3. 3
• We are forced to identify with The Narrator as his voice
guides the film. Marla however doesn’t have a voice.
• When Marla first enters the micro features help create her
villain persona. Eg. the shadows across her face, black
clothing, music and slow motion.
• Tyler is trying to reject all things that are deemed feminine in
society. Therefore anything feminine is portrayed as numb
with high key lighting.
• However at the end The Narrator begins to care for Marla
and sends her away to safety when project mayhem is out of
his control.
4. • The Narrator and Marla both experience
Isolation due to the lack of satisfaction in their
lives. By attending support groups they
experience the human connection that they
lack and crave.
4
5. • Tyler and The Narrator both bond over their
recollections about their fathers. Both men state
that their fathers were not a major part of their
lives.
• With no distinct male role-models in their lives
Jack and Tyler have been influenced by male roles
in advertising. The men of fight club have seen an
emptiness in this model and reject it.
5
6. •Tyler believes that the use of chaos by
Project Mayhem will lead to a better
world.
•All bosses in the film strongly lack any
power or authority.
•There is strong themes of consumerism
throughout portrayed through an
obsession with brands and products, i.e.
IKEA and Starbucks.
6
7. • Zen concepts can be depicted in the film,
particularly regarding the rejection of
material possessions.
• Jack buries sadness in what he calls the
"Ikea nesting instinct”. Tyler shows Jack
that suffering is simply a part of life,
but is largely based on attachment to
material objects.
7
8. The film repeatedly critiques the values formed by advertising.
Tyler's philosophy says that people work jobs that they don't
enjoy and in reality these people are deeply unhappy.
They continue to buy cleverly marketed goods to make
themselves feel better.
One way that Fight Club supports the system is in its product
placement. The film uses these products to show that consumerism
has taken over its characters lives.
8
9. • The fighting in the film is not presented
as a solution to the character's
problems, but is a means of achieving a
spiritual reawakening and reasserting
their masculinity. The fighting itself
reminds the men that they are alive and
not just a cog in the working machine
that is society.
9
10. • Fight Club presents the argument that men in
today's society have been reduced to a generation of
men that do nothing themselves. Masculinity has
become a brand, a means to sell products to men.
• Members of Fight Club reject this approach and try
to find themselves by putting themselves through
the experience of facing fear and pain, they hope to
strip away the unnecessary parts of their lives and
discover their true selves.
10
11. • The Narrator subconsciously creates
Tyler Durden, a charismatic but
unhinged ‘id’ that is free in all the
ways that The Narrator is not.
• When Tyler goes too far, The Narrator
snaps back to reality and sees that he
is losing himself to Tyler. He then must
choose to save both Marla and himself
from Tyler.
11
12. • There's a fine line between a
religion and a cult. Whichever
they are, religion or cult, fight
club and Project Mayhem are
religious experiences to their
devoted followers, and Tyler
guides his disciples down a
strict path to salvation.
12
13. • Tyler’s character is representative of hegemonic
masculinity which men tend to strive for. His
character also highlights everything that Jack
isn’t.
• Jack and Tyler represent binary opposites within
the film as Jack is overruled by Tyler which shows
the differences in their masculine roles.
13
14. Fight club can tell us a lot
about modern culture as
the recurring themes give
us strong connotations of
our morals which reflect
the state of our society
and help predict the
quality of our future.
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