Fight Club Close Study

1. Fight Club Close Study

2. Context: Fight Club as ‘Anti-Capitalist’ & ‘Anti-Consumerist’

4. Themes & Meanings • CAPITALISM & THE CORPORATE AGENDA: • Capitalism: The social system in which we live - • The means for producing and distributing goods (the land, factories, technology, transport system etc) are owned by capitalist corporations. • The working class are paid to produce goods and services which are then sold for a profit. Goods and services are exchanged for profit. The profit is gained by the capitalist corporation. • A corporation is an institution/business whose sole interest is to create great wealth • Corporate claims/myths that they are responsible for world progress • PROBLEMS: • A corporation has HUMAN RIGHTS • Profit motivation leads to exploitation (i.e. Sweatshops Slavery, Child Labour, Sexual Abuse) • No moral responsibilities – resulting in harm to human health; animals; the environment • Increasing PRIVATIZATION of PUBLIC SERVICES (i.e. Education, Health Services) – the private ownership of public services that should be free/low cost

5. What do these images suggest the effects of Capitalism are?

6. Themes • Globalization • Dehumanization • Consumerism • Capitalism • The Corporate World • Anti – Establishment

7. Themes & Meanings • GLOBALIZATION: • The growth of large corporations & their integration into other countries • PROBLEMS: • No diversity, no individualism – nothing is unique • Brands are seen as meaningful (giving rise to consumerism) • Growth of exploitation (i.e. workers)

8. Themes & Meanings • CONSUMERISM & MATERIALISM: • A way of corporations maximizing profits – designed to mould people into desired consumers • The equating of personal happiness with consumption & purchase of material possessions • Purchasing goods in excess of basic needs • ANTI-CONSUMERISM/PROBLEMS: • Condemns the ethics of modern corporations whose sole interest is in economic profit • People start to identify with commercial brand names & use possessions as status symbols • Substitutes products for healthy human relationships & life experiences • Assumes consumers are ‘mindless’ purchasers of goods they don’t want/need • Manipulated by the Advertising Industry

9. Fight Club Recap Quiz • What do the following terms mean: • Capitalism & The Corporate World • Globalization • Consumerism • De-Humanization 2. List 3 problems with: • Globalization • Capitalism C) Consumerism 3. What point of view does an anti-consumerist take? • ‘Fight Club takes an anti-establishment stance’ – What does this mean? • Provide 3 Quotes from Fight Club related to it’s themes • List 3 Killer points of analysis from Fight Clubs opening sequence

10. Fight Club Recap Quiz • Write down a short definition for the following terms: • Globalization • Capitalism & The Corporate World • Consumerism • De-Humanization 2. List 3 problems with: • Globalization • Capitalism 3. What point of view does an anti-consumerist take? • ‘Fight Club takes an anti-establishment stance’ – Give 3 examples of this

11. What is a ‘Critical Approach’? • Looking at a film from a critical or theoretical perspective • A Gender Approach – an analysis of representation within the film

12. Analysing the Themes of Fight Club “You're not your job.  You're not how much money you have in the bank.  You're not the car you drive.  You're not the contents of your wallet.  You're not your fucking khakis.  You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world. ” - Tyler Durden

13. Fight Club Themes – A Summary • Repressed male rage – Frustration about: • Corporate America & the collapse of the ‘American Dream’ • Male Isolation; Alienation (A Fincher signature) • Lack of effective Leadership/Government; Economic Despair • Oppression – Being ‘oppressed’ - Having to conform to established power relations within society • The Feminization of Man and Repressed ‘Raw’ Masculinity • Impact of Feminism on men • The dehumanizing effects of corporate consumer culture

14. Fight Club as ‘Populist Resentment’ • Populist Resentment – To express disgust/dissatisfaction with contemporary popular culture & collapse of society • Addresses the mediocrity of modern life • Sometimes expressed as ‘slacker entertainment’ – taking stupidity to extremes as a social comment (i.e. JACKASS ) ABOVE L - R (Marylin, Soup Can by Warhol; Floor Burger by Claus Oldenburg)

