FIGHT CLUB
Published on May 05, 2016
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
FIGHT CLUB
NARRATIVE AND GENRE ANALYSIS
Create a timeline of the key events of the narrative.
Maximum of 5 events.
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Stream of consciousness - this makes looking at narrative progression awkward.
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Cyclical narrative
A flashback within a flashback
Cyclical narratives end in the same way they began
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Tyler is Jack
Perspectives flip
Reality and fantasy overlap
The dominant camera is set up objectively - we are tricked to assume they are different people
We witness events that shatter objectivity - breaking the fourth wall
We are peering into Jacks mind - we are powerless to stop Tyler's anarchy
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The films narrative is radical in structure
Conventional narrative theory (Todorov and Propp) will struggle to adequetly describe this narrative
There is no return to equilibrium and the protagonist is his own antagonist. He spends much of the time running from what he is seeking.
However, Fight Club can be considered a 'classical narrative' - a lone male protagonist fighting against a system that oppresses him
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His journey from birth to death - rebirth and redemption - action that solves problems - the antagonist meeting a violent end
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A sociologically revisionist text
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
Saturday Night Fever
Films about working class men seeking fulfillment in 'love' or 'dancing' or 'fighting' rather than in their mundane spirit crushing jobs.
Jacks rise and fall is the modern class struggle played out.
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EXISTENTIALISM
a philosophical theory or approach which emphasises the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will.
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In the view of the existentialist, the individual's starting point is characterised by what has been called "the existential attitude", or a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world.
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A metaphor for achieving personal engagement and responsibility.
A tale of maturation: a path to adult eden.
The villain must die. The maiden must be saved. Order must triumph over anarchy.
These all happen BUT...
The hero dies. The maiden is captured. Disorder and anarchy triumph. Good is destroyed.
These possible readings illustrate a complex construction.
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Is it about crime?
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Typical settings and iconography of the contemporary American urban crime drama.
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Personal crime committed: the failure of self is an ethical failure.
Jack is his own worst enemy.
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A corporate crime is committed: destroying the world of advertising and consumerism.
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The film involves criminal acts: violence, police interviews, torture, explosions.
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Two young, white, male Hollywood stars. The heritage of thousands of crime films.
Is it a twisted romantic comedy?
A film about relationships not criminality.
Domestic scenes. Jack and Marla in the kitchen. Conversations in the garden.
'It's all about Marla'
An emotional resolution.
The perfect end result of any romantic drama. He gets the girl.
Is it a medical drama?
One mans attempt to flee a madhouse.
Is it Psycho for the 90s? He creates Tyler and goes on a murderous rampage.
TASK
In groups you need to make a case to prove that Fight Club belongs to a specific genre.
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How far does Fight Club rely on typical narrative and stylistic conventions of Hollywood mainstream cinema and how far does it break from these? [30]
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