Fight Club

I don't think this film is very deep beyond a sort of adolescent anger, but I own it because it is such a funny dark comedy. Hilarious film

"Like a monkey, ready to be shot into space. Space Monkey!"

Probably the best movie of the 90s. Just astounding.

I love the movie.....great dialogue great acting great everything!! It's really in the top 10 films of the 90's for sure! I feel like watching now...

this movie is incredibly deep. its a movie that asks us 'why the hell are the majority of men such pussies nowadays compared to 30 years ago?'

it asks us 'why are we running off to cry in group meetings when in the good old days, men used to be able to suck it up and handle things?' i mean seriously, could you imagine your father or grandfather doin that shit? ofcourse not, and these men fought in wars.

it asks 'what the hell is up with women's cartoonish views of what men are like? i mean shit, you watch any random sitcom these days and for some reason the man is shit scared of his wife. in magazines and television we get told we are supposed to be sensitive and to be in touch with our feminine side, why? we're men, not women. its horseshit, just a bunch of propaganda women create for their preferrence. we live in a time where five gay guys are the ones telling us how to be real men. never has this stuff been more relevent than now.

its about realising that we are men, and that were supposed to have an animalistic side. we were once hunters, so why is society slowly conditioning us to be gatherers instead? i dont see the animal kingdom losing touch of their roles. its not often you see an effiminate lion.

its a movie that asks us why we are wasting our lives away worrying about material possessions and creature comforts. we are worrying about our queer eye style makeovers, but 60 years ago guys were worrying that their heads were gonna get blown off on D-DAY.

so in the movie the guys resort to practically the lowest form of their animal instincts, getting into violent fist fights to let out all this bottled up testosterone that they've been told to hide all their lives. and obviously getting into fights is incredibly stupid. but more and more kids these days are growing up without a father figure in their lives, they never really get to learn how to be men, they learn this stuff from their mothers. the end up incredibly weak with the thought of manual labor being worse than cancer.

bottom line is, were a generation of men that hire guys to come and fix stuff for us,when back in the old days dad would fix it himself. we go to the mechanic to get an oil change because we cant do it on our own, no matter how damn easy it is. were the type of guys who care too much about our furniture. the kind of guys who dont own a toolbox. the kind of guys who aren't building houses but are working comfortably on computers.

the movie is about guys trying to be men again, but going about it the wrong way.

That's a damn good post.

for that you get a good reputation point.

Speedrazor, that was perfectly put. When a friend of mine told me he didn't like Fight Club because it was "too dark and disturbing", I felt like starting a fight club of my own...

I'm glad you guys liked it, it took me a while to write, i kept going over it, back and forth, fixing stuff up and trying to find the right words for what i was trying to get across!

I understand what you were trying to say, but I think you did word it wrong. You sound like a sexist pig. Women aren't at fault for men not feeling like men. Don't blame us for your problems.

im not a sexist pig. im saying what the movie is about. so does that mean women can say whatever they want about men all day and men cant say what they feel? even now, my gut feeling would be to say "im very sorry, i didnt mean to offend, your right" but that would be just caving in again. deep down guys feel this, which is why a book like fight club gets made. just being honest. i dont think women are solely at fault, but as time goes on, things become more and more politically correct to the point where guys can no longer say anything. shows like sex and the city reign supreme but can you imagine a show like that about guys where they discuss things like "how tight a girls cunt is"? it would be burned at the stake, but its no problem to hear the girls talk about how big or small a guy's "cock" is.

I didn't know fight club was recruitment tool for homophobes..

I think Fight Club was an ok movie, it had some free thinking, with it's anti-materialistic, anarchist type message then totally contradicted itself by conforming to the age old belief about what a "traditional man" is. Based on this contradiction the movie falls flat as any real rebellion of conventional thought . I give it a 2 out of a possible 10.

The movie is about men feeling demasculated, for sure. But nowhere in the film does it say that women were at fault for it. That is what your post implies. I disagree.

.....