15. Fight Club & Anti-Consumerism/Globalization“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. ” - Tyler • Signs of daily consumption scattered throughout mise-en-scene : • Big Corporation Brands - Starbucks/Pepsi/ McDonalds appear so frequently they become normality for viewer (as in life) RIGHT • Narrators apartment literally turns into an IKEA Catalogue • As the film was forced to take corporate cash from Pepsi, IKEA, and Vokswagen, Fincher organized product placement in a way that every single product appearance is accompanied by an act of violence and destruction

16. Fight Club & Anti-Consumerism/Globalization“Everything’s a copy of a copy of a copy” – The Narrator • Criticises how human relationships become just another product to consume – “Single Serving Sugar…Single Serving Friends” • Narrator’s POV shot (RIGHT) ‘Corn Flour Blue Tie – person is dismembered; defined by the product (De-humanization) • Norton uses consumer lifestyle as a substitute for fulfilment in his life • Fincher inserts a no-brand reference towards end of film (Direct Bus) – sticks out – a symbol of Narrators redemption from consumerism

17. Fight Club & Anti-Capitalism“You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake” - Tyler • Narrator is a ‘cog in the wheel’; a wage slave for a Global Car Corporation • Norton is an unnamed protagonist – a nameless narrator – a product in a story • Dehumanization in the modern world – Job is to measure corporate culpability against charred human remains • Critiques New Age Enlightenment thoughts as idiotic gibberish (i.e. Finding your Power Animal/Male Support Groups - RIGHT etc.) - Mocks with ironic humour. • The Fight Club - Violent Masculine Resistance to Capitalism • Final Sequence – the end of Capitalism: Norton and Marla watch the skyscrapers explode hand in hand – resembles a starry night sky; an alternative love story

18. Make a list of character traits (appearance/ behaviour/goals for:A) The NarratorB) Tyler DurdenC) Marla Singer

19. Debates: Brad Pitt as Tyler • A ‘metrosexual’ icon • One of Hollywood’s most ‘Consumable’ Stars • Brad Pitt - made famous by his own body and position as object for female gaze - makes a comment on Gucci’s representation of men

20. Debates: The Consumable Brad Pitt • “There’s something more than ludicrous about sitting in a theatre while Brad Pitt preaches at you about the emptiness of materialism” GIROUX 2006

21. 1980’s Action Man • 1980’s Masculinity: Forceful intimidating depictions of masculinity which feature an obsession with the body and the power of the male • “Both actors (Stallone and Schwarzenegger) often resemble a phallus with muscles". (Creed 1990) • All feature the ‘hard body’ – an emblem of male power

22. MALE REPRESENTATION “We’re designed to be hunters and we’re in a society of shopping” - Tyler

23. ‘Typical’ Man List the male stereotypes here (and any others you can think of)…

24. 1980’s Action Man

25. 1980’s Action Man

26. The ‘New’ Man

27. The ‘New Man’/Metrosexual • Appearance Obsessed • In touch with ‘feminine side’ • Emotional/ Sensitive

28. Objects of the Female Gaze Robert Pattison (Twilight) Hugh Jackman (Worlds Sexiest Male) ZacEfron (Homo-erotic Icon)

29. The ‘Female Gaze’ • A number of recent texts can be seen to subvert (go against) Mulvey’s ‘male gaze’ theory • These texts see women actively desiring and looking at men • Audiences see from a desiring female perspective thus men view themselves being watched • Women also take up more lead ‘protagonist’ roles (i.e. Julia Roberts in Erin Brokovich)

30. Masculinity: Social Context Feminism • Traditional male roles: Cowboy; Hunter; Defender; Achiever; Warrior; Breadwinner • Exposed as myths by Feminism • Feminism = A movement where women strived to have the same rights as man; equality • Men left without a clear identity after Feminism questioned the role of man • Traditional Male roles/unachievable images of strength ALSO imprisoned men

