their mentality. At that point, they just make ‘Robert’ a martyr.
It’s only after Tyler reveals the endgame to ‘project mayhem’ is to destroy every credit building in America resetting the debt to zero, that Jack decides that he’s insane. Not the encouragement of fighting, or the cult, or admitting to blowing up his apartment, or his awkward treatment of the love interest Marla. Jack has ignored all of these things, or at least been passive to it, due to his admiration for Tyler and helping him out of his depression.
None of this would’ve happened if Jack, and by extension, Tyler had just stopped and thought, ‘I think I need a therapist’. And that’s the point of the movie that people tend to miss.
What’s Your Opinion?
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