Fight Club (1999) - David Fincher

 By Lara Culcu.

Warning: Contains major spoilers. Seriously. Don't ruin it for yourself. Last warning.

Fight Club is a cult classic that is as controversial as it is thought-provoking.

It has too many layers to understand fully on the first watch, except if you were really paying attention. Notorious for attracting a fanbase of men who completely misunderstand the point of the film, it makes the exact opposite point of what it seems to be about on the surface.

It follows the unnamed Narrator (Edward Norton), who suffers from insomnia and is discontent with his life. He attends various support groups for illnesses such as testicular cancer and tuberculosis to get some catharsis through sharing his alleged pain with the people there. It is here that he eventually meets Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), who turns out to be an imposter like him. 

She is introduced in a slow push in shot depicting her in sunglasses, smoking a cigarette - an iconic shot that is extraordinarily effective in adding to the ominous atmosphere. 

The first half hour of the film has a unique, witty tone as the Narrator waxes on about the evils of Ikea furniture and the meaningless of urban life. The color scheme is dark, with greens and blacks making up the majority of the colors, creating a depressing feel right off the bat. 

Later, this tone mysteriously disappears to make space for scenes that feel like they could be from a completely different film. Yes, thematically, the film is consistent, but I can't help but feel that the early scenes of the movie painted a story that would have been fascinating if depicted in another film. 

The quirky tone turns to pure violence in a transition that feels natural while watching, but jarring when thought back upon. 

The Narrator goes on to meet Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), who introduces him to a new philosophy. His hatred of consumerism, authority, and his capitalism rub off on the Narrator, who seems to go along with it out of desperation for any sort of connection rather than actually believing in Tyler's ideas.

After all, the Narrator is clearly in depression, even if he attempts to go about his life as usual. He doesn't have any friends beyond the people he interacts with at support groups, can't sleep properly, and doesn't care for his job. 

Edward Norton is an actor who never fails to disappoint. He commits wholeheartedly to his every role, transforming from one film to the next. Here, he perfectly embodies the Narrator - a man who is lonely, desperate for connection even if he rebuffs Marla, and harbors a hatred for his own life and the society he is living in. His facial expressions and mannerisms subtly portray the inner conflict of a character who is deeply messed up. 

In a scene where he beats himself up to frame and blackmail his boss, he brings a physicality to the scene that requires a lot of training to perfect, even with special effects to help. As the film goes on, it's clearer that though this character may not be as physically sick as the members of the support groups he attends, he is severely mentally ill, culminating in the twist near the end. 

At Tyler's insistence, the Narrator punches him in a parking lot, resulting in a fist fight that leads to the creation of Fight Club, an underground club where men get together to beat each other up. 

Here, we reach the main talking point of the film. 

A common criticism is that the movie glorifies violence, and that it is nothing more than a power fantasy for men who want to watch films where they beat each other up, imagining that they are superior because they adhere to a secret philosophy that makes them understand something about society that others don't. 

However, many viewers fail to notice that this is exactly what the movie is warning against. 

Men getting together in an underground lair to beat each other to a pulp shows toxic masculinity; the notion of a style of masculinity based on a need for dominance, aggression, and violent competition. 

It is not something to be admired. Viewers may walk away from the film thinking of how fun it was to watch Edward Norton and Brad Pitt beat each other up for 2.5 hours, but from a logical viewpoint, the film is attempting to show that it's not as satisfying as it appears to be. 

We see fistfights in brutal, bloody detail, the worst of which is a scene where the Narrator beats a man so badly that I couldn't stomach keeping my eyes open through the whole scene. Personally, I wonder how people could misconstrue the meaning so much when the film makes a point of showing over-the-top violence. 

If the idea of beating up a fellow human as it is shown on the film appeals to the viewer, really, Fincher can't be blamed for it. 

The film makes the point Do not do this. Turn back. Bad idea so strongly that it couldn't have been made any clearer without writing it on a neon sign. 

However, in all fairness, Tyler Durden's philosophy is one that appeals to anyone who has become discontent with their lives, as it deals with the state of our society. Most people who have complained about excessive technology, currency, and government paternalism would be able to find themes that they relate to in the film, even if they don't relate to everything. 

David Fincher and Edward Norton fought over the way the film should be presented, with Norton believing that it should be more of a comedy, with the ideas presented tongue-in-cheek, while Fincher believed that it should be serious enough to make the viewer wonder if it was satire or not. 

Regardless, it's clear that Fight Club is a satire, and an excellent one at that. It slowly deconstructs the tropes it presents, and picks apart Tyler's philosophy piece by piece while convincing the viewer that it is promoting it. 

Fincher warred with the producers a lot during the production of the film, from the marketing to the film itself. He stated that a producer criticized the lack of a target audience, stating, "Men do not want to see Brad Pitt with his shirt off. It makes them feel bad. And women don't want to see him bloody. So I don't know who you made this movie for." 

Despite the film bombing majorly at the box office, it eventually developed a cult following, made up of those who take it at face value and believe in Tyler's philosophy, and those who go around correcting the others. And there are those who just enjoy watching fights.

Either way, cinema is subjective. While Fincher had a clear intention while making the film, viewers have a right to interpret it how they want to. If you want to analyze the deeper meaning of the film, fine. If you want to take it as a guide on how to live your life, you have problems, but fine.

The film takes a turn for the absurd by the middle. It escalates from a story about a man trailing around support groups, daydreaming about his Ikea furniture, to a story about a national cult of people intent on anarchy and destroying modern society.

On a personal level, I don't enjoy explicit violence, but it's worth noting that I know a lot of people who enjoyed the fight scenes, both my acquaintances in real life and opinions of online strangers. 

It encapsulates the feeling of wanting to let loose for once. Living in a society where we technically have free will but social rules are so strong that it's almost impossible to do something unacceptable without facing consequences, it's cathartic to watch people fight each other, get up, brush off and go to work the next day like nothing happened. 

Until it gets excessive. Rather than get across its theme through more subtle methods, Fight Club seems insistent to do it while providing fanservice to the audience who would be likely to watch this film. Blood. Fighting. Extreme violence. It seems to criticize its characters while also reveling in them, like a popular classmate you love to hate but secretly admire. 

The revelation that the Narrator and Tyler Durden are the same person is another sort of catharsis. We finally have an explanation for the strange events leading up to this twist; the chase the Narrator is led on around the country, and the reason Marla seems to treat them as the same person.

Tyler Durden is who the Narrator wants to be. The Narrator is confused, lost, uncertain of everything, while Tyler is confident. He gets the girl. He leads the army. He is everything the Narrator isn't, but he also embodies the darkness in him. He does what he wants, and he doesn't have to face the consequences.

When the Narrator shoots himself to kill Tyler, he kills the darkness in himself. He kills off the twisted, dark parts of himself; the parts that are hellbent on destruction. 

In the end, Tyler Durden achieved what he wanted, anarchy, while the Narrator is left to deal with the consequences once again. 

The Narrator mistakes Fight Club for a way to take control, to feel powerful, but in the end, he loses power - the club spirals out of control, leading to the national Project Mayhem, and nobody listens to him anymore. He's back where he started, and society as we know it has changed irreparably. 

But as he holds hands with Marla and watches the buildings collapse, it is the perfect ending to the film. Sure, buildings were blown up and an uncontrollable organization intending to release mayhem unto the world is still active, but a film such as this one can't be expected to have a perfectly happy ending. 

The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club. 

But when it is a film as fine as this one, it's a shame not to.