Fight Club
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| Fight Club | |
|---|---|
| File:Fight club ver4.jpg | |
| Directed by | David Fincher |
| Written by | Chuck Palahniuk (novel), Jim Uhls (screenplay) |
| Produced by | Arnon Milchan |
| Starring | Edward Norton Brad Pitt Helena Bonham Carter Meat Loaf |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century Fox |
Release dates |  October 6, 1999 (première) 12 November, 1999 |
Running time | 139 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $63,000,000 (estimated) |
Fight Club (1999) is a film based on the novel Fight Club (1996) by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by David Fincher and starred Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, and Meat Loaf. It also featured an original soundtrack by the Dust Brothers. The film was a box office disappointment (although it was #1 at the U.S. box office in its first weekend) and critical reaction was mixed, but a cult following soon emerged as the DVD of the film was popular upon release. Many critics and audiences later had a change of heart and the film appeared on many 'best of the year' lists and soon developed a following. For example, Entertainment Weekly, which had originally given the film a negative grade of D, later ranked the DVD #1 on its list of "The Top 50 DVDs You Need To Own." The DVD market, which was experiencing rapid growth at the time, caused Fight Club not only to break even, but actually become profitable.
Plot
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Template:Spoiler
The plot revolves around a nameless employee (Norton) of a major car company, who narrates the story. Suffering from insomnia, he complains to his doctor and asks to be medicated for his irregular sleeping habits. His doctor refuses to give a prescription, but suggests if he wants "to see real suffering" to visit a testicular cancer support group. He goes, and, greeted with warmth, openness, and hugs, cries helplessly in the arms of his very first support group partner, Robert Paulson, otherwise referred to as Bob (Meat Loaf). After attending, the narrator finds that he can sleep again, and begins attending as many support groups as he can, regularly and under pseudonyms. But after going to the groups for a time, he notices another "faker" - Marla Singer. This disrupts his enjoyment of the meetings and his insomnia returns.
On one of his business trips, he meets Tyler Durden (Pitt), a soap salesman, who gives him his business card. Returning from his trip, the narrator finds his condo blown up and in flames; his home and all of his material possessions are destroyed. He calls Tyler and the two meet at a bar. The two have a drink and talk, as Tyler expounds on his gripes with consumerism and his detachment from the world because of material excess. After hearing about the Narrator's condo, Tyler suspects he has ulterior motives for calling him. Tyler eggs the Narrator to ask if he can stay at Tyler's place. Tyler agrees, and then makes an extraordinary request: "I want you to hit me... as hard as you can." The Narrator, feeling foolish, reluctantly complies, and the two start fighting in the parking lot of the bar. They enjoy it.
After the Narrator moves in with Tyler, they continue fighting regularly outside the bar, and soon attract a small crowd. Tyler strikes a deal with the bar manager, and uses the basement to host a "fight club", where men gather weekly and fight each other with rules decided by Tyler and the narrator.
Fight club is initially a cult-like underground secret society (the first two rules are "You do not talk about fight club"), but as members seem unable to keep the secret, the club inevitably grows. As it grows, Tyler instills in the members subversive and often antisocial attitudes connected with anarchism, nihilism, deconstructionism and the like. Soon Tyler is distributing "homework" to the members of the club, which grows into "Project Mayhem", an anti-corporate organization led by Tyler. They spread propaganda, vandalise buildings, and destroy stores and merchandise, among other stunts ordered by Tyler. The Narrator becomes frustrated that the creation of Project Mayhem was done without his approval, as he was a co-founder of fight club along with Tyler. As the Project expands, the Narrator becomes increasingly disturbed by their actions and eventually tries to put a stop to it.
He finds plane ticket stubs in Tyler's room and tries to trace Tyler's steps, going from city to city. In his travels he discovers that Fight Club and Project Mayhem have now spread nation-wide. Upon entering another hotel room, the Narrator finds Tyler inside waiting for him. They discuss the Narrator's anxiety over the situation. After recognizing many inconsistencies, the Narrator comes to realize from Tyler's own clues that "Tyler Durden" is the Narrator's own split personality, who does many destructive things while the Narrator is asleep or viewing Tyler as a separate entity. After this realisation the Narrator checks out of the hotel but finds discrepancies in his phone record: the hotel bills him for calls made at a time he was certain he was sleeping.