Yeah, I think that quote is pretty clear. No one is implying, neither here nor in the film, that "the evil broads" took away men's masculinity on purpose or did it in some way to control or downgrade the male gender. But what the film is trying to say, and which I sort of agree with, is that in a society of prevalent divorce, deadbeat dads, and moms that raise their sons alone, we are seeing a lot more men growing up to be, well, "mama's boys".

Speedrazor is obviously very upset about the success of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The movie is definitely anti-materialistic, and about guys trying to be men, but not in the homophobic way he presents is.

Well-shot, but I'm dubious about its premise.

The devil often lies with the truth. Fight Club is one of my favorite movies of all time but I think many seem to miss the point. While there is some truth to be found in what Tyler Durden has to say, too often admirers of Fight Club take those words as gospel. The ultra masculinity Tyler was pimping may look attractive but look where that eventually leads: destruction of self, destruction of others and destruction of society. Thanks, but no thanks. What some critics who hated the film, such as Roger Ebert (I like him but don't always agree with him), and certain fans who take Tyler's message as dogma seem to misunderstand is the movie isn't advocating that kind of thinking but showing how stupid it is.

I killed two squirrels yesterday and skinned them. I took a bath in an open air feed trough with water I boiled on a high-pressure propane burner I rigged together myself with electrician's tape and spare parts. I continued to work on my ever-growing cabin project. And I flipped the door to my shed around. Yet it didn't make me feel particularly manly. I ended up stepping on a nest of wasps while squirrel hunting this morning and getting the bejesus stung out of me. I ran away like the big girly-man I am.

You know what guys did 100 years ago when they stepped on a hornet's nest? They ran away like girly men. Don't believe everything you see in the movies.

I do tend to waver more towards that thread, but there's no denying the other theories have truth in them to. That's the beauty of such a great film - lots of different interpretation.

So what does squirrel taste like?

This movies greatest fans have more problems than the Star Wars bunch. The last time I saw this movie, it was two years ago, at a movie theatre, and I was sitting beside a guy and his girlfriend (or recruit--take your pick) and he was quoting nearly every line from the film, especially the stuff spewing from Brad Pitt's face. It wasn't as if the guy was merely a fan of this movie; he was reading and seeing it as a new dogma. On top of this, he came dressed in black fatigues and Doc Marten's, just ready to take control of his life or kick someone's ass or march.

Fight Club presents itself in such a silly and stupid manner that anyone able to find depth in it is a better man than me because it plays merely as hokum. It's pedantic; it's talks down to its audience, and worst of all it acts as if it discovered consumerism on its own. The topics or "revelations" brought forth in this movie are not new, but for so many it played this way, only lending itself more to the shut-in crowd (in fact, its greatest fans didn't see it until it was on DVD because again, they were shut-in away from the world); those that suffer from social dysfunction, naivete and have a distaste and/or fear (of) for women. Mel Gibson would unquestionably announce Fight Club was a masterpiece, but I must also add that Helena Bonham Carter is very good in the slut role, but I give her that credit--not Fincher. I wouldn't quite say I hate the movie because that would be giving it more credence than it deserves, but it hardly lives it up to the purported insight fans claim. Anyone proclaiming this movie is "deep" only proves how shallow they are; if it's regarded as a dark comedy, then it's halfway successful. Maybe.

It astounds me that people actually take the Tyler Durden philosophies to heart and don't get the fact that the movie is skewering that macho, anarchic bullshit as much as it is consumerism. The Narrator goes from one fucked-up extreme to another and only comes to some sort of middle ground at the very end, but a lot of people who revere the movie can't see that.

Just because some fans choose to take it to extremes, not everybody who loves this pedantic movie is insane, in the same way not everyone who loves Star Wars dresses up as Han Solo all the time. Most of us are just normal movie fans who happen to like the flick. I don't know any FC fans who are obsessive or weird in any way, and I know a hell of a lot of people who, like me, absolutely love the movie.

