FM4: Section C - 'Fight Club'
'A' Grade Exam Response Guidance
Summary of Recommendations:
- Answer each question directly/stress the key points
- Use key words from the question: repeatedly throughout
- Make it clear what films will be discussed at the start: directors + year
- Refer directly to key sequences using detailed analysis and film language to refer to key scenes (mise-en- scene/framing/lighting/sound etc)
- Give a ‘personal response’ (ie: for me/ I believe/in my opinion/the second time I watched it/with further viewing)
Summary of Recommendations:
- Answer the question as asked
- Less is sometimes more: structure an argument and choose examples carefully for maximum impact in relation to the question
- Bring macro and micro analysis into this paper; extending on the last point, detailed reference and discussion is always better than general description.
‘Fight Club’ is an attack on the fact that we, as a society, are consumed by standard morals and beliefs. This is where the main part of the film comes in to play, as Edward Norton’s character (who leads a normal, boring, mundane life) creates an imaginary character out of his own mind, Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) - someone who is everything he would want to be – to help him escape from the conformist life that he leads. The two of them going on a nihilistic journey that leads to the mass destruction of the entire financial city block – an attack on consumerism; something that Pitt’s character talks about most of the time throughout the film. Another major theme of the film is the idea that men are gradually becoming more and more feminised in society, hence why the actual fight club is created – something that will allow men to regain their masculinity. However, this is something that has to be done in secret, away from the public eye, which could be seen as a theme of homosexuality, and Norton’s character trying to deal with his own sexuality. Norton’s character is also the subject of the theme of mental illness, as he (at the beginning of a film) suffers from insomnia, and needs emotional release to allow him to sleep - Brad Pitt’s character could also be the result of sleep deprivation, as hallucinations are prone to occur during insomnia.
The film is trying to make a statement about modern America as it shows a very nihilistic view of the world and it is trying to reject aspects of authority, consumerism and order. The film constantly tries to show flaws in society through literal examples mixed with philosophy and shows the characters rejecting enforced ideologies. For example Jacks character creates Tyler as a way of rejecting modern social constructs like consumerism, almost as if he was being oppressed by ideology; Tyler is his way of becoming the person who he wants to be. The film also shows constant themes of postmodernism to express the view that everything is a copy of something else and nothing is original, no one is individual, everything is constantly recycled and degraded which could be seen as representative of society and the way it has degraded into something meaningless and chaotic. An example of this post modernism is shown through the way that Jack/Tyler makes soap from human fat, he is recycling other people’s waste and turning it into something that he then sells back to them. The constant theme of postmodernism is shown in the film to express how since nothing is original, everything will eventually degrade and decay into something worthless, in relation to society it would mean the loss of order and reason, which Tyler is trying to achieve.
‘Fight Club’, as a narrative, deals with the concept of postmodernism in a very postmodern way. The narrative itself constantly refers to the re-use of materials and of recycling texts, literally intertextually referencing older movies like ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘Psycho’. The film literally refers to itself throughout, Edward Norton directly addressing the audience and Tyler demonstrating the process of film editing, to remind the viewer that it is a movie and that it's not reality. It also deals with the crisis of masculinity and deals with the apparent nature of males of their constant need to be part of a fraternity of like-minded people and their willingness to follow any opposing ideology no matter what it is. Also it displays the idea that all problems men face in life can be fixed through therapy, fighting or terrorism as if it is what they were born to do. The narrative themes of mental instability and split personalities explore the idea that men are weak minded yet physicality strong. The character of Tyler is also a strong Marxist showing the political messages in the film of conformity with everyone being the same and working together for the same purpose. This is shown to be interchangeable with how people will blindly follow ideas with little thought of the consequences. It could also be interpreted as having homosexual themes shown through the relationships of Angel Face, Tyler and Jack, as Jack feels threatened by the growing relationship between Tyler and Angel Face.