Project Mayhem picks up many recruits - so many that when the Narrator attempts to thwart Tyler's plans to blow up downtown credit card companies' headquarters by informing the police, he is seized by secret members at the police station who are bent on removing his testicles as punishment for compromising the Project, per Tyler's instructions. The Narrator escapes, testicles intact, further shocked at how far Project Mayhem has spread. He runs downtown to disassemble bombs in the garages of the office buildings. As he is attempting to defuse one set of bombs, Tyler appears and plays mindgames with him. Under stress, the Narrator manages to succeed in disarming one set of bombs, but fails to get to the rest as Tyler's mood darkens and he beats the Narrator into submission. Tyler drags him to an upper story of another building (as explained by screenwriter Jim Uhls in the DVD commentary) and binds him to a chair, from where he has an excellent view of the other buildings about to be destroyed.
Tyler holds the narrator captive at gunpoint while lecturing, but the Narrator remembers that Tyler and he are the same person. Therefore, he reasons, the gun in Tyler's hand is actually in his hand. As he gains awareness of the situation, and the absurdity of what Project Mayhem is, he realizes he does not need Tyler. The Narrator slips the gun in his mouth and squeezes the trigger, shooting himself through the cheek at an improbable angle. Tyler falls down with an exit wound in the back of his head. The Narrator's injury, however, is not fatal. Members of Project Mayhem arrive with Marla forcibly in tow, and he calls for gauze as the members leave Marla and the Narrator alone.
Marla complains about how poorly the Narrator/Tyler has been treating her, until she sees the gun wound. The Narrator explains that he shot himself, and that Marla met him "at a strange time in [his] life". The film ends as they stand together and watch the buildings implode, holding hands above a collapsing skyline.
Differences between novel and film
Though the plot of the film is mostly similar to the novel and much of the dialogue is used verbatim, some significant changes were made in the concepts and action.
- Tyler's "Middle Children of History" speech originally was given by a mechanic in the novel.
- Tyler's involvement in the storyline is often in the foreground of the film. He is often unseen in the novel, his involvement being mentioned by the Narrator in retrospect.
- Tyler Durden is a soap salesman instead of a beach artist (as in the novel).
- The Narrator meets Tyler on a plane instead of on a nude beach (as in the novel).
- The Narrator reads stories about "Jack" in the film, who was named "Joe" in the novel. This was changed to avoid conflicts with Reader's Digest over the use of the name (the articles read by the Narrator were featured in the magazine).
- Marla's line after having sex with Tyler was "I want to have your abortion" in the novel. The film changed this line to "I haven't been fucked like that since grade school." However, the original line was filmed and can be seen in the DVD's deleted scenes section (the reason for the change is that the director was told the original line was 'too offensive', so he changed it to something even more offensive and then refused to change it back).
- The first batch of soap made by the Narrator and Tyler is made from fat from a liposuction clinic, rather than from liposuctioned fat from Marla's mother as it was in the book. The Paper Street Soap Company is not formed until after this first soap making project, which was simply to get some soap to clean the Narrator's clothes.
- The scene where Tyler fights Lou is based on a scene in the novel where Tyler blackmails the Projectionist Union's president. Neither Lou nor any other angry bar owner appears in the book.
- A flashback scene in the novel in which the narrator urinates on the Blarney Stone does not appear in the film.
- Omitted from the movie is a scene where Tyler tells a story in which he caused a woman to nearly lose her mind after he leaves an anonymous note stating that he urinated in one of the woman's perfume bottles.
- The Narrator is more involved and in control of Project Mayhem in the book than the film.
- The confrontation with Raymond K. Hessel is handled by the Narrator alone in the novel; in the film, Tyler takes control while the Narrator witnesses the event.
- Robert Paulson is by himself when he is killed in the novel; he was using an electric drill to drill a hole in an ATM and pump it full of glue, pudding or grease (they never mention which), when a cop spots him and thinks the drill is a gun.
- In the film, the Narrator frequently expresses disdain for his boss; in the novel, he says that he actually likes his boss and even suggests that he considers him a father figure.
- A scene from the novel in which Tyler murders the Narrator's boss does not appear in the film, although the method of his murder is used in the film (drilling out a computer monitor and filling it with gasoline).
- In the film, the ultimate objective of Project Mayhem is never revealed, but the Narrator tells a police officer that he believes their goal is to blow up all the credit card companies and send the national debt record back to zero. In the novel, however, the goal of Project Mayhem was to slow down humanity's technological advancement by artificially causing another Dark Age. This is referred to in the film, however, in the bedroom scene after the car crash. Part of Project Mayhem's goals included erasing history, and the real purpose of blowing up the building in the book was to have it fall on the National Museum next door.