I mean, obviously that guy didn't get it, but it's the same as the guy who watches FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART 3 - XI and goes out killing folks in a hockey mask. Some people are just misguided anyway.

you couldnt be more wrong, i actually watch the show. i find the guys to be quite charming. i get angry when the show isnt on because it got rescheduled. im not homophobic in the slightest. i have incredibly good friends who are gay. hell i think the movie is kinda pro gay. what im saying about queer eye is that these are guys telling us we should be more effeminate because society tells us thats how we will be more successful. we should care about what product we have in our hair, and that we should impress our boss with what plates we have in our china cabinet. where your a loser if you have long hair and your clothes arent cool. do you think thats right?

i mean jesus i said that the stuff the did in the movie was incredibly stupid, i didnt condone it, im simply explaining what i feel the movie is about!

I haven't seen Fight Club in some time, but reading that quote out of context does nothing for me. I see the movie in more political terms talking about capitalism as the precursor to most of these guys problems. I mean their whole grand scheme was to blow up the credit card companies so everyone could start over, on equal footing. The Narrator has a job which affords him the luxury of being a wussy, of having an Ikea home, and wearing khaki pants. He doesn'thave to worry about the hardships that men in olden times had to worry about because of the lifestyle his job affords him. He's not a hunterer because he doesn't have to be. Women or no.

That is a total misinterpretation of the movie; you're mistaking its black humour with a message, when this whole "we need to be real men again" is precisely what the film makes fun of! I mean Tyler is pretty ridiculous in his macho posturing, and the army he forms is basically a gang of skinheads who think they're independent, but are all sheeps taking orders from Tyler Durden - that's why the "His name is Robert Paulsen" scene is so funny, it's a riff on the balcony scene in Life of Brian, where they all shout "yes, we are all individuals!"

Also, courtesy of ZombiesDontRun:
I think Fight Club was an ok movie, it had some free thinking, with it's anti-materialistic, anarchist type message then totally contradicted itself by conforming to the age old belief about what a "traditional man" is. Based on this contradiction the movie falls flat as any real rebellion of conventional thought . I give it a 2 out of a possible 10.

That's what makes this film so funny! It's the exact cinematic equivalent of a 14 year old acting all tough and then falling back into the fold really quickly.

I think the whole film is satire, and I find it even funnier every time I think there are people taking it seriously. It's a satire of teenagers' aspirations to be rebels and real tough guys in a gang, and going "fuck capitalism, I'm a free spirit", which only lasts for a time until they grow up. That's why he says "I'm going to be allright now", at the end.

Hey, Hewlett has put it better than me, so I'm gonna steal his words, I'm such a rebel!
It astounds me that people actually take the Tyler Durden philosophies to heart and don't get the fact that the movie is skewering that macho, anarchic bullshit as much as it is consumerism. The Narrator goes from one fucked-up extreme to another and only comes to some sort of middle ground at the very end, but a lot of people who revere the movie can't see that.

Obviously speedrazor can speak for himself but like he said - the film asks questions.

Its about the disenfranchised male. The frustrations and confusion we all face day to day and how to handle it. Yeah ok, Norton went about it the wrong way but like I said it asks QUESTIONS.

Jesus, with all this political correctness and the collective bugs up asses, no wonder Fight Club flopped in the US.

If you want REAL depth read a fuckin' book.

I agree with this statement.

I remember a review when Fight Club came out by a writer who wrote a column called "I Had Too Much To Think Last Night." It was positive (in his way). The opening paragraph was something like, "Fight Club is the gayest film I've ever seen. It's really gay. It's even gayer than me, and I've had sex with a transexual."

The film satirizes both the empty existence of Norton's character and Tyler Durden's solution to it, which causes problems, kills people, and the narrator is trying to stop by the end of the film. Everything, including the euphoric image at the end, is subverted (come to think of it: a man and woman holding hands has a giant penis flash over it... subtext!)

