Fight Club: The Masterpiece « “Courage is being the only one that knows you’re afraid.”

“Fight Club” is the genre of film that takes the oblivious and unsuspecting viewer for an unforgettable ride. All those who like renting a movie for the sake of seeing a predictable plot unfold before their eyes, concluding in the fairytale ending, should look for another form of entertainment; this is not the movie for you. If you wish, however, to see a graphic, and mind-bottling work of art, you have come to the right place..

“Fight Club” made its day view onto the big screen in 1999 and became, to the dismay of many, a vivid example of the pessimistic realism that looms over today’s society. Actors Brad Pitt and Edwin Norton did an incredible job of portraying this realism through gory, yet cunning, scenes that wished to convey a message of despair to the already listless live of the ordinary human being. They emulated the lives of those individuals who go about life on autopilot and never once contemplated breaking free from an overbearing complacency. It was this ground-breaking attempt to expose the wrongfully accepted norms of society, as well as the insignificance of life, that truly got the attention of a multitude of speculating viewers.

The movie starts off with the narrator, who is also the protagonist, sitting on a chair with a pistol being put in his mouth by Brad Pitt’s character: Tyler. The narrator then goes on to try and explain the course of evens, which have lead to Tyler’s “Project Mayhem.” A flashback then brings us back to the narrator in the arms of a large man with “tits,” but quickly he decides to let the audience know that he wants to go further back in the past to tell his story. The movie then seemingly restarts with the somber voice of the narrator discussing his barren, fruitless life. He goes on to let the viewer know that he suffers of insomnia in which state he claims, “You’re never really asleep and you’re never really awake.” It is then made known that he fills the gaps in his life by visiting 12-step support groups at night. He does this on a regular basis, not because he is suffering from any terminal illness, but rather because he has became addicted and all too dependant on the groups. His reasoning is that when people believe that you are ill or going to die; they truly listen to you, “instead of waiting for their turn to speak.” At this point we can tell he is a severely disturbed man, who pathetically finds pleasure in sobbing away his own shortcomings and displeasure with life in the arms of a sick stranger. Yet, somehow we start to feel a bit of compassion and understanding towards the troubled main character.

In one of the 12-step support groups, the narrator meets Marla, another physically healthy person addicted to these groups. The narrator tries to scare her off by threatening to expose her as a fake, but she makes the same threat right back at him, forcing a truce between the two. They agree on splitting the groups among each other and reach an agreement fit only for mentally unstable people such as themselves.

As the movie goes on we learn more about the narrator. He works for a car company, inspecting the safety and effectiveness of each car. As a result, he is always on some flight to a workplace destination. It is on one of these flights that he meets Tyler Durden. From the very first moment Tyler opens his mouth, the narrator is both impressed and intrigued by such a peculiar character. Tyler leaves him his calling card and goes his own way. Upon getting back to his apartment, the narrator can see an explosion from far away and is told his home exploded due to some inexplicable spark. Stranded and with no place to spend the night, the narrator opts to call Tyler. After a couple of drinks at the bar, they proceed outside at which point Tyler says to the narrator, “I want you to hit me as hard as you can” (Fight Club), Astonished and bewildered, the narrator attempts to question the motive to such as seemingly absurd request. Tyler answers “Come on what could you possible know about yourself if you’ve never been a fight, I don’t want to die without any scars.” Narrator finally hits them and their tussle to follow is what gives form to the rest of the movie.

Both men go on to make an underground fight club, which welcomed all men frustrated with life and wishing to take it out on someone’s face. The fights are pretty much the equivalent to a cock fight, except cocks know when to stop. These fighters, however, came to do more than just vent their frustrations in a basement, using their fists and limbs as instruments. They had their own private assignments to do, of course set by Tyler himself. One of them which seems to stand out is when he tells his mindless followers: “You have an assignment, you are going to start a fight…and you’re going to lose.” At this point the viewer starts to get the idea that “fight club” is not simply a group that fights, but one that is committed to realigning the perceptions and fears of a conformist society.

Tyler as a person comes off as truly cynical and satirical. Every last sentence he utters is a pop reference or a suggestion that the world is heading down a ignorant path. He is everything the narrator literally is not: spontaneous, a leader, and the man with a plan. This is illustrated very well in the scene when Tyler holds up a convenience store and takes the clerk out to the parking lot and tells him to get on his knees. Upon taking his wallet, Tyler sees an expired community college id. He asks the clerk what was he studying to be and he answers that he wanted to be an animal doctor but it entailed “too much school.” Tyler gives him an ultimatum: “If you are not on you way to becoming an animal doctor in six weeks, you will die.” The clerk then runs homes like a dog with its tail tugged between its legs.

Another peculiar event happens when Tyler puts on a type of acidic substance on the narrator’s hand and continues to let it burn away flesh. The narrator pleads and screams for Tyler to let him wash it off but before he does Tyler inculcates one message into his mind: “First, you have to give up; you have to know, not fear, KNOW, that someday you are going to die.” Tyler continues to reiterate that they are God’s unwanted children and do not need him as a result. The most powerful quote that surfaces in this encounter is “It is only once you lost everything that we are free to do anything.” Once the narrator “gives up” and accepts his mortality, Tyler gives him vinegar to neutralize the acid on his hand. Once the vinegar touches his hand, the narrator collapses to the ground in agonizing relief. Sometimes you have to plain out wonder what is going on in his head and what are his true intentions with regards to the narrator and his life.

Despite what seemed as an effective venting activity for unsatisfied men, this club slowly but surely escalated into something far more serious; something the narrator began to dread and mistrust. Project Mayhem, Tyler’s plan for ultimate chaos leading to ultimate equality, educed the narrator to oppose what was becoming a perilous game to play. Once the narrator begins to trace Tyler’s steps, he comes to one disconcerting conclusion: he and Tyler Durden are the same person, Now racing to stop his alter ego, the narrator tries to save Marla from the hands of the fight club members narrowly saving himself from harms way. The final confrontation happens at the end, however, when he somewhat bizarrely fights his alter ego. After an extended lead up the final scene, the unusual scuffle comes to a halt. The narrator has a gun in his mouth and shoots himself, thereby killing Tyler Durden, his malicious alter ego. The audience is left thinking: Does the crazed narrator also die?

All around this movie was a great illustration of class and wit, as opposed to a scantily prepared film with no real underlying meaning. It perpetuates the deceit of a society, which has inculcated an unachievable notion of perfection into the hearts and minds of ordinary people who know better. It is truly a great film for those who want to learn another perspective of life, no matter how depressing, that is not necessarily the normally accepted one. The one thing most consistent in this masterpiece is the crude, raw, and uncensored truth being thrown at the viewer. in various scenes. Fight Club is an extraordinary movie deserving much praise and respect and whoever has not seen it has been deprived of seeing Brad Pitt and Edward Norton at their finest.