- Project Mayhem's bombs are successful in exploding in the film, while they were duds in the novel.
- The film ends with the Narrator and Marla watching buildings explode, while the novel ends with the Narrator talking about a mental institution (which he believes is heaven) to which he has been confined.
Reaction and themes
Fight Club was released in the United States on October 15, 1999 to mixed reviews. While some critics raved about the film, many high-profile critics denounced it. Janet Maslin of The New York Times compared it favorably to American Beauty while Roger Ebert called it "macho porn."[1] Perhaps the strongest negative reaction was from critic Rex Reed, who called it "A film without a single redeeming quality, which may have to find its audience in Hell." The graphic violence of the fights seemed to upset most critics, although only two death scenes actually occur in the film, neither of which are related to the fights in question. One of the most controversial critical moves occurred on The Rosie O'Donnell Show when Rosie O'Donnell spoiled the twist ending to the movie before it was in wide release as protest to the perceived violent message. The film was also criticized as a result of being released into theaters while the social and cultural effects of the Columbine High School massacre were still lingering.
The film opened with $11 million, a surprise #1 movie in a close race that weekend at the box office. However, it fell very quickly in subsequent weekends, finishing with only $37 million in the U.S. It was regarded as a failure as the budget was $63 million, not including advertising which could have been another $20-30 million. Even with the $63 million later accumulated overseas, bringing its worldwide box-office total to just shy of US$101 million, executives at 20th Century Fox still felt the movie was a severe disappointment, so much that Entertainment Chief Bill Mechanic was fired[citation needed]. According to Mechanic, he had personally clashed with Fox owner Rupert Murdoch over Fight Club and it cost him his job, barely a year after Fox's Titanic had become the highest-grossing film ever made.
Fight Club's salvation turned out to be the DVD market which was experiencing rapid growth at the time. The two-disc package featured four audio commentaries and hours of extra material, offering an in-depth analysis of the film. Fight Club would eventually break even and later become profitable thanks to booming DVD sales. Entertainment Weekly, which had originally given the film a negative grade of D, later ranked the DVD #1 on its list of "The Top 50 DVDs You Need To Own."
Fight Club ranked 10th on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's My Favourite Film. The film was the only entry in the top 10 to split the presenter panel along gender lines, with the three male presenters endorsing the film and the three female presenters offering a negative reaction.
The film's highly critical view of consumerism and modern living caused discomfort among some critics. Critics like Ebert decried what they described as fascist themes throughout the film, while others have commented on anarchist, nihilist, and Buddhist ideals. Both are represented in the transformation of the fight club, an anti-materialistic organization of individuality to Project Mayhem, a more organized community, led solely on the authority of Tyler Durden. The amorphous nature in which these seemingly opposed philosophical systems melded together is the cause for much of the disagreement over the philosophical core of this film.
Parallels are also drawn between Tyler Durden's vision of the world after his revolution and the views of the "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski (an anarcho-primitivist). This can be seen in one scene where Tyler says, "In the world I see, you're stalking elk through the damp canyon forest around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty carpool lane of some abandoned superhighway."
Some elements from the film have found their way into the mainstream, such as the first two rules of fight club — both of which are You do not talk about fight club — or the name "Tyler Durden" itself.
Nietzsche
On the DVD commentary, Edward Norton points out that there are a number of parallels between Nietzschian philosophy and Fight Club. These include themes such as the death of God, trying to find meaning in life through destroying old values and creating new ones, master morality vs. slave morality, the overman, and, of course, the will to power. Probably by coincidence, the film opened in theatres on October 15, which was Nietzsche's birthday.
The process of fighting oneself and fighting others relates to the will to power--which, while a theory of everything, involves the collision of forces and the success of the stronger. Males in the film find a fight club so appealing because to them, it is a cure to the loneliness inherent in consumer capitalism. The fight club offers white collar office workers something their typical jobs cannot. Winning or losing a fight does not matter because extreme pleasure or pain makes the male fighter feel strong and alive. Even in defeat one has extended oneself.
The Narrator represents slave morality whereas Tyler represents master morality. The Narrator taking control over himself--destroying himself in order to create himself and finally asserting himself over Tyler--represents the move to overman.
Tyler explains Nietzsche's concept of God's death to the narrator: the question of God's existence (whether it is true or not) is an unimportant answer. The question of God's existence is irrelevant.