The box set had a large quote from Ebert where he called it "Fascist." I think the film itself is certainly not, although its characters are.

dont you guys realise that satire is the greatest form of social commentary there is?

el topo, sorry but i disagree with you completely. had you paid attention to what i said you'd see i said what they do is completely stupid. the movie does end with ed norton becoming a man by taking responsiblity for what he has created. but its still what the book/film is about, you obviously missed out on all of it by dismissing it as just black comedy. chuck palahniuk would be very insulted, because ofcourse its an exagerration and satire of real life, but only exagerrated to push the point further. every book he writes is a satire and a comment on society. i guess a clockwork orange was just a good old yarn too. its like saying dawn of the dead isnt a valuable comment on society because its got zombies and is highly exagerrated. and robocop was just about kick ass violence. fight club wouldnt be such a cult classic with everybody if it was just some black comedy. hell its 41st highest rated movie on imdb. the movie isnt trying to push its doctrine on anyone and neither am i, it just raises questions while at the same time being a very entertaining movie. did you ever read any interviews with brad pitt about the movie when it was released? he goes much further than i do with his beliefs on what the movie is about, and he doesnt find it to be just some black comedy but thinks it questions and puts out to the public some serious issues.

when the movie was released it was burned at the stake by moral watchdogs, and it wasnt just because it was violent, feminist groups attacked it, religious fundementalists abhored it. it caused quite a stir because its the type of movie that can strike a chord with people.

El Topo's got it. The anti-consumer stuff is valid, sure, but it's so obvious to anyone who pays attention to the world that the things Durden dramatically makes sound like big revelations are NOT revelations at all. This is part of the humor. The "disenfranchised male" bullshit is 80s stuff -- it's not revelatory. We've heard the arguments, and the real-life solutions proposed have been nearly as stupid as beating each other up in basements (going out in the woods and pounding on drums whilst affirming our manhood, for instance).

As social criticism, Durden's speeches fall flat. They're obvious, pedantic, and oversimplified. As an expression of what "Jack" may be thinking and his sorting things out in his mind, however, they're perfect. This guy isn't the brightest bulb, and he's been living in a sort of paralysis. So all those things that seem sort of obvious get overplayed in his head, and he reacts violently to them.

It's sort of like Taxi Driver - sure, there are problems in late 20th/early 21st century America, but your sanity can only be judged by how you react to them. If you start shooting pimps or blowing up buildings, you're just creating more problems.

Great point, although there's something in this thread I'm not a fan of, mainly people saying other people's interpretations are wrong, or even going further than that. The thing about film is that it's different to different people, but when you start immediately discrediting other people's interpretations, it's less about discussion and more about 'I'm right, you're wrong' which is an attitude amongst film discussion that I hate. I'm not talking about people arguing over the plot of something, but with a flick like FIGHT CLUB where it does have numerous interpretations to different people, it's not cool, although I've noticed it a lot more on CHUD lately, which may say something about where it's heading.

Art is subjective, but this thread is on the verge of being ridiculous because *no one* has mentioned (probably because they don't know) that Chuck Palahnuik, the author of the original book, is gay.

Not a big deal, but the dynamic of Fight Club does rely on this fact at certain points. In the original book Jack & Tyler first meet at a nude beach, setting up Jack's desire for the physical ideal of Tyler, and fooling the reader into thinking this was going somewhere it wasn't. The film certainly addressed this, and in my opinion did it better. While reasonably faithful to the book, Fincher's film is superior by several degrees.

Lady Snowblood is like many of this films critics, heavily basing his opinion on the reactions of the meatheads that didn't "get" Fight Club, and openly insulting reasonable fans like myself.
I didn't want to beat anyone's ass after seeing this film, I didn't want to firebomb a Starbucks, and I certainly didn't want to shave my head and run about like a neanderthal cum asshole.

I had a friend who did take this from the film, he looked like an asshole for it, but then again he was recently discharged from the Coast Guard after being diagnosed w/ disassociative personality disorder (formerly multiple personality disorder) so...

