Fight Club

What started out as a book involving the darker side of consumer culture, became a cult phenomena that was so grand that we can not talk about it.  Fight club was one of those phenoms that to this day people have been trying to understand.  It was the debut novel of Chuck Palahniuk, but most people know it best as the movie starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt.  It also spawned a video game that was a commercial flop. There has even been talks of a musical and while musicals based of phenoms have been a success (Evil Dead) Or a complete disaster (Spider-man) I can't wait for this one.   Why? Because I would love to see how they can make a musical revolving around beating each other senseless and blowing shit up.

Fight Club starts with an unnamed Narrator who fans refer to as Jack (John in the novel.)  He is an average Joe with a great job and a kickass condo.  What more can anyone ask?  Still he feels there is something missing in his life and it's affected him to the point of insomnia.  Upon seeing a doctor who advises him of an unorthodox way of curing it: See others in worse pain and pretend to empathize with them.  And it works that is until the place he goes to are "invaded" as he puts it, by Marla Singer.  A wild unpredictable girl who only goes to the seminars he goes to spite him for kicks (as well as the free coffee they serve.)  During a routine errand, Jack meets and befriends Tyler Durden, a soap salesman who has an objective view on consumer culture.On his way home he finds that his condo had been blown up and that he is now homeless for the time being.   So he calls Tyler and asks to move into his place.  Tyler obliges under a rather strange condition: "I want you to hit me as hard as you can." To which he does.  He moves in and every thursday night they get into a street fight. Onlookers insist on joining the fight and Fight Club is born. A radical form of psychotherapy in which bare-knuckle boxing is answer to any problems big or small.  Sooner or later the club escalates and more clubs are formed.  Durden, uses this to his advantage and gets club members to assign "Homework Assignments."  Which involve vandalism all over the city.   This in turn becomes the ground break for Project Mayhem.  A Terrorist organization that attacks corporate and consumer culture in order to create an anarchy Utopia.  The Narrator, overwhelmed by everything tries to shut it down only to find out a terrible secret that doesn't just involve Tyler but himself.

Now for the fun part. Could It Exist In Real Life?

Let's start with the Fight Clubs.  For starters, the novel and movie implied that Fight Clubs have been occurring long before this movie took place, so that's a big yes.  A classmate of mine once told me that his McDonalds that he works part time also had their own Fight Club.  And after the movies release there were reports of several Fight Clubs all over California some of which are legal.  Were they there because of the movie, or did the movie point them out?  We may never know because no one is supposed to talk about it.

Next is Project Mayhem.  Yes there have been Terrorist organizations almost anything that inspires control through fear is a terrorist orginization.  However many of them usually have a set goal in mind. Project Mayhem on the other hand was simply for the sake of Anarchy,  so finding a similar group would be difficult.  However there was a similar event created by the renowned hacktivist group Anonymous. However according to Rt.com their Project Mayhem is in attempt to battle corruption.

Last but not least is Tyler Durden.  Could he Exist In Real Life? Yes and no.  For you see Tyler Durden is Jack.  Jack suffers from a split personality manifested by his closeted love for Marla Singer, as well as a burning desire to change his life.  As Tyler puts it.  "I look like you want to look, I fuck like you want to fuck, I am smart, capable and most importantly: I am free in all the ways that you are not." He is that side of us that if we keep caged he will get madder and crazier until he gets free.  It's better to express him in constructive ways than, repress him until he destroys everything you hold dear.

As usual debate, argue and let me know what I miss.  Stay Tuned For More.


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