The Graduate
While recording the DVD commentary, the two stars and David Fincher make several points comparing Fight Club to The Graduate. This is based on the narrator's angst and the subsequent love triangle. In their analysis Tyler represents Mrs. Robinson and Marla represents Elaine. The Dust Brothers' involvement echoes that of Simon and Garfunkel in that, though they were popular, they had never scored a film before.
Clues about Durden's identity
Template:Spoiler Throughout the movie, there are several clues as to Tyler Durden's true identity before the revelation later in the film.
- At the beginning of the movie, the narrator refers to the details of the controlled demolition, "I know this, because Tyler knows this."
- There are several single frame images of Tyler in scenes where he does not belong. They are:
- In the insomnia chapter, Durden is visible when the copier flashes.
- In the doctor's office, Tyler appears behind the doctor.
- In "Remaining Men Together", Tyler is shown with his arm around the group leader.
- After Marla first appears in the movie, Tyler appears in the alleyway as she is walking away.
- In the hotel room, after the airport scene, the narrator watches a welcome video with several workers saying welcome in unison. Tyler is the one farthest on the right.
- When the narrator is at the airport, he delivers the line, "If you wake up in a different time in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?" The camera pans to Tyler as he glides past on the moving walk way. Tyler is not in the scene until he moves out from behind the narrator. This is interesting, since the conveyor is moving at a constant rate and Tyler should have been visible to the right of the narrator before passing behind him.
- On the plane, the narrator is sitting with a woman to his left. After he fantasizes about a mid-air collision, Tyler now occupies the same seat. Tyler and the narrator have identical briefcases.
- After the narrator's apartment explodes, the narrator calls Tyler and hangs up. When Tyler calls back, the camera zooms in to the receiver and we can see "No Incoming Calls Allowed" on the payphone's faceplate.
- When the Narrator went to Tyler's home he said, "I don't know how Tyler found that house, but he said he'd been there for a year." He also said earlier that he had been doing support groups for a year.
- After having sex with Marla for the first time, the narrator says, "You won't believe this dream I had last night.” Marla replies that she could not believe anything about it either, giving him a look because of their shared experience. Her actions indicate disbelief and shock when the narrator kicks her out of the house revealing that they are not on the same page. When Tyler comes in to talk about it, the narrator says he already knew the story.
- In the kitchen after Tyler and Marla have sex, the narrator says, "Except for their humping, Tyler and Marla were never in the same room"
- As the narrator goes to answer the ringing phone, Tyler and Marla can be heard having sex elsewhere in the house. As soon as the narrator lifts the receiver, the sounds of sex are silenced.
- When the narrator beats himself up to extort his boss, he says it reminded him of his first fight with Tyler (his first fight with himself).
- When Tyler and the narrator are in the bathroom together, relating life experiences, they have remarkably similar pasts.
- When the narrator is being stitched up after surgery, he says, "Sometimes Tyler spoke for me.” He repeats what Tyler says, even though he is in the same room with Tyler and this would have seemed odd for the nurse.
- In the kitchen, when Marla is examining the narrator's burn, Tyler is feeding him lines to say to her.
- The narrator walks in on Tyler having sex with Marla (this is the scene where Tyler is wearing the yellow gloves). Tyler talks to the narrator and Marla asks him whom he is talking to.
- Before the car crashes Tyler asks the narrator "Why do you think I blew up your condo". This means that Tyler must've blown out the narrators pilot-light and planted dynamite weeks before they even met for the first time.
- Before the car crash scene, the narrator is sitting on the right, in the passenger seat, talking to Tyler. After the car flips over, Tyler pulls the narrator out of the driver's seat.
- When the narrator gets off the bus, just before he learns about Project Mayhem painting a smiley face and setting fire to a building, he is carrying a green folder. This is one of the same folders that are tacked up to the bulletin board for Project Mayhem's exploits.
- When the narrator and Tyler get on the bus, the narrator pays fare for only one person.
- When the narrator and Tyler are on the bus, a man pushes past Tyler and then the narrator, but says "excuse me" only to the narrator.
- Bob tells the Narrator that he's heard all sorts of crazy rumors about the guy who founded Fight Club, one of which is that he "only sleeps one hour a night". The "Tyler Durden" personality takes over when the Narrator falls asleep, leading a double life at night to return home and "wake up" as the Narrator, resulting in almost no sleep and the true cause of the Narrator's insomnia.