31. Male Representation Recap: Tyler & The Narrator

32. Fight Club: Men in Crisis • One of a number of texts depicting ‘Masculine Malaise’ (Happiness/American Beauty) • Criticises the ‘New Man’ • Reasserts supposedly ‘obsolete’ Violent, Mindless Masculinity • Sees the ‘new man’ as a construct of consumerist society • Makes us buy products: Male cosmetics, Fast Cars, Fashion • OVERVIEW: • The ‘new man’ has lost touch with his masculine ‘core’ • The ‘real man’ has been lost by consumerism and the media • Film depicts mens’ frustration at the media’s ‘feminisation’ of men • Mans obsession with consumerism has replaced traditional male symbols: strength, honour • Attacks lack of male role models – men raised by women due to men working

33. Bob: An On-Screen Representation of Men in Crisis • Bob’s character is seen through the eyes of the ‘Unreliable Narrator’ – • Norton’s unstable perspective: How he see’s contemporary man: • A muscleman with breasts (Traditional Masculinity V’s the New Man) • In trying to attain ideal male physique gets breasts! • Gives maternal, feminine care to Narrator • Lumberjack shirt – a link to ‘real man’

34. Marla as The ‘Femme Fatale’

35. Marla as The ‘Femme Fatale’ • The Narrator’s Saviour ?? • The Narrator???? (Another one of his ego’s?) • Introduced via her silhouette (Film Noir) and sound of high heels • Displays iconography of the ‘femme fatale’: Cigarette (Phallic Power), Black & White, Sunglasses • Seen through the eye’s of the ‘unreliable narrator’ – the woman as a phallus • A Free Spirited Risk Taker; a strong empowered representation • Makes obvious links between Bonham Carter’s work with auteur Tim Burton – associations with Gothicism & German Expressionism • Becomes narrators ‘Power Animal’ (LEFT) – inhabits his ‘cave’

36. Male Binary Opposites • Occupies corporate spaces: Offices, Planes, Hotels • The same as everybody else – just another grey suit (‘A copy of a copy of a copy’) • Occupies shadowy underworld • Outlandish, Flamboyant, Unique, Original – link to Anti Globalization themes

37. Norton (The narrator) • Introduced by credits hurtling through his brain • The ‘Unreliable Narrator’ – gains audiences trust but is untrustworthy due to his mental state • The ‘new man’ character – he is ‘emasculated’ • Consumerist: Job + Possessions + Clothes + Car = Happiness • His male status is an illusion – accumulation of possessions but no happiness • Traditional male role is lost – no male friends, no sexual partner, no libido, no ‘action’ job • Fantasises about dying • Creates Tyler from frustration and repressed rage • Norton (narrator) looks at Tyler – he is stronger & cooler

38. The Narrator’s ‘Power Animal’ • What does the Narrator’s ‘Power Animal’ say about the state of contemporary masculinity? • Power Animals: Lion? Tiger? Shark? Penguin • Connotations of the Penguin: • Small; Incapable of Flight; Childish; Harmless; Tuxedo/wears a suit • Penguin is juxtaposed against Narrator’s dream of masculine empowerment

39. Mise en Scene & The Narrator • Mise en scene depicts the Narrator in a constricted, unsettled world • Spaces which constrain him/give a sense of confinement; Low ceilings cluttered sets; no colour (chiarascuro) • TRAPPED in his suit

40. Tyler • Played by Brad Pitt – the star most men would want to play them in a movie of their life • Male aspiration figure for the Narrator – his care-free, hot ideal alter ego: answers to nobody • Introduced wearing sunglasses, leather jacket, chiseled jaw, spiked hair, a colourful juxtaposition against the ‘grey’ suited Narrator • Everything the narrator isn’t: • Charismatic, Sexually Dominant • Aggressive, Powerful, in charge of his own destiny • Tyler rejects consumerism/ materialistic lifestyle

41. ‘Is this what a real man looks like?’ - Narrator

42. Debates: The Consumable Brad Pitt • “There’s something more than ludicrous about sitting in a theatre while Brad Pitt preaches at you about the emptiness of materialism” GIROUX 2006

43. The ‘Fight Club’ • Scenes of physical displays of violence in an attempt to find inner ‘man’ • Degrees of maleness; not about inflicting pain but proving they can take it • Ability to endure pain makes you more of a man • Men resort back to a tribal, raw masculinity = another empty role