Fight Club traps the meatheads and lowly pencil pushers in the corner by using their own bullshit against them. The film IS about the contradictory nature of its subjects, and of its supposed message. "I hate being a conformist, so I'll just conform over here instead of over there", that's Fight Club. Also, there is no evidence that Tyler Durden was created specifically in response to Marla, as Jack's insomnia was present long before she came into the scene (and Tyler is seen before the intro of Marla).

As is obvious, Jack feels that Marla is the problem, when she's really the solution. I see this film as a wonderful chaotic romance in a way, especially the ending which I felt was just as romantic as it was destructive.

For all of Jack's moaning and fatalistic posteuring, he wanted to be that big, sexy, virile rockstar with the 10inch cock and the vibrant personality that he was "raging" against. (I know I do)

This film uses something we are probably all guilty of; or have you never totally posed and bullshitted on a post before? Have you ever tried to project a self image that maybe wasn't entirely factual?

I'm reasonably sure that we're far more eloquent in our thoughts on the net, than in real life. ( I'm a bit more manic, and less put together in the real world)

"Fight Club" is a dark, visually stunning film, about being the asshole of the world when you never needed to be. Jack didn't really need Tyler, Marla didn't need to die, and the "Space Monkeys" didn't need to sally forth to the edge of reason.

It's like "Office Space" w/ Jared Leto facial mutilation!

you know what, i completely didnt even think of mentioning that chuck is gay, which i think says a lot.

oh and thank you very much to the anonymous coward who gave me the bad reputation point with the comment 'bigoted piece of shit'. you fucking trashbag.

funnily enough i've had more good reputation points telling me they think my interpretation of the film is spot on. its funny to see stupidity reign supreme, i make comments about what i think a movie is about, a movie that it asks us to question certain things, all of a sudden im an asshole who holds the stuff as my doctrine of life. how fucking stupid can you be.

I would like to say that I know Chuck is gay. Though it would be understandable if I didn't, because I would have to had caught a particular issue of Entertainment Weekly from a few months ago? It's hard to stay current with people's sexuality, because things change.

[QUOTE=SPEEDRAZOR]

funnily enough i've had more good reputation points telling me they think my interpretation of the film is spot on. [QUOTE]


Even david duke has supporters...

*coughzombiesdontruncough*

I really don't see in the original post where Speedrazor said ANYTHING that could have been construed as homophobic.

*Some* people don't need tangible evidence to draw a wild conclusion.

I'm guessing its the Queer Eye comment. But Speedrazor isn't saying those things. That's what he's saying the guys in Fight Club are saying.

I do agree that people are taking this thread way too seriously. Everyone has a right to their interpretation of the film. It's fine to say you disagree with someone, but saying someone's interpretation is wrong or that they are stupid/gay/whatever for having their views is just assinine. We're all adults here. Let's start acting like it.

I do have to say speedrazor nails the characters views pretty good, but in the end the narrator rejects the hyper-masculine anarchist ethos. I don't know that I necessarily consider the film/book "deep"; I think it's clever, funny, and pointed, which in general equals "entertaining". I think anyone who takes the Tyler Durden platform seriously needs to sit down and really think about their life.

I've watched a few episodes of QE, and while it's a simple diversion, one "tip" did annoy me.

One of the guys made the suggestion that "If you're at a cafe or what have you, you should always be reading something interesting. It may help catch the attention of a passerby and drum up good conversation".

Yep. Nevermind personal enjoyment, or study, reading (or pretending to read) Brian Greene's "Fabric of the Cosmos" will make you look *interesting*; who cares if you actually get it!

Which part was that in?






What's an adult act like? You?

Why? Just because you can't understand it? How bigoted.

Blah blah blah. Jackass.

you really are a moron. what im saying is that the type of stuff that queer eye are telling us is important is the exact same stuff fight club rails against. they tell us that expensive clothes, cool furniture, an art deco apartment, caring about different types of wine, and impressing other people with that stuff is what being a real man is about, and once you have that stuff, you're changed for the better.

but i doubt any of that will sink in, you've proven your intelligence doesnt go to far.