- In the Airport scene after the narrator is told that his luggage is vibrating, he looks out the window and sees Tyler stealing a red sports car (the man behind him is yelling "That's my car!"). However, in a later scene when Tyler first brings the narrator to his dilapidated house, the narrator asks where Tyler's car is, to which Tyler responds that he has no car.
- Despite Tyler's remark's about how consumerism and fashion are degenerating society ("Self-improvement is masturbation"), Tyler is always seen with various fashionable items including his gelled hair, a flashy leather jacket, hawaiian clothes, tinted aviator sunglasses, and even fuzzy house slippers.
Trivia
| This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. |
- Wilmington city officials rejected the filmmakers' request to film in Delaware, in fear of copycats. It was filmed in Los Angeles instead and made to look like a generic city.
- The film makers originally intended Tyler Durden to recite working recipes for homemade explosives. They later decided against it for the interest of public safety, and fake recipes were used, including the recipe for "homemade napalm".
- The single frame flashes of Tyler referred to above (Described as "subliminal Tylers" by Pitt) caused quality controllers to complain about "dirt" on the final reel. The film makers had to then reassure them that this was by design before the film was allowed to be distributed.
- In a similar one panel trick,frames showing a frontal view of a naked man are included in the view of the explosions at the end of the film. This is likely an internal reference to Tyler's practice of splicing single frames of pornography into family films during his job at the movie theatre, as if he is working at the cinema in question. A common urban legend is that this is Pitt's penis; a press release for the film said that it is not. The penis in question is the same one Tyler splices into the children's movie near the beginning of the film.
- Meat Loaf had to wear a special 'fat suit' with large breasts for the part of Bob, somewhat ironically since he had previously been well-known as overweight. Two fat suits were made - one with prominent nipples and one without. His character in the film also had to wear platform shoes as Edward Norton is taller than him. (Norton is 6'1")
- Brad Pitt had the caps on his teeth removed for his role, as a way of developing the character more. He later had them restored after completing his work. Along with co-star and friend Edward Norton, they enrolled in soap making classes, much like their characters do in the film.
- Ed Kowalczyk of the band LIVE appears as a waiter serving the characters played by Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter in the movie.
- In 2004, plans were made to create a Fight Club musical, developed by Palahniuk, Fincher, and Trent Reznor. Palahniuk said "We all verbally signed on to do it, but that was two years ago, and we haven't heard anything" in a 2006 interview with The Courier-Journal.[2]
References in popular culture
Cast
- Brad Pitt - Tyler Durden
- Edward Norton - Narrator
- Helena Bonham Carter - Marla Singer
- Meat Loaf - Robert 'Bob' Paulson
- Zach Grenier - Richard Chesler
- Rachel Singer - Chloe
- Holt McCallany - The Mechanic
- Eion Bailey - Ricky
- Jared Leto - Angel Face
- Peter Iacangelo - Lou
Awards and nominations
The film won the following awards:
- the 2000 Empire Award (UK) for Best British Actress (Helena Bonham Carter)
- the 2001 Online Film Critics Society Awards for Best DVD, Best DVD Commentary, and Best DVD Special Features
- the 2005 Total Film Magazine Award (UK) for "The Greatest Film of our Lifetime"
It was also nominated for the following awards:
- the 2000 Academy Award for Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing
- the 2000 Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Action Team (Brad Pitt & Edward Norton)
- the 2000 Brit Award for Best Soundtrack
- the 2000 Costume Designers Guild Award for Excellence for Costume Design for Film - Contemporary
- the 2000 Sierra Award from the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards for Best DVD and Best Editing
- the 2000 MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (Edward Norton vs himself)
- the 2000 Golden Reel Award from the Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA for Best Sound Editing - Effects & Foley
- the 2000 Entertainment Weekly Film of the Year Award for Special Effects
- the 2000 Online Film Critics Society Awards for Best Actor (Edward Norton), Best Director, Best Film, Best Film Editing, and Best Screenplay, Adapted
- the 2000 Political Film Society Award for Democracy
See also
References
- ^ Ebert, Roger (1999-10-15). "Fight Club". Chicago Sun-Times.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Ikenberg, Tamara (2006-06-08). "Palahniuk goes for the 'Guts'". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved 2006-06-22.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
External links
- The Fight Club film official web site
- Fight Club at IMDb
- Filming locations in the Los Angeles area
- A Metaphilm article comparing the characters to those in Calvin and Hobbes
- Analysis and Critique of